SOCCER
Palace, Pulis part company
Manager Tony Pulis has parted company with Crystal Palace by mutual consent less than 48 hours before they kick off their Premier League season against Arsenal, British media reported on Thursday. The 56-year-old held talks with co-chairman Steve Parish earlier in the day following reports that the pair’s relationship had broken down. The BBC said assistant manager Keith Millen would take temporary charge of Palace for today’s trip to the Emirates Stadium. Pulis achieved a minor miracle to steer the Londoners clear of the drop last season. The bookmakers made the promoted team the favorites for relegation at the start of the campaign and they were second-from-bottom when the former Stoke City boss took over from Ian Holloway at Selhurst Park in November last year. However, Palace went from strength to strength under Pulis and ended the season in 11th place after a five-match winning streak. Among the early favorites to replace Pulis at Palace are former Manchester United manager David Moyes and former Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay.
SOCCER
Antonio Conte to coach Italy
Former Juventus boss Antonio Conte was named the new coach of Italy on Thursday on a two-year contract, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced. The 45-year-old was widely expected to take over from Cesare Prandelli, who stepped down after Italy’s group-stage exit at the World Cup finals in Brazil. FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio said Conte, who will earn 2 million euros (US$2.7 million) a year, will be presented at a press conference on Tuesday in Rome. Conte’s first match in charge will be on Sept. 4 when Italy face the Netherlands in a friendly. Five days later, Italy begin their Euro 2016 qualifying Group H campaign in Norway and the pressure will be on for a team whose failure in Brazil was the second successive World Cup at which they had failed to get out of the group stage. With a contract running until July 31, 2016, Conte has a mission “to relaunch the national team and develop new players from across the federation’s training centers,” a FICG statement said.
CYCLING
Contador to ride la Vuelta
Alberto Contador will take part in this month’s Vuelta a Espana after recovering faster than expected from a shinbone fracture, the Spaniard said on Thursday. “I’ve been riding the bicycle for 10 days and yesterday was the first day I could climb a mountain pass without knee pain,” the Tinkoff-Saxo rider said in a statement. Double Tour de France champion Contador broke his shinbone during the 10th stage of the Tour last month and was expected to sit out the Vuelta. However, he plans to start the race on Aug. 23 without any general classification ambitions, only targeting stage wins. Contador has won the Vuelta twice, in 2008 and 2012, and also the Giro d’Italia six years ago.
GOLF
Higginbottom leads in Fiji
Australian youngster Jake Higginbottom took a two-shot lead in the inaugural Fiji International at Natadola Bay yesterday after shooting a second round three-under 69. His round in windy conditions put the 20-year-old on seven-under for the tournament, two strokes ahead of compatriots Cameron Smith, Andrew Dodt and Steve Jeffress. Higginbottom sank four birdies, with a bogey on the ninth the only blemish on his score card. Local hero Vijay Singh struggled on a course he designed in 2009, shooting two-over to leave him in 43rd.
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
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
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
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
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