Sat, Aug 15, 2020 page16

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Agencies
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  RUGBY UNION

  Van Wyk suspended

  Wellington Hurricanes winger Kobus van Wyk was yesterday suspended for three weeks, ruling him out of the final round of Super Rugby Aotearoa. Van Wyk was hauled before the SANZAAR judiciary over a spear tackle in a 31-18 win over the Waikato Chiefs on Saturday last week and pleaded guilty to the offense. It means the former Coastal Sharks wideman will sit out Saturday’s match against the Otago Highlanders in Dunedin. The fixture might be canceled because of New Zealand’s resurgent COVID-19 outbreak. With New Zealand’s domestic Super Rugby competition winding up this week and uncertainty over when a new season will start, when Van Wyk will finally complete his suspension is anyone’s guess.

  CRICKET

  Azhar Ali out in second Test

  Pakistan’s luck ran out as captain Azhar Ali on Thursday was dismissed after lunch before rain stopped play on the first day of the second Test against England in Southampton. Ali, who was nearly out for seven, fell for 20 when he edged paceman James Anderson and second slip Rory Burns, who had already dropped a catch, held on to a low chance. His dismissal meant Ali had made just one fifty in 11 Test innings since becoming skipper in November. He had come under pressure as a result of his own form and for the tactics he employed last week during a decisive stand of 139 between Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes that saw England come from behind to win the first Test at Old Trafford by three wickets. Rain and bad light, amid fears of a lightning strike, cut short play with Pakistan struggling at 126-5.

  SKATEBOARDING

  Trick renamed 40 years later

  For almost 40 years, the “mute grab” has been part of a skateboarder’s bag of tricks: grabbing the toe side of the board between their feet, while rotating “backside,” to land facing the opposite direction. Now, the trick is being renamed to better honor its inventor, Chris Weddle, a deaf skater who was never mute. The push to rechristen the trick the “Weddle grab” comes from pro skater Tony Hawk. Weddle was the first to do the new trick, and so some proposed that “it should be named after him,” Hawk wrote on Instagram. “They referred to him as the ‘quiet, mute guy.’ So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth.” Hawk said that Weddle had been “very gracious in his response but it is obvious that a different name would have honored his legacy... I asked him last year as I was diving into trick origins and he said he would have rather named it the ‘deaf’ or ‘Weddle’ grab if given the choice. His exact quote to me was ‘I am deaf, not mute.’”

  E-SPORTS

  Race prize hits record high

  The fourth official Formula One Esports Series starting this month is to have a record prize fund of US$750,000, the sport announced on Thursday. Last year’s prize fund was US$500,000, more than double what was on offer in 2018. Drivers representing the 10 real F1 teams are to compete remotely from homes and factories this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Formula One said a record 237,000 participants had attempted to qualify, compared with 109,000 last year, with that number whittled down to 45 entering this month’s Pro Draft.
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