SOCCER
Maradona autopsy released
Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona did not consume alcohol or illicit narcotics in the days before his death, an autopsy released on Wednesday said. Maradona, who died last month aged 60, had taken seven different medicines to treat depression, anxiety and other ailments, but “there was no presence of [illegal] drugs,” a judicial official said. The autopsy, which was based on blood and urine samples and released by the Buenos Aires Scientific Police, said Maradona had problems with his kidneys, heart and lungs. Investigators are looking into various facets of his death that rocked Argentina and the wider soccer world, and have not ruled out wrongful death. In an angry broadside at her father’s critics, Maradona’s daughter Gianinna said the autopsy showed “a result compatible with cirrhosis of the liver.”
CRICKET
England allowed to fly
The England team would be allowed to fly to Sri Lanka despite flights from Britain being suspended due to a new COVID-19 strain, the island’s cricket authorities said on Wednesday. England are due to arrive in Sri Lanka on Jan. 3 for two Tests — played without spectators — in Galle starting on Jan. 14. Sri Lanka Cricket chief executive Ashley de Silva said the visitors would be tested for COVID-19 before departure and on arrival, and would also have to undergo quarantine for 10 days in a “bio-secure bubble” on arrival. Sri Lankan civil aviation authorities suspended all direct flights from Britain on Tuesday, but the England team would travel on a chartered flight, he said.
SOCCER
Trippier banned for betting
Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Trippier was on Wednesday banned from soccer for 10 weeks for breaching betting rules in a punishment from the Football Association that applies worldwide. The misconduct, denied by Trippier, happened in July last year — the month the England international left Tottenham Hotspur for Atletico — and was linked to information about his transfer being used for betting. The association said an independent regulatory commission proved four of the breaches, which also saw Trippier fined £70,000 (US$95,167), but dismissed three allegations during a personal hearing. The ban takes effect immediately and will deny Atletico a rightback who has played every minute of the 13 league games so far as they try to stay in first place in La Liga.
ATHLETICS
Thailand to host new races
Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai is to host the inaugural world mountain and trail championships next year, World Athletics said on Wednesday. The championship, which would be staged from Nov. 11 to Nov. 14, would feature vertical uphill mountain races, short and long trail races for senior athletes and the classic mountain races for seniors and under-20s. The new biennial event was announced in 2018 when the World Mountain Running Association, the International Association of Ultrarunners and the International Trail Running Association combined with World Athletics. The governing bodies are hoping to capitalize on the rising popularity of the off-road running events, with the championships giving elite and mass runners an opportunity to compete at the same venue.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed