TENNIS
US Open site to host beds
A portion of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center was set to transform yesterday into a 350-bed temporary hospital, the USTA said, as the COVID-19 pandemic strains resources in New York City. Chris Widmaier, spokesman for the US Tennis Association, which owns the tennis center, said that the conversion of an indoor tennis facility on the venue would begin yesterday. “We’re here to help — no two ways about it,” Widmaier said. “New York is our home. We’re all in this together.”
GOLF
Augusta donates US$2m
Augusta National Golf Club, which in most years would be preparing to host the Masters, on Monday announced that it would give US$2 million to help fight the pandemic in the US’ southeast. The donation to the Community Foundation for the Central Savannah River Area features US$1 million to Augusta University for immediate expansion of coronavirus testing and US$1 million to the emergency response fund to relief efforts to the area’s most vulnerable people. “We believe Augusta National has an important responsibility to support and protect the community who has so generously and consistently supported us for many years,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said.
SOCCER
Aston Villa to fine Grealish
Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish is to be disciplined and fined for ignoring government guidance to stay at home during the pandemic, the English Premier League club said on Monday. Media had reported that West Midlands Police opened an investigation after Grealish was photographed leaving an estate in the suburbs of Birmingham on Sunday morning. The 24-year-old Grealish apologized in a video on Twitter shortly before Villa issued a statement. “I just got a call from a friend asking to go around to his and I stupidly agreed to do so,” Grealish said. “I don’t want anyone to make the same mistake that I did, so I urge everyone to stay at home.”
NFL
Safety at stadium doubted
A day after a construction worker at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, was revealed to have tested positive for COVID-19, a second worker is “presumed positive,” the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday. Construction continues on the US$5 billion stadium in efforts to have it ready for the NFL season in the fall. “If they want to get the stadium done, they need to provide something to minimize the risk of exposing anyone,” an electrician said. Many workers are torn between safety and the need to work, the Times added.
SOCCER
Brazilian boss freed early
Former Brazilian Football Confederation president Jose Maria Marin, convicted in the sport’s global bribery scandal, became one of the highest-profile prisoners in the US to win release amid the pandemic. US District Judge Pamela Chen in Brooklyn on Monday granted the release of Marin, 87, from a federal prison camp in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. His lawyers had made an emergency request for his release, citing the virus, his medical history and his advanced age. It came amid reports that at least one inmate at the adjacent, maximum-security penitentiary has tested positive for COVID-19.
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
RSS