ICE HOCKEY
Howe’s awareness improves
Gordie Howe’s family was hopeful the hockey great would be out of the hospital before the end of the night on Wednesday after being treated for dehydration. In a statement released by the Detroit Red Wings, Howe’s family said he was having difficulty eating solid foods and has been unable to walk for more than three weeks, but his mental awareness was improving enough that they were expecting him to be able to leave the hospital. The 86-year-old Howe suffered what his children called a serious stroke in late October. He has been staying at his daughter’s home in Lubbock, Texas. On Monday, Howe showed diminished consciousness to caregivers and physical therapy personnel and was taken to a hospital, but an MRI on Tuesday revealed he did not have another severe stroke.
TENNIS
Del Potro to return to Sydney
Defending champion Juan Martin del Potro has been granted a wild-card into next month’s Sydney International, organizers said yesterday. The 2009 US Open winner will start as the tournament favorite, despite a tough injury-blighted year. “Last year, I played some of my best tennis in Sydney and it is the perfect way to start the year,” the Argentine said. The tournament’s top seed will be Italian Fabio Fognini (world No. 20), while the second seed will go to Belgian David Goffin, ranked 22nd. Australians Nick Kyrgios and last year’s champion Bernard Tomic are also in the draw. The women’s side of the draw is headed by two-time Wimbledon champion and world No. 4 Petra Kvitova along with world No. 3 and French Open runner-up Simona Halep. The Sydney International takes place from Jan. 11 to Jan. 17.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
No ‘War Machine’ probation
A judge in Las Vegas revoked probation for former mixed martial arts fighter “War Machine” on a prior felony conviction while he awaits trial on charges that could get him life without parole for allegedly trying to kill his porn actress ex-girlfriend and her friend. Jonathan Paul Koppenhaver’s lawyer, Brandon Sua, said on Tuesday that Koppenhaver does not dispute leaving Nevada without permission before his August arrest at a hotel in the Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley. Koppenhaver was sought at the time after Christy Mack reported he attacked her and a male friend at her Las Vegas house. Koppenhaver faces trial on Feb. 17 in that case. The judge on Tuesday invoked a one-to-four year sentence that she suspended in February 2012 after Koppenhaver’s guilty plea in a felony attempted battery case.
AUSTRALIA
Women ‘second-class’
The country’s former women’s field hockey coach says female athletes are treated as “second-class citizens” when it comes to sponsorships and media coverage. Ric Charlesworth, who coached the nation’s women’s team to Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000, and is now an ambassador for the Australian Womensport & Recreation Association, yesterday said there needed to be a change in the public’s attitude toward women’s sport. Charlesworth, also a former men’s hockey player and Olympian, says “the issue is societal ... you only have to look at the boardrooms around to country to understand that occurs.” He says despite female athletes’ success internationally, women are “paid a token by their sports federations compared to their male counterparts, and they have to make enormous sacrifices to represent their clubs and country.”
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
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 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
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
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