TENNIS
Djokovic donates to Serbia
Tennis world No. 1 Novak Djokovic yesterday said that he is donating 1 million euros (US$1.12 million) to help his native Serbia buy respirators and other gear to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The player was speaking in a videoconference call from Marbella, Spain, where he and his family are hunkering down under nationwide lockdown orders. “Our donation is for the purchase of life-saving respirators and other sanitary equipment,” the tennis star said, adding that he also plans to start “posting physical exercises I do in our apartment on social networks.”
CRICKET
English mull virus checks
The England and Wales Cricket Board is considering installing coronavirus checkpoints and isolation units at grounds so that games could restart behind closed doors. The board last week announced that no professional cricket would be played before May 28 at the earliest, but the board is stepping up its planning for a potential resumption of international action with no spectators. “We’re mapping out what international matches would look like behind closed doors,” Director of Special Projects Steve Elworthy told the Guardian. “You have to think about ... creating a safe and sterile environment around that venue so that everyone who comes in is clear. So it’s how you test them at the gate, the isolation units that you have to put in.”
OLYMPICS
Athletes qualified until 2021
Olympic officials have confirmed that the 6,200 or so athletes who had already punched their ticket for Tokyo would keep their spots for the rescheduled Games next year. The decision, agreed to by all of the international sports organizations, resolves one of the key questions for marathoners, open-water swimmers and hundreds of other athletes whose qualifying process came early in the sports calendar this year, before the coronavirus started shutting down sports across the globe. Still to be determined is how the 33 sports that make up the Olympics would allocate the rest of the spots at the rescheduled games.
GOLF
Fire destroys Love’s home
Two-time US Ryder Cup captain and 1997 PGA Championship winner Davis Love’s home was destroyed by fire yesterday, but there were no injuries in the early morning blaze. The 55-year-old resident of Saint Simons Island, Georgia — near the site of a PGA Tour event — revealed the incident in a Twitter post. “While everyone in our family is saddened at the loss of our home ... we’re very blessed that everyone is safe and unharmed,” Love said in a statement. “We’re keeping things in perspective as people across our community and around the world are struggling with the current unprecedented health crisis.” Love was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2017.
SOCCER
Dybala back in training
Juventus forward Paulo Dybala, one of the highest-profile players to be infected with COVID-19, has started training again after recovering from the illness. Dybala is one of three players at Juventus who have tested positive, alongside defender Daniele Rugani and midfielder Blaise Matuidi. Players at other Serie A clubs have also tested positive. “I’ve had strong symptoms, but I’m much better today,” Dybala, 26, told the Juventus television channel. “Now, I can move and walk and try to work out. A few days ago, when I tried to do those things, I was struggling for breath. My muscles ached.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
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