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.
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
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