SOCCER
Barca fire Quique Setien
Barcelona have sacked Quique Setien as coach, the club confirmed on Monday. “The new coach will be announced in the coming days as part of a wide ranging restructuring of the first team,” Barca wrote on Twitter. Setien was only appointed in January, but has paid the price for Barca surrendering the La Liga title to Real Madrid and then being humiliated by Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League. His exit was finalized during an emergency board meeting at Camp Nou, which lasted almost six hours and saw Ronald Koeman, manager of the Netherlands national team, emerge as the favored choice to take charge.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Jon Jones vacates title
Long-reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones said that he is vacating his title and probably moving up to heavyweight. Jones made the declarations in a series of tweets on Monday, although the UFC did not immediately confirm them. Jones and the UFC have acknowledged contentious negotiations in the past few weeks about the long-reigning champ’s next bout and the direction of the 205-pound (93kg) division. “Today I confirm that I’m vacating the light heavyweight championship,” Jones wrote. “It’s officially up for grabs. It’s been an amazing journey, sincere thank you to all my competition, UFC and most importantly you fans.”
SOCCER
Silva joins Real Sociedad
Spanish midfielder David Silva has agreed a two-year contract with Real Sociedad following his departure from Manchester City, the La Liga club announced on Monday. Silva, 34, spent a decade with City and made his final appearance as a substitute in Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by Lyon in the Champions League quarter-finals. He is expected to join his new Sociedad teammates in the coming days for preseason training.
FORMULA ONE
Gasly burgled while racing
Formula One driver Pierre Gasly returned from the Spanish Grand Prix to find his home in Normandy had been burgled, the Frenchman said on Monday. “I had my house broken into and ransacked in Normandy, stealing BRM watches engraved with my name, Tag Heuer, jewellery, clothing, glasses and racing helmets,” he wrote on Instagram, asking for anyone with information about the burglary to come forward. Gasly, 24, finished ninth for his Alpha Tauri team in Spain on Sunday.
TENNIS
Halep skipping US Open
Simona Halep is to skip the US Open, saying on Monday that she is putting her health first and prefers to stay in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Halep, a former top-ranked player who is currently No. 2, won the title in Prague Open on Sunday. “After weighing up all the factors involved and with the exceptional circumstances in which we are living, I have decided that I will not travel to New York to play the @usopen,” Halep wrote on Twitter. “I always said I would put my health at the heart of my decision and I therefore prefer to stay and train in Europe.” Six of the top eight women in the WTA rankings are not going to play in New York. No. 1 Ash Barty and defending champion Bianca Andreescu have also withdrawn, along with Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei.
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
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
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
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
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