E-SPORTS
Jordan invests in aXiomatic
NBA icon Michael Jordan is branching out into e-sports, investing in the parent company of Team Liquid, aXiomatic. Jordan was one of two new investors announced on Thursday by aXiomatic, along with Declaration Capital, the family office of Washington-based billionaire David Rubenstein. According to Forbes, the investments were part of a US$26 million funding round. “I’m excited to expand my sports equity portfolio through my investment in aXiomatic. E-sports is a fast-growing, international industry and I’m glad to partner with this great group of investors,” said Jordan, who joined his fellow Dream Team teammate Magic Johnson as an aXiomatic investor, as is Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL champions Washington Capitals. “The next generation of sports fans are e-sports fans,” Leonsis told ESPN in a statement. In 2016, aXiomatic acquired a majority stake in Team Liquid, one of the oldest and most popular teams in e-sports with more than 60 competitive gamers based out of Los Angeles and the Netherlands.
FOOTBALL
Official fired over failed call
An NFL official has been fired for poor performance. Down judge Hugo Cruz was on the officiating crew in Week 6 when the Los Angeles Chargers played the Browns in Cleveland. Cruz failed to call a false start on Chargers left tackle Russell Okung, and while the Browns’ defenders expected the play to be whistled dead, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers completed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Tyrell Williams. According to FootballZebras.com, he is the first official fired during the season for performance issues in the Super Bowl era.
SOCCER
Late substitute ban mulled
The International Football Association Board is keen to clamp down on time-wasting tactics, with a ban on injury-time substitutions one of the areas being considered to increase actual playing time, the Times reported yesterday. The board has observed that changes are being made after 90 minutes in one-quarter of English Premier League matches. “A rule to say there should be no substitutions during added-on time is an interesting one and could work well. Referees add on 30 seconds for a substitution, but in practice it can eat up a lot more time than that,” it said. The average playing time for a Premier League match is 55 minutes, 9 seconds this season, while Cardiff City’s clash against Burnley saw just more than 42 minutes of game time.
SOCCER
Women’s prize to double
FIFA president Gianni Infantino understands why female players are unhappy about the lack of gender equality in World Cup prize money, but on Thursday said that doubling the cash for finalists to US$30 million represents significant progress. Ahead of the FIFA Council yesterday ratifying the financial package for next year’s Women’s World Cup, players’ unions in Australia, Norway, Sweden and New Zealand wrote to FIFA to raise concerns about why there is vastly more cash set aside for the men’s tournament. France earned US$38 million for winning the men’s World Cup in July. A person with knowledge of the figures said the women’s champions next year are to earn US$4 million, which is twice the amount collected by the Americans in 2015.
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
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
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