OLYMPICS
Rio mayor wants shutdown
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paesis is to ask some of the city’s biggest companies to shut down during next year’s Olympic Games to make transportation easier for athletes and officials. Paes said he was planning to meet next month with leaders of the judicial branch and bosses at state-controlled oil company Petrobras and the BNDES, a major development bank. “I should call a meeting by March with judicial officials and big companies, such as Petrobras, BNDES and other big employers in Rio, so we can have a holiday period during the Olympics,” Paes said on Tuesday. “I don’t want people to leave the city, we want them to stay, but it is clear that mobility will be affected during the Olympics.” Paes said he would reschedule school holidays to ensure fewer cars are on the roads and warned he may call public holidays during the event, which will run from Aug. 5 to Aug. 21 next year. Rio, which has some of the worst traffic congestion in Brazil, was one of the cities that declared public holidays on match days during last year’s World Cup. The measure was taken to cut down on traffic chaos. Brazil’s cities have poor public transportation networks and although Rio has added kilometers of new bus lanes ahead of the Games, a scheduled new metro line is late and may not be open on time.
GOLF
Love to captain US at Ryder
Former PGA Championship winner Davis Love III will captain the US in next year’s Ryder Cup match against holders Europe at Hazeltine in Minnesota, the PGA of America said on Tuesday. It will be the second time Love, 50, has led the team in the biennial event, as he oversaw the “Miracle of Medinah” defeat in 2012, when Europe stormed back from 10-6 down heading into the final day to win by 14.5 points to 13.5. “I am here with the same goal as in 2012, but not as the same captain,” Love said during his introductory news conference. Love, who won his sole major at the 1997 PGA Championship, played in six consecutive Ryder Cups from 1993. He tasted victory on his first appearance and in 1999. Europe have won eight of the past 10 Ryder Cups.
FOOTBALL
Lions linked to ARL’s Hayne
Australian Rugby League (ARL) standout Jarryd Hayne could be taking his talents to the NFL’s Detroit Lions, with reports saying he will sign with the US club this week. From the NFL’s Web site to the Mlive site for a Michigan regional newspaper group on Tuesday, reports said the 27-year-old Parramatta Eels playmaker is set to join the Lions as a running back and potentially a kick returner as well. Hayne, who shared National Rugby League Player of the Year honors this season with Johnathan Thurston of the North Queensland Cowboys, said in October last year that he would leave rugby league to pursue an NFL career. Hayne performed in December last year for scouts from about half the teams in the NFL and his hand-held 4.5 second clocking for the 40 yard dash would have placed him among the top 10 in the unofficial rankings at the recent NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “My 4.5 on my pro day puts me in the mix,” Hayne said in a Twitter posting. The Mlive report said Hayne had chosen the Lions over other interested teams such as last year’s Super Bowl champions the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers. Hayne, likely a tailback rather than a fullback, could help a team that was fifth-worst in rushing last season with Joique Bell and Reggie Bush as running backs. The Lions have tried rugby talent before, signing US Rugby Sevens’ Carlin Isles to the practice squad, but he never made the final roster.
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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