SOCCER
Cagliari defeat Parma 4-0
Cagliari cruised past already relegated Parma 4-0 in Serie A on Monday, offering hope that the Sardinian club can climb out of the drop zone. For their first win at home in more than three months, Cagliari quickly took control with a goal from Sweden international Albin Ekdal three minutes in. Brazilian Diego Farias added another in the 14th and winger Paul-Jose M’Poku made it 3-0 before halftime. M’Poku also set up a goal for Croatian forward Duje Cop in the 64th. Cagliari are third from bottom, six points from safety and 17th-place Atalanta with four matches remaining. Crisis-hit Parma are last.
CRICKET
India to play Bangladesh
India are to head to Bangladesh for a one-off Test match and three one-day internationals next month, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) has announced. Fatullah is to host the Test, the first between the sides since January 2010. An ODI series against India is considered a money-spinner and accordingly, all three matches, to be held in Mirpur, have been allotted a reserve day due to the threat of monsoon rains. Sureh Raina led India to victory in Bangladesh in June last year during a three-match ODI series, which saw the third contest in Mirpur washed out due to heavy rain. The teams have faced off in seven previous Test matches, with India winning six and the other ending in a rain-affected draw. Bangladesh are currently hosting Pakistan, with the teams level in a two-match Test series after last week’s drawn opener.
CRICKET
Ireland’s Murtagh injured
Tim Murtagh has been ruled out of Ireland’s one-day international at home to England on Friday, Cricket Ireland announced on Monday. The 33-year-old seamer suffered a hamstring tear playing for Middlesex in their ongoing match against Durham at Lord’s in the First Division of English cricket’s County Championship and was to undergo a scan yesterday to assess the extent of the injury, Cricket Ireland said in a statement. Irish cricket officials have opted not to replace Murtagh, given they named an original squad of 14 from which their final XI is to be selected for Friday’s match at Malahide, near Dublin.
TENNIS
Hewitt to skip French Open
Two-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt will not play this month’s French Open in what is likely to be his last year on tour. Hewitt’s manager, David Drysdale, yesterday said that the Australian veteran wants to focus on Wimbledon, where he won the 2002 title, and Australia’s Davis Cup quarter-final against Kazakhstan in July. The 34-year-old Hewitt, who also won the 2001 US Open, said in January that he planned to retire after playing his 20th Australian Open next year. He has struggled with foot and hip injuries in recent years and is currently ranked No. 108.
SOCCER
Greaves suffers stroke
Former Tottenham Hotspur and England striker Jimmy Greaves has suffered a severe stroke and is in intensive care in hospital, his family said on Monday. A prolific goalscorer throughout his career, Greaves scored 44 goals in just 57 appearances for England — the fourth-highest total of all time. A family statement said the 75-year-old Greaves had fallen ill on Sunday and was taken to hospital. Meanwhile, Spurs said on their Twitter site: “Everyone at the club wishes Jimmy Greaves a speedy recovery after he suffered a stroke yesterday [Sunday]. Our thoughts are with Jimmy and his family at this difficult time.”
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with