Matches at the women's World Cup yesterday were called off at the last minute and rescheduled after protests from the teams involved, leaving many fans in the lurch.
It means China's crunch Group D game against New Zealand in Tianjin and Australia's equally important showdown with Canada in Chengdu will now take place today.
The move followed a decision by FIFA on Tuesday to push back the Group D clash between Brazil and Denmark and the Group C meeting between Norway and Ghana to today as Typhoon Wipha barrelled toward China.
But the fixture change was contradictory to the practice of playing the group finales together on the same day and sparked complaints to FIFA and the local organizing committee.
Teams said having the final group games on different days would give those sides playing today an unfair advantage as they would know the score of the previous day's game and therefore what result was needed to make the quarter-finals.
FIFA spokesman Nicolas Maingot said the decision to postpone the games was made "in the early afternoon" and that the teams were informed soon after.
The Australian team said they were only told that the match had been postponed as they prepared to board the bus to the stadium in Chengdu.
FIFA's official statement was issued 10 minutes after the Australia-Canada match was supposed to have started.
Asked about fans, some of whom had traveled from overseas, being left in the lurch, Maingot said they were taken into consideration.
"It is an important point and one we definitely took it into consideration," he said. "The local organizing committee was responsible for refunds or the reissue of tickets."
The China match was expected to attract 60,000 fans.
New Zealander Carolyn Thompson said the postponement had caused all sorts of problems.
"Now we have to decide whether we are going to stay for the game and miss our planes [back to New Zealand]," she said. "We have paid thousands of dollars to come here to watch the matches, so we must decide to either leave now, or pay thousands of dollars by missing our flight and paying for more hotels."
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS