RUGBY UNION
Strawbridge conscious
Waikato Chiefs assistant coach Andrew Strawbridge has woken up and is communicating with his family, but remains in a serious condition in hospital, the Super Rugby team said yesterday. Strawbridge, who is also a technical advisor to the Samoa national rugby team, was admitted to an Apia hospital last week with an infection in his right eye after taking ill on a flight from New Zealand before his condition “deteriorated rapidly.” He arrived back in New Zealand in an air ambulance on Friday last week and was taken to Waikato Hospital in Hamilton, where he had been listed as being in a critical, but stable condition since his arrival. “Andrew Strawbridge is awake and in a serious, stable condition in the Waikato Hospital Intensive Care Unit,” the Chiefs said in a statement. “Despite not being out of the woods yet, Strawbridge has been talking to medical staff and to his wife Laura and sister Susan.” The Chiefs said he had asked his wife to convey his thanks to medical staff in Samoa. The Samoan national side had also sent him a video message from the US, where they are preparing for the Pacific Nations Cup. The 50-year-old Strawbridge had flown to Samoa to help the team prepare to host New Zealand in a one-off test in Apia on Wednesday last week, which the All Blacks won 25-16.
CRICKET
Graft deters JSW entry
India’s JSW Group, a US$11 billion conglomerate with interests ranging from steel to power, is shelving plans to buy a cricket team in the highly profitable Indian Premier League, blaming the “negative aura” of the corruption-hit competition. Some of India’s biggest corporate names are investors in teams competing in what is the world’s most lucrative cricket league — including Reliance Industries, builder GMR Infrastructure, and United Spirits, owned by British beverages group Diageo PLC. Local media had reported that JSW, controlled by billionaire Sajjan Jindal, was in talks with Diageo to buy United Spirits’ stake in Royal Challengers Bangalore in a US$100 million deal. The holding is a relic of the time United Spirits was run by flamboyant liquor baron Vijay Mallya. “I think it’s a no at this point of time, purely based on the whole negative aura that has been generated,” said Parth Jindal, son of Sajjan Jindal and the family member who oversees the conglomerate’s sports interests. “We don’t want our brand to be associated with a league that is so tainted at the moment.”
OLYMPICS
Tokyo stadium costs US$2bn
When the dust settles on the marquee venue for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, it could well be the most expensive sports stadium in the world. The latest cost estimate of ￥252 billion (US$2 billion) would push it beyond the current record-holder, the US$1.6 billion MetLife stadium completed in 2010 for the New York Jets and Giants football teams. What is the money buying? The design of the stadium’s ribbed roof on huge steel arches resembles a bicycle helmet. To support a natural grass field, the roof’s southern end will be translucent to let in sunlight and underground will be soil ventilation and temperature control systems. Movable seats will bring the crowd closer for more intimate events, and this being Japan, the stadium will have earthquake-resistant features. Japan’s new National Stadium will likely to be the most expensive ever built, two sports economists said. The latest estimate was a 55 percent increase over an earlier one of ￥163 billion.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
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