MOTOR RACING
Villas-Boas to enters WRC
Andre Villas-Boas is to make his World Rally Championship (WRC) debut in Portugal this month, organizers said on Tuesday. “Some of the biggest intrigue in Portugal will be reserved for car 57, driven by Andre Villas-Boas. The former Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur soccer manager has been an avid rally fan for some time and will make his WRC debut,” the WRC said in a statement. Villas-Boas is to race in a Citroen C3 in the third-tier WRC3, which is reserved for privately entered crews. The 43-year-old has been away from soccer since his departure from Olympique de Marseille in February. In 2018, he took part in the Dakar Rally, having to retire with a back injury. The Portugal leg of the WRC is to be held from May 20 to 23.
CRICKET
MacGill allegedly kidnapped
Former Australia Test cricketer Stuart MacGill was allegedly kidnapped, assaulted and threatened with a firearm before being released in Sydney last month. New South Wales state police yesterday arrested and charged four men in relation to the incident, including one who is allegedly known to MacGill. Police say the 50-year-old MacGill was confronted by a man at Cremorne in Sydney’s north on April 14, before two other men arrived and helped force him into a vehicle and take him to the city’s southwest, where he was allegedly assaulted. He was reportedly held for about an hour before being driven to another location and released. Police believed the motive was financial although no ransom demands were made, Detective Acting Superintendent Anthony Holton told a news conference. Police said MacGill sustained minor injuries, but did not need medical treatment.
CYCLING
Spreafico banned for doping
Italian rider Matteo Spreafico has been banned for three years after failing two anti-doping tests during the Giro d’Italia in October last year, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said in a statement. The 28-year-old, who rides for the Italian team Vini Zabu, failed two tests for the banned steroid ostarine during last year’s Giro and has been disqualified from all competitive results obtained at the race. The UCI said that Spreafico’s ban was backdated and effective until Oct. 21, 2023. Vini Zabu were last month suspended for 30 days after two of their riders tested positive for banned substances in a 12-month period. Following Spreafico’s failed tests, teammate Matteo de Bonis tested positive in March for the banned blood-booster erythropoietin. The positive tests led to the team withdrawing from this year’s Giro.
CRICKET
India helps stranded Aussies
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) plans to help to move Australia’s entire IPL cohort to the Maldives or Sri Lanka, Cricket Australia interim chief executive Nick Hockley said yesterday. The IPL was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday as India’s COVID-19 crisis escalates, but the decision left Australian and other foreign participants looking for ways to leave the country. Australia has banned travelers from India who have been in the country within the past 14 days, but Hockley said that the players would wait outside India for approval to head home. Australia has banned travelers from India until Saturday next week.
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
ON A KNEE: In the MLB’s equivalent of soccer’s penalty-kicks shoot-out, the game was decided by three batters from each side taking three swings each off coaches Kyle Schwarber was nervous. He had played in Game 7 of the MLB World Series and homered for the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), but he had never walked up to the plate in an All-Star Game swing-off. No one had. “That’s kind of like the baseball version of a shoot-out,” Schwarber said after homering on all three of his swings, going down to his left knee on the final one, to overcome a two-homer deficit. That held up when Jonathan Aranda fell short on the American League’s final three swings, giving the National League a 4-3 swing-off win after