■ Tennis
Clijsters wants to be alone
Kim Clijsters has pleaded to be left alone after announcing she was breaking up with her Australian boyfriend Lleyton Hewitt four months from their marriage. "I hope everyone will now show me and my family and friends a little respect and comprehension by keeping their opinions to themselves," the former world No. 1 said on her Web site. She dismissed reports the two prospective mothers-in-law had fallen out. "Complete lies," she said. "Where have we got to that journalists are camped outside my home and follow me." Hewitt, due to play in the Paris Masters tournament next Monday, was reported to be devastated by the public split.
■ Soccer
Fan falls to his death
A 24-year-old Danish football fan died after falling from the top tier of the stands at FC Copenhagen's Parken Stadium during a weekend match against Viborg, news agency Ritzau said. The man, reportedly from Frederiksberg in Copenhagen, received immediate medical attention but died of his injuries on Sunday. Copenhagen chairman Flemming Ostergaard told Ritzau the man had apparently been enraged when the referee sent off the home team's Bo Svensson during the second half. "According to our information, he became angry at the decision and ran down toward the railing and fell over," Ostergaard was quoted as saying. The referee halted Sunday's Superleague match soon after the incident. The Danish football association (DBU) on Monday said the score of 0-0 at the time of the incident would stand as the result.
■ Soccer
Juventus men could get jail
The public prosecutor in the Juventus doping trial has asked for the club's chief executive and medical chief to be given jail sentences. Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo and medical chief Riccardo Agricola are accused of administering banned drugs to players between 1994 and 1998. Both have denied the allegations Public prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello asked on Monday for a jail sentence of two years and one month for Giraudo and three years and two months for Agricola. The trial started in January 2002 and in October last year, an Italian pharmacologist told the trial that Juventus had a store containing 281 medicines with at least five prohibited anti-inflammatory drugs. A number of past and present Juventus players have already appeared as witnesses in the case, including Roberto Baggio and French international Zinedine Zidane. The players say they only took legal supplements during their time at the club.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
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