EURO 2012
England tickets not selling
Tickets for England’s matches at Euro 2012 are plummeting in price, with many fans seemingly unwilling to make the long journey to Ukraine, ticket marketplace Seatwave said on Thursday. England are usually one of the best supported nations at major soccer tournaments, but a recent change of coach and a series of injuries are likely to have dampened enthusiasm. Prices for Monday’s Group D opener against France have now dropped to under 40 euros (US$50.25) each. Tickets for the group matches against Sweden and Ukraine are even cheaper, Seatwave said. It is not just England affected. Tickets for the big Group B clash between rivals the Netherlands and Germany are on sale for just 19 euros, despite a face value price starting at 30 euros. Prices for Spain’s matches are holding up much better.
EURO 2012
Players recover from bug
Ukraine’s players have recovered from a mysterious stomach bug and they hope to surprise Sweden when the pair meet in their Euro 2012 opener on Monday, coach Oleg Blokhin said. “Twenty-three players are ready for the game against Sweden,” Blokhin told reporters. The illness swept through the squad this week and almost led to the cancellation of last Tuesday’s friendly against Turkey, which Ukraine lost 2-0. Blokhin, who previously said he suspected “sabotage,” refused to discuss the issue on Thursday. “More than two days have passed, the lads feel fine,” he said. “The topic is closed.” Blokhin said the co-hosts, who performed poorly in the Turkey friendly, would vastly improve in their first Group D game. “You will see a different team, I am sure,” he said.
EURO 2012
Russian fans plan to march
Warsaw has no plans to reject any request by Russian fans to march through the city when their team play Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland on Tuesday, despite concerns that it could lead to violence because of tension between the two neighbors. “Of course, we will accept the registration when it appears, just as we would with the Greeks, Germans, Spaniards or Dutch,” Warsaw Mayor Hanna-Gronkiewicz Waltz said, adding that the city has not yet received such a request. A spokesman for a Russian fan organization told a Polish television station it would apply to register a march through the Polish capital to the National Stadium, where Russia face their Group A rivals. June 12 is a national holiday in Russia. The relationship between the two countries, already strained by their common history, energy and security disputes, has been further soured by charges from Poland’s rightist politicians that Russia was at least indirectly responsible for a plane crash that killed Polish president Lech Kaczynski two years ago.
OCEANIA NATIONS CUP
Minnows stun All Whites
New Caledonia pulled off a massive upset when they beat regional heavyweight New Zealand 2-0 in the semi-finals of the Oceania Nations Cup yesterday, earning a place opposite Tahiti in tomorrow’s final. Goals to Bertrand Kai and Georges Gope-Fenepej clinched New Caledonia’s win over New Zealand, who represented the Oceania region at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Tahiti earlier beat hosts the Solomon Islands 1-0, defending a 15th-minute goal by Jonathan Tehau. The winner of the eight-nation tournament is set to represent Oceania at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil. The semi-finalists progress to the next stage of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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