■OLYMPICS
Local veteran dies aged 96
Henry Hsu (徐亨), a former member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), passed away at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Tuesday at the age of 96. A spokesman for the hospital said Hsu died from heart failure on Tuesday afternoon, six months after he was admitted to the hospital suffering from uremia and pneumonia. Hsu made a name for himself as an athlete by winning a gold medal in volleyball at the Ninth Far East Games in Tokyo in 1930 and in soccer at the 10th Far East Games in 1934. He later became a successful hotel tycoon. Hsu headed the Republic of China Olympic Committee between 1973 and 1974. He was elected to the IOC in 1970 and retired from it in 1988, according to the IOC’s Web site.
■YACHTING
Sailor presumed dead
A 72-year-old Slovenian aiming to become the oldest man to sail non-stop around the world is presumed dead after his yacht was found abandoned off Australia’s west coast, authorities said yesterday. Jure Sterk set off from New Zealand in his 9m yacht in October 2007, hoping to make history both as the oldest man to circumnavigate the globe non-stop and in the smallest boat without an engine. He kept contact with amateur radio enthusiasts, and last reported in early last month when he was believed to be 1,900km from the west Australian coast, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. Sterk encountered some bad weather around Dec. 26, but told ham radio contacts he was not in danger, an AMSA spokeswoman said. A month later a merchant vessel spotted the badly damaged yacht abandoned and without its lifeboat 1,200km from the coast. Medical experts advised AMSA that there was no chance of him surviving the period since his last radio contact in open seas, and Jiggins said he was now presumed dead. Sterk never activated his emergency distress beacon, and his fate would remain a mystery, she added.
■BASEBALL
Bonds sample positive
Barry Bonds’ urine sample that he provided as part of the anonymous testing that baseball conducted in 2003 has tested positive for performance-enhancing substances, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Bonds had provided samples that did not test positive under Major League Baseball’s drug-testing program, but those samples were retested after they were seized in a 2004 raid, the newspaper reported. The new information could be a key factor in Bonds’ perjury trial, which is slated to begin on March 2. Citing sources, the newspaper reported last week that authorities detected anabolic steroids in urine samples linked to Bonds that they gathered in their investigation.
■RALLYING
Mitsubishi drops rally
Mitsubishi Motors will no longer compete in the Dakar Rally for financial reasons, the company said yesterday. The announcement came as Japan’s fourth-largest automaker said its group net loss will amount to ¥60 billion (US$670 million) in the fiscal year through March. “The sudden deterioration of the global economy made it necessary for the company to focus its resources more tightly,” Mitsubishi said in a statement. In its 26 entries in the Dakar Rally, Mitsubishi Pajeros won the rally a total of 12 times, including seven consecutive victories from 2001 to 2007. The Japanese manufacturer finished seventh in the car section of this year’s race.
Andre de Grasse, the reigning Olympic champion in the men’s 200m, and many other top-class international athletes are to showcase their talent in Taipei at the Taiwan Athletics Open early next month, according to the event’s official Web site. The Canadian sprinter, who clocked 19.62 seconds to top the podium in Tokyo in 2021, is to compete at the Taipei Stadium after the two-day event was upgraded to a leg of the World Athletics Continental Tour. The elevated status of the Taiwan Athletics Open means participants can earn more ranking points, making it possible for the Chinese Taipei Athletics Association (CTAA), the
Novak Djokovic on Sunday described his shock third-round elimination from the Internazionali BNL d’Italia by Alejandro Tabilo as “concerning,” two days after he was hit on the head by a bottle, which he said has caused nausea and dizzy spells. Djokovic’s bid for a record-extending 41st Masters 1000 title was ended in just more than an hour by Chilean Tabilo, who is ranked 32nd in the world and claimed his first win over a top-10 opponent, 6-2, 6-3. The 24-time Grand Slam winner said that his subdued performance on a court where he has won six titles might have been due to
Alexander Zverev on Wednesday reached his 18th ATP Masters semi-final in Rome, but only after a worrying fall which sparked memories of the horror injury he had at the French Open two years ago. The world No. 5 from Germany defeated Taylor Fritz of the US 6-4, 6-3 in Italian Open to set up a last-four duel with Alejandro Tabilo, the Chilean journeyman who had stunned world No. 1 Novak Djokovic earlier in the tournament. Zverev’s moment of concern came in just the third game on center court at the Foro Italico when he fell on the clay and landed on his
TO REAL MADRID? Kylian Mbappe informed PSG privately in February of his intention to depart when his contract expires, but this was the first time he acknowledged it publicly French soccer player Kylian Mbappe on Friday confirmed that he is to leave French champions Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season, with Real Madrid widely expected to be his next destination. The announcement brings an end to a prolific association with his hometown team, which began when he signed from AS Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth 180 million euros (US$194 million). “I wanted to announce to you all that it’s my last year at Paris Saint-Germain. I will not extend and the adventure will come to an end in a few weeks,” Mbappe, 25, said in a video