SOCCER
Spray to police offside
A vanishing spray which has been used in South America for several years to stop defensive walls creeping forward at free-kicks will feature at next month’s World Club Cup in Morocco next month, FIFA said on Wednesday. FIFA said the spray had been tested at this year’s Under-20 and Under-17 World Cups with “very good overall feedback from the participating referees.” Referees pace the regulation 9.15m between the ball and the nearest defender before spraying a line on the pitch to mark the correct position of the wall. The line then disappears from the pitch within a minute. The spray was developed in Brazil, where it was first used, and Argentina and is licensed by the Argentine company 9.15 Fair Play Limit.
SOCCER
Bulgarian club claims foul
Levski Sofia want the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) to annul Saturday’s 0-0 Cup draw at city rivals CSKA, saying the hosts fielded a player who failed to turn out for the Bulgaria Under-21 side despite being selected. The 26-times Bulgarian champions want the BFU to award them a 3-0 victory in the first leg of the round-of-16 tie. “Any other decision would be in flagrant contradiction with the general principles laid down by FIFA and UEFA,” Levski said in a letter sent to the BFU on Wednesday. “Moreover, it will set a precedent that will ensure impunity for clubs who refuse to release players for national teams.” CSKA midfielder Ivaylo Chochev was included in the Bulgaria Under-21 squad for the European qualifiers against Denmark on Friday last week and Slovenia on Tuesday, but the club refused to release him because of the “eternal derby,” as matches with Levski are known.
RUGBY UNION
Fiji protest yellow cards
Fiji on Thursday announced plans to lodge a formal complaint about a referee who handed the Pacific Islanders a world record of five yellow cards in a Test against Italy last weekend. Fiji were briefly reduced to 11 men in the first half of the 37-31 loss in Cremona, Italy, when four players were sin-binned during eight minutes of mayhem. Another yellow followed in the second half and Italy also had captain Sergio Parisse sent to the sin bin during his 100th appearance. Fiji Rugby Union acting chief executive Berlin Kafoa said the cards cost his team the match and said they resulted more from overzealous officiating by Welsh referee Leighton Hodges than poor discipline.
CRICKET
Teenager hits huge score
A 14-year-old Indian batsman smashed an astonishing 546 off 330 balls in a school match in Mumbai, recording the third-highest score in any form of cricket, media reports said on Wednesday. Prithvi Shaw, playing for Rizvi Springfield school, compiled the huge score against St Francis school in the Harris Shield, a tournament that brought batting icon Sachin Tendulkar into the limelight more than two decades ago. Shaw hit 85 fours and five sixes, surpassing the previous best score in the competition of 498 by Armaan Jaffar, nephew of former Indian opener Wasim Jaffar, two years ago, the Times Now and CNN-IBN channels said. Shaw’s innings was spread over two days after he was unbeaten on 257 on Tuesday evening. Indian statistician Mohandas Menon tweeted that Shaw’s effort was the third-highest recorded score behind the unbeaten 628 by Englishman Arthur Collins in 1899 and 566 by Charles Eady of Australia in 1901.
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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