COMMONWEALTH
Athletes face deportation
A group of African athletes who went missing during the Games must give themselves up or face deportation, Australian Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said yesterday. Eight athletes from Cameroon, two from Uganda and a Rwandan para-powerlifting coach went missing after the Games, local media reported. The athletes will be in Australia illegally from midnight yesterday, when their visas expired, unless they have taken legal steps to stay. Some of the athletes had contacted a refugee advice center in Sydney, the Daily Telegraph reported. “Some have been to us for advice,” Refugee Advice and Casework Service solicitor Ben Lumsdaine told the paper.
FORMULA TWO
Driver says halo saved him
Japanese driver Tadasuke Makino said the new “halo” head protection device might have saved his life in the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. The driver escaped uninjured after the car driven by compatriot Nirei Fukuzumi was launched into the air during the sprint race. The car came down on top of Makino’s cockpit, with the left-rear wheel hitting the halo, a titanium ring that shields the driver’s head, but has been criticized by some on aesthetic grounds. Makino told motorsport.com he thought the tire would have hit his helmet without the halo. International Automobile Federation race director Charlie Whiting agreed that Makino could have been the first beneficiary of the device. “We will do an incident investigation on that one because judging by the photos we’ve seen, and the accident itself, it looks very much as if it could have been a lot worse without the halo,” he said.
CYCLING
Allergy forces retirement
France’s double Olympic mountain bike champion Julien Absalon on Monday announced his retirement from the sport citing his allergy to pollen. “I’ve been suffering from allergies to pollen in the south of France for the past three years, mostly at the start of the season,” Absalon told the L’Equipe.fr Web site. Absalon is also allergic to pollen in the north of Europe, a condition that leaves him “struggling to breathe” and “with a taste of blood in my windpipe.” Although a therapeutic use exemption certificate would allow him to relieve the symptoms, he said: “I don’t like to take too many medicines... My main aim is now to focus 100 percent on my team Absolute Absalon and dedicate myself to managing it full time.”
FOOTBALL
Manning, Giants settle suit
Eli Manning, the New York Giants and Steiner Sports, a memorabilia company, on Monday reached a settlement that ended a civil lawsuit accusing the quarterback of fraudulently passing off helmets as “game-used.” No financial terms were announced. “The compromise agreement, entered into by all parties, should not be viewed as supporting any allegations, claims or defenses. All parties are grateful to have the matter, which began in 2014, concluded and are now focused on football, the fans and the future,” the Giants said in a statement. Plaintiffs Eric Inselberg, Michael Jakab and Sean Godown alleged that in 2010, Manning sent an e-mail asking a Giants equipment manager for two helmets that “can pass as game-used.” Manning has a deal with Steiner Sports to provide memorabilia.
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
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
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
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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