SNOWBOARDING
Alex Pullin dead at 32
Australia’s double world champion snowboarder Alex Pullin drowned while spear fishing off a Gold Coast beach yesterday. Pullin, Australia’s flagbearer at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was found by a snorkeler on an artificial reef just before 11am in waters off Palm Beach, Australian Broadcasting Corp reported. Lifeguards and paramedics attempted to resuscitate the 32-year-old on the beach after pulling him from the water, but he did not survive. “He didn’t have an oxygen mask, we understand he was free diving and spearfishing out on the reef,” Gold Coast Police District Duty Officer Chris Tritton told Australian broadcaster Channel Nine. “It appears he was diving alone. There were other divers out there, but he was not with a friend.” Brisbane-based newspaper the Courier-Mail reported that Pullin was thought to have “suffered a shallow water blackout.” Pullin, nicknamed “Chumpy,” won world championship titles in snowboard cross in 2011 and 2013. “It is an incredibly sad day,” Olympic Winter Institute of Australia chief executive officer Geoff Lipshut said. Pullin had last month retired from his sport, but had yet to announce it, Lipshut said. “Alex ‘Chumpy’ Pullin was one of our great winter sports pioneers... He attacked every day with intensity and purpose,” he added.
FOOTBALL
Eagles player in post furor
Philadelphia Eagles receiver DeSean Jackson on Tuesday apologized for a series of social media posts condemned as anti-Semitic, and slammed by his team as “offensive and appalling.” Jackson triggered an outcry after posting comments he attributed to Adolf Hitler and separate posts praising Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Instagram. White Jews “will extort America, their plan for world domination won’t work if the Negroes know who they were,” one excerpt read. Jackson also shared posts about Farrakhan, who has been branded anti-Semitic by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. “I do not have hatred towards anyone. I really didn’t realize what this passage was saying... This was a mistake to post this and I truly apologize for posting it and sorry for any hurt I have caused,” Jackson wrote on Instagram. The Eagles condemned Jackson’s posts in a strongly worded statement, hinting that the team might take disciplinary action against the 33-year-old.
SOCCER
Brazilians laugh at loss
Six years after Brazil suffered their most humiliating experience on a soccer pitch, the 7-1 FIFA World Cup thrashing on home soil at the hands of Germany has become a joke, an expression and even a meme. That infamous scoreline has taken on a meaning of its own to describe any kind of defeat or a heavy blow — physical or figurative. “They gave us a one-seven” or “that was a one-seven” has entered into common parlance in the land more accustomed to stunning victories and brilliant achievements. It was July 8, 2014, when the five-time champions suffered the worst defeat in their history and the biggest-ever loss by a team that has won the World Cup. The scoreline is not the only thing from that game to have become a cultural reference in Brazil. Now, when describing something that happens repeatedly, Brazilians say “and a German goal” or “was that another German goal?”
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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