CYCLING
Hamilton suffers dire injury
Australian Chris Hamilton is to miss the Tour Down Under after suffering an injury in a training crash — rupturing one of his testicles. The 24-year-old Team Sunweb rider posted the eye-watering injury bulletin on Instagram. “Fellas it’s just as painful as you think it is,” Hamilton wrote. “I had a small crash in training. I wish I could say I was doing something gnarly, but no, just on a bike path. Nothing broken but since someone is going to ask what I did anyway, I ruptured a testicle.” In a sport where broken collarbones, wrists and ribs are par for the course, it is a rare injury and the unfortunate Hamilton did not know how long the recovery would be. “It’s a bit unknown, but at this stage all I can say is the surgery to do some repairs went well and I’ll find out more in a follow up next week,” he wrote. “I am pretty devastated to be sidelined for the Aussie summer, but who knows, maybe a change will be for the best! See you all out on the road soon.”
BADMINTON
Momota injured in accident
World No. 1 Kento Momota could be out for two months after being injured in a traffic accident that killed his driver just hours after he won the Malaysia Masters on Sunday. The 25-year-old Japanese suffered cuts and bruising in the accident near Kuala Lumpur, but is aiming to return at the All England Championships on March 11, Japanese Badminton Association secretary-general Kinji Zeniya said yesterday. Momota, who won a record 11 titles last year, had “extraordinary enthusiasm towards the Olympics” this year in Tokyo, Zeniya said, but urged the gold-medal hope to take time to recuperate fully. “I hope he will do his best without pushing and rushing himself too hard, and without being impatient,” he said. Momota has been in hospital since the crash with a slow-moving truck as his party were driving to the airport. The driver was killed at the scene, while Momota received cuts to his face and bruising all over his body, Zeniya said, denying previous reports that he had broken his nose and chin. An assistant coach, physiotherapist and association official were also injured. The accident came after Momota began the season in style with victory over Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen in the Malaysia Masters final on Sunday.
CRICKET
Spectator banned for abuse
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has banned a spectator from attending international and domestic matches for two years after he admitted racially abusing England paceman Jofra Archer. NZC filed a complaint with the police after failing to “conclusively identify” a spectator who had racially abused the England bowler on the final day of the first Test at the Bay Oval in November last year. “As a result of their inquiries, police have spoken to a 28-year-old Auckland man who subsequently admitted responsibility for the abuse,” NZC said in a statement. “He was issued with a verbal warning for using insulting language. NZC have since ... written to him, advising of his ban from all international and domestic fixtures in New Zealand until 2022.” If the man attends a fixture, he would be removed from the venue and could face further legal action. “We’d again like to extend our apologies to Jofra and the England team management for such an unsavory incident and reiterate once more that this type of behavior is completely unacceptable,” NZC spokesperson Anthony Crummy said.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two