GENDER
Trans athletes pan tennis ace
Trans sportswomen hit back at Martina Navratilova, after the tennis champion said “it’s insane and it’s cheating” for transgender women to be allowed to compete in women’s sport. “A man can decide to be female, take hormones if required by whatever sporting organisation is concerned, win everything in sight and perhaps earn a small fortune, and then reverse his decision and go back to making babies if he so desires,” Navratilova wrote in the Sunday Times. Navratilova’s comments are “disturbing, upsetting and deeply transphobic,” said Rachel McKinnon, who last year became the first transgender woman to win a world track cycling title.
FORMULA ONE
Wolff: Brexit ‘major concern’
Mercedes Formula 1 CEO Toto Wolff on Monday said why Brexit would do untold damage to the industry in the UK, calling it the “the mother of all messes.” “Brexit is a major concern for all of us that live in the UK and operate out of the UK,” Wolff said at Montmelo, Spain, where pre-season testing began. The Mercedes and Red Bull teams are based in England. Wolff was also concerned about customs for motor parts. “The way we get parts and services is just in time ... taxes would massively damage the Formula 1 industry in the UK,” he said. Visa and right-to-work concerns were also high on Wolff’s worry list, due to the “26 nationalities in our team.”
BOXING
Fury’s deal may mar rematch
Tyson Fury has signed a multi-year, multi-fight agreement with US broadcaster ESPN, which could threaten the British heavyweight’s prospects of a world title rematch with Deontay Wilder. Fury’s future fights would be broadcast live on BT Sport in the UK and ESPN in the US. His new deal would appear to make a hugely anticipated rematch with World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Wilder, against whom Fury was held to a controversial draw in Los Angeles in December, more difficult given that the American has been fighting on the Showtime channel.
OLYMPICS
Indonesia bids for 2032
Indonesia has submitted a bid to host the 2032 Olympics, officials said yesterday, after the nation’s widely lauded handling of the Asian Games last summer. Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland Muliaman Hadad submitted a formal bid letter from Indonesian President Joko Widodo to the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne last week, the country’s foreign ministry confirmed yesterday. “This is the right moment to show Indonesia’s capability as a big country,” Hadad said in a statement. India has also expressed an interest in hosting the 2032 Games, while North and South Korea have said they might enter a joint bid.
SOCCER
AFC fights pirate channel
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is hiring experts to step up its fight against intellectual property theft by pirate channel beoutQ, which illegally broadcast last month’s Asian Cup, the confederation said yesterday. BeoutQ emerged in 2017 after Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a diplomatic and trade boycott of Qatar. “The AFC values its broadcast and commercial partners and wishes to do everything that it can to protect their rights,” AFC general-secretary Dato’ Windsor John said.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two