OLYMPICS
Tokyo ‘best prepared’ city
A year before hosting the Olympics, Tokyo is better prepared than any other city in that has hosted the Games, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said yesterday. Bach came to Tokyo to attend several events marking one year until the opening ceremony in the almost-completed National Stadium. Only three Olympic venues remain to be finished. About 3.22 million tickets were sold during the first domestic sales phase last month, while more than 200,000 people have applied to be volunteers in an indication of the building excitement.
Photo: EPA-EFE
BOXING
Changes to Hall of Fame
The International Boxing Hall of Fame is making changes to its voting process, shortening the retirement time for consideration and creating two categories for female fighters. The categories for female boxers are Trailblazer, boxers whose last bout was no later than 1988, and Modern, those whose last contest came no earlier than 1989. Female and male boxers must be retired for at least three years before the end of the calendar year in which voting takes place, meaning that boxers who last fought in 2016 are now eligible for consideration.
MANAGEMENT
Cowboys top richest list
The Dallas Cowboys top Forbes’ list of the world’s most valuable sports clubs for the fourth straight year as English Premier League giants Manchester United slipped four places to sixth. In figures released on Tuesday, Forbes pegged the value of the Cowboys at US$5 billion. The NFL club generate twice as much sponsorship and seating revenue at their AT&T Stadium than any other team, the publication said. The MLB’s New York Yankees jumped from fifth to second, their value coming in at US$4.6 billion. Twenty-six of the NFL’s 32 teams appear on the list of 50, while the Yankees are among seven MLB teams to feature. La Liga giants Real Madrid (US$4.24 billion) and Barcelona (US$4.02 billion), and the NBA’s New York Knicks (US$4 billion) round out the top five. Manchester United saw their value drop from US$4.12 billion to US$3.18 billion.
SOCCER
Player reverses coming out
A Twitter user who claimed to be an anonymous English Football League Championship player intending to come out as gay has reversed his decision, saying he is “not strong enough to do this.” Having previously declared his intention to hold a news conference yesterday at which he would reveal his identity after a series of tweets about his experiences, @FootballerGay on Tuesday posted two messages before deleting the account that had amassed more than 50,000 followers. Former England striker Gary Lineker and Burton Albion forward Marvin Sordell were among those to publicly express their support for the player, who is believed to be under the age of 23 and currently playing in a Championship club. Justin Fashanu remains the only British male player to have publicly come out while playing in the Football League, in 1990.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
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