SOCCER
Bolt suggestion dismissed
Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough has laughed off club chairman Ben Robinson’s claim that his Championship outfit wanted to offer a trial to sprint legend Usain Bolt. Robinson had suggested that Burton would be interested in giving an opportunity to the eight-time Olympic gold medalist following his retirement from the track after the World Championships. However, Clough was quick to rule out that idea following Albion’s 2-0 loss against Middlesbrough on Tuesday. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it. There is nothing in it as far as I am concerned,” Clough said. “Would I be interested? No. I’m interested in trying to get a win in Friday night, no distractions. It’s a good job he [the chairman] doesn’t pick the players then, isn’t it?”
SOCCER
Cup host cities sought
The committee hoping to bring the 2026 World Cup to the US, Mexico and Canada is seeking bids from 44 cities that might be interested in hosting matches. The United Bid Committee is considering 49 stadiums in those regions for inclusion in the official bid that is to be sent to international governing body FIFA in March next year. The committee on Tuesday announced that it will review interest and select a shortlist of possible host cities next month. The bid to be sent to FIFA is expected to include up to 25 venues, but it is expected that 12 cities will be designated as official hosts. The 2026 World Cup is to be the first with a 48-team field. Morocco has also declared its intention to bid for the event.
CRICKET
Warner reported recovering
Australia opening batsman David Warner is recovering well after being struck in the neck by a bouncer from teammate Josh Hazlewood and should be fit for the upcoming two-Test series in Bangladesh, coach Darren Lehmann said yesterday. The left-hander dropped his bat and slumped to his knees after an attempted hook shot went awry at Marrara Oval in Darwin on Tuesday, but quickly picked himself up and walked off the ground unassisted. With the squad set to depart for Bangladesh tomorrow ahead of the first Test in Dhaka, Lehmann expected Warner to board the flight. “He seems alright, walking around the ground today, so fingers crossed he’ll be okay and we’ll get an update in the next day or two,” Lehmann told reporters. “It’s always a scare when that happens, isn’t it? Hopefully he’s going to be OK.”
TENNIS
Serena plans rapid return
Serena Williams aims to defend her Australian Open title next year, with such a rapid return to action only giving her about three months to prepare after giving birth to her first child. The 23-times Grand Slam winner announced her pregnancy in April and will be on maternity leave for the rest of the year. The 35-year-old is engaged to Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian. “It’s the most outrageous plan,” Williams told Vogue magazine. “I just want to put that out there. That’s, like, three months after I give birth. I’m not walking anything back, but I’m just saying it’s pretty intense. If I lose and I lose again, it’s like: ‘She’s done.’ Especially since I’m not 20 years old. I’ll tell you this much: I won’t win less. Either I win, or I don’t play.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier