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.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
RSS