ATHLETICS
Adams to receive NZ honor
Two-time Olympic women’s shot put champion Valerie Adams has received one of New Zealand’s highest civil honors in yesterday’s annual New Year’s honors list. The 32-year-old, who won gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games and 2012 London Olympics, along with silver in Rio de Janiero last year, becomes Dame Valerie Adams. Adams joked that she would expect her brother Steven, a rising basketball star with the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, to address her as Dame Valerie next time they spoke. Steven is the youngest of Adams’ 17 siblings. “I know I’ll be asked how this honor compares to winning an Olympic gold medal,” Adams said. “You can’t really compare this with anything else. It’s not about me as an athlete with big muscles, but it’s the value of the person on and off the field.”
FOOTBALL
Seahawks, Bennett ink deal
Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Bennett has agreed to a three-year contract extension with the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL veteran’s agent announced on Friday. The deal, reportedly for US$31.5 million, with US$17.5 million of that guaranteed, was confirmed by Doug Hendrickson on Twitter and would take Bennett through the 2020 season. His prior contract was due to end this year. The 31-year-old lineman is in his eighth NFL campaign and fourth with the Seahawks, who have qualified for the playoffs that begin next week. He helped Seattle win the 2014 Super Bowl. Bennett led the Seahawks with 10 sacks last season and, despite missing five games with a knee injury this season, has four sacks. He has 30 sacks since joining Seattle in 2013 after four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
OLYMPICS
IBSF suspends four Russians
Four Russian skeleton athletes have been provisionally suspended by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) for alleged doping rule violations at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The federation on Friday said in a statement that it took action after being informed by the International Olympic Committee that investigations had been opened into the four athletes — who have not been named. “The IBSF is fully committed to ensure all necessary steps will be taken to gain back the integrity of sport — this will require joint efforts by all stakeholders,” IBSF president Ivo Ferriani said in the statement, adding that the Russian Bobsleigh Federation had “confirmed its full support to clarify the matter related to the allegations.”
SOCCER
Nasri target of doping probe
Sevilla said Spain’s anti-doping agency is looking into reports that midfielder Samir Nasri recently received intravenous treatment at a Los Angeles clinic. The clinic, Drip Doctors, posted a photograph of Nasri on Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday, saying it had provided him with a drip “to help keep him hydrated and in top health during his busy soccer season.” It describes the drip as an infusion to boost the immune system and contains “high dose vitamin C, B vitamins, lysine and zinc combined with specially formulated nutrients.” Sevilla spokesman Jesus Gomez told reporters on Friday that “the agency has been in contact with the club to ask for information” about the player. A spokesman for the agency told reporters that its investigators are checking whether any treatment Nasri might have received had steered clear of the list of prohibited substances.
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
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
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