COMMONWEALTH
Athletes face deportation
A group of African athletes who went missing during the Games must give themselves up or face deportation, Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said yesterday. Eight athletes from Cameroon, two from Uganda and a Rwandan para-powerlifting coach went missing after the Games, local media reported. The athletes will be in Australia illegally from midnight yesterday, when their visas expired, unless they have taken legal steps to stay. Some of the athletes had contacted a refugee advice center in Sydney, the Daily Telegraph reported. “Some have been to us for advice,” Refugee Advice and Casework Service solicitor Ben Lumsdaine told the paper.
FORMULA TWO
Driver says halo saved him
Japanese driver Tadasuke Makino said the new “halo” head protection device might have saved his life in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. The driver escaped uninjured after the car driven by compatriot Nirei Fukuzumi was launched into the air during the sprint race. The car came down on top of Makino’s cockpit, with the left-rear wheel hitting the halo, a titanium ring that shields the driver’s head, but has been criticized by some on aesthetic grounds. Makino told motorsport.com he thought the tire would have hit his helmet without the halo. International Automobile Federation race director Charlie Whiting agreed that Makino could have been the first beneficiary of the device. “We will do an incident investigation on that one because judging by the photos we’ve seen, and the accident itself, it looks very much as if it could have been a lot worse without the halo,” he said.
CYCLING
Allergy forces retirement
France’s double Olympic mountain bike champion Julien Absalon on Monday announced his retirement from the sport citing his allergy to pollen. “I’ve been suffering from allergies to pollen in the south of France for the past three years, mostly at the start of the season,” Absalon told the L’Equipe.fr Web site. Absalon is also allergic to pollen in the north of Europe, a condition that leaves him “struggling to breathe” and “with a taste of blood in my windpipe.” Although a therapeutic use exemption certificate would allow him to relieve the symptoms, he said: “I don’t like to take too many medicines... My main aim is now to focus 100 percent on my team Absolute Absalon and dedicate myself to managing it full time.”
FOOTBALL
Manning, Giants settle suit
Eli Manning, the New York Giants and Steiner Sports, a memorabilia company, on Monday reached a settlement that ended a civil lawsuit accusing the quarterback of fraudulently passing off helmets as “game-used.” No financial terms were announced. “The compromise agreement, entered into by all parties, should not be viewed as supporting any allegations, claims or defenses. All parties are grateful to have the matter, which began in 2014, concluded and are now focused on football, the fans and the future,” the Giants said in a statement. Plaintiffs Eric Inselberg, Michael Jakab and Sean Godown alleged that in 2010, Manning sent an e-mail asking a Giants equipment manager for two helmets that “can pass as game-used.” Manning has a deal with Steiner Sports to provide memorabilia.
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