MOTOR RACING
CEO Agag admires Vettel
While Sebastian Vettel has turned his nose up at Formula E, describing the electric car racing series as “cheese,” its chief executive hopes the four-time Formula One champion would one day get behind the wheel of a battery-powered race car. “We’re big admirers of Vettel,” Alejandro Agag said on Thursday. “He just doesn’t like Formula E. Maybe one day we can convince him to come to Formula E.” A pack of high-pitch humming electric vehicles are to career through the streets of Buenos Aires today at speeds of up to 220kph in the fourth race of Formula E’s debut season. Agag hopes the series will help electric vehicles shrug off an image problem and fine-tune their technologies. Vettel’s comments, made before the inaugural race, would not have helped. “People don’t think of them as quick, as cool” Agag said. “We respect what Vettel thinks, but I also respect what Alain Prost thinks,” he said, referring to the former Formula One great who heads up the e.dams-Renault team.
HORSE RACING
Prize money increased
Dubai’s government-owned developer Meydan Group has boosted the prize money for today’s Endurance Cup to almost US$2.6 million and announced a series of European races to promote endurance riding, it said on Thursday. “We feel that endurance has been left out, so the prize money was enhanced to benchmark with other sports,” said Saeed Humaid al-Tayer, chairman of the group that runs Dubai’s opulent racecourse. Each foreign rider, except Gulf Arab nationals, who completes the challenging 160km Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum Endurance Cup will receive 100,000 dirhams (US$27,226). About 190 riders are expected to participate. The new series of endurance races are to be held in Britain, France, Italy and Spain this year, and culminate in Dubai next year.
CRICKET
Bond to quit after World Cup
New Zealand bowling coach Shane Bond is to step down after the World Cup, the nation’s cricket board said yesterday. Former Test bowler Bond would not be renewing his contract against the wishes of the board, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said, without elaborating on why the 39-year-old is withdrawing his services. “Make no bones about this... we’re very disappointed to be losing Shane,” NZC head of cricket Lindsay Crocker said in a statement. “He’s given great value to the Black Caps program and we were hopeful of having the benefit of his input over the next few seasons. However, we respect his decision and his reasons for making that decision, and wish him well in his endeavors post-World Cup.” New Zealand co-host the World Cup which begins next month with Australia
RUGBY UNION
Beale inks one-year deal
Controversial back Kurtley Beale has signed a one-year contract extension with the Australian Rugby Union which will take him through until after this year’s World Cup. The 26-year-old, who has played 49 Tests, was fined US$40,000 for sending an offensive photograph to team business manager Di Patston in June last year and escaped having his contract terminated because there was not enough evidence he sent a second, more lewd message. The scandal blew up on a flight from South Africa to Argentina during the Rugby Championship, when Beale and Patston argued. Beale was suspended and Patston returned to Australia and quit. The fallout included coach Ewen McKenzie, who quit in October last year.
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
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