MOTOR RACING
Robert Manzon dies
French racer Robert Manzon, the last surviving driver from Formula One’s debut world championship season in 1950, has died at the age of 97. Friends of his family said the ex-Simca-Gordini racer, who was a founder of the former Grand Prix Drivers’ Club, died at home in the south of France. Manzon took part in 28 Grand Prix from 1950 to 1956, finishing on the podium twice. He was third in Belgium in 1952 in a Gordini and in France in 1954 driving a Ferrari. The 1950 season comprised seven races, starting at Silverstone in Britain and including the Indianapolis 500. The championship was won by Italian Alfa Romeo driver Giuseppe Farina.
RUGBY UNION
Jerry Collins joins Narbonne
Former All Blacks captain and back-row forward Jerry Collins has joined second-flight French club Narbonne as a stop-gap for the injured Rocky Elsom, the club said on Monday. Narbonne’s player-owner Elsom, a former Wallabies captain, has an injured shoulder that is expected to keep him on the sidelines for three months. The 34-year-old Collins has played in France before, at Toulon in the 2008-2009 season, after seven seasons in Wellington. Collins was most recently with Japanese outfit Yamaha Jubilo, but after being arrested for carrying a carving knife had been on a sabbatical year. He captained the All Blacks three times and played his last international for them in 2008.
GOLF
Woods loses tooth
Tiger Woods lost a front tooth after being hit in the face by a video camera while watching his girlfriend Lindsey Vonn take a record 63rd World Cup Alpine ski win in Italy on Monday, according to his agent. The former world No. 1 surprised Vonn when he turned up in the resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo for the Super-G race, but caused more of a stir when photographs showed a gap where his tooth had been. “During a crush of photographers at the awards’ podium at the World Cup event in Italy, a media member with a shoulder-mounted video camera pushed and surged towards the stage, turned and hit Tiger Woods in the mouth,” Mark Steinberg told USA Today. “Woods’ tooth was knocked out by the incident.”
JUDO
Cancer claims Japan great
Two-time Olympic gold medalist and former Japan national coach Hitoshi Saito has died, aged 54, after a battle with cancer. Saito won consecutive Olympic golds for the heavyweight over-95kg category at the 1984 Los Angeles Games and in 1988 in Seoul, in addition to the 1983 Moscow World Judo Championship. He also served as the coach for Japan’s national team for the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Games, training the likes of Athens gold medalist Keiji Suzuki. Saito’s stellar international career was nevertheless overshadowed by national hero Yasuhiro Yamashita, who won the open-weight category in the Los Angeles Olympics and was a nine-time Japanese national champion. Despite his Olympic achievements, Saito never beat Yamashita in their three meetings at the national championships, including one bout a year after the Los Angeles Olympics. “He was my biggest rival during my competitive years,” said Yamashita, who now serves as the deputy head of the All Japan Judo Federation, for which Saito served as a board member. Physicians found a tumor near Saito’s gallbladder in 2013, and his condition deteriorated at the end of last year, reports said.
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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