■ FORMULA ONE
Singapore to host night race
Singapore will host its first Formula One race next season -- and it will be the sport's first at night. The World Motor Sport Council on Wednesday released the F1 schedule for next year, and Singapore was listed as the 15th event on the 18-race calendar. It will be held on a street circuit on Sept. 28. The season will begin in Melbourne, Australia, on March 13. The calendar also includes 10 races in Europe, along with others in Malaysia, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, China and Brazil.
■ FOOTBALL
NFL bolsters medical fund
The NFL added US$10 million to its medical fund for retired players on Wednesday, designating the money for joint replacement surgery, cardiovascular screening and assisted living. The sum will be added to a US$7 million fund agreed upon in July by the league and its players' union. It will be supplemented by money from player fines, contribution from the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) and other retired players groups. This is the latest step in a dispute concerning retired players and their pensions. Last year, a group of prominent retirees targeted Gene Upshaw, the NFLPA's executive director, for paying too much attention to current players and not enough to former players. In May, the NFL, the NFLPA, the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the NFL alumni association formed what was dubbed "The Alliance" to help retired players. Two months later, commissioner Roger Goodell, Upshaw and 11 retired players met in Washington and announced a US$7 million fund for medical needs.
■ FORMULA ONE
Spyker to change its name
The Spyker team will be renamed Force India in the next Formula One season. The World Motor Sport council allowed the name change at a meeting on Wednesday. The team, based in Silverstone, England, was bought by Indian businessman Vijay Mallya and Dutch entrepreneur Michiel Mol earlier this month. Mallya and Mol are the third owners in two years for the former Jordan team. The Midland group took over in 2005, before selling to Spyker in September last year. Adrian Sutil was the most successful driver for Spyker this season with one point for the team to finish last in the constructors' championship. The other Spyker drivers -- Sakon Yamamoto, Christian Albers and Markus Winkelhock -- finished in the final three places in the standings. Albers was fired in July because of commercial difficulties. He was first replaced by Albers, then Yamamoto.
■ BASKETBALL
Heat swap Walker for Davis
The Miami Heat shipped discontented Antoine Walker to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Ricky Davis on Wednesday as part of a five-player swap between the NBA teams. The Heat also received veteran center Mark Blount, and the Timberwolves acquired forwards Michael Doleac and Wayne Simien along with a conditional first-round draft pick. Walker, 31, joins his fifth team since the beginning of the 2003-2004 season. Although he helped the Heat to the NBA championship last year, Walker never seemed quite at home in Miami, battling injury and weight problems. He clashed with coach Pat Riley and served a brief team-imposed suspension last season over his body-fat measurements, which were outside team limits.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
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