TENNIS
Paire fined for meltdown
France’s Benoit Paire on Wednesday was fined US$16,500 by the ATP Tour after a meltdown at the end of his first-round match at the Citi Open. Paire on Tuesday lost to Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Down 4-2 in the final set, the Frenchman netted an overhead smash to surrender a break and a 5-2 edge. He smashed his racket on the ground four times and kicked it in frustration. Baghdatis tried to calm Paire, but he hurled two more rackets onto the court, where a ball person collected them. After a weak effort on the final point of the match, he congratulated Baghdatis, then walked off to a chorus of boos, blowing the crowd kisses. The fine, more than double the prize money Paire made for his appearance, was issued for an audible obscenity, unsporting conduct and a lack of giving best effort.
OLYMPICS
Italy floats 2026 bid
The Italian National Olympic Committee on Wednesday voted to submit a joint bid formed by Milan, Turin and the Alpine resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo to host the 2026 Winter Olympics. The group’s executive committee unanimously backed the bid, which it said would be an “innovative project” that would that give “the greatest chances of success of the candidature for the whole of Italy,” it said in a statement. However, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala has already said that, while his city is willing to host events, it does not want any governance role in organizing the Games.
SOCCER
Peru soccer head under fire
Peruvian Football Federation president Edwin Oviedo is under growing pressure to resign as he faces accusations that he gave World Cup tickets to a judge who helped exclude him from a murder probe. Peru’s prime minister, lawmakers and scores of Peruvians have called for Oviedo to step down until he can clear his name. Oviedo has denied the accusations. Federation sports director Juan Carlos Oblitas on Wednesday said that the scandal could derail Peru’s bid to persuade widely respected coach Ricardo Gareca from signing a new four-year contract. Oblitas fell short of calling for Oviedo to resign, but he told journalists he felt “disgust, like all of you,” with wiretapped telephone conversations published by local media in which Supreme Court Judge Cesar Hinostroza appears to be arranging to get World Cup tickets from Oviedo. Hinostroza was one of five judges who ruled in favor of excluding Oviedo from a murder probe in 2016. Public prosecutors suspected Oviedo of leading a criminal gang that killed workers of his former sugar company.
SOCCER
Nasri’s doping ban extended
Former Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri’s doping ban was increased to 18 months following an appeal against the original six-month sanction, UEFA said. The Frenchman was handed the original suspension in February after UEFA found the 31-year-old “guilty of using a prohibited method.” The former France international’s lawyer had said that Nasri was sanctioned for receiving an intravenous drip treatment at a clinic in Los Angeles in 2016, when he was on loan at Sevilla from City. “The player Samir Nasri is allowed to return to training with any football club starting from 1 November 2018,” UEFA said on its Web site.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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