COMPETITIVE EATING
Chestnut sets another record
Reigning champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut on Sunday wolfed down 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes to break his own record in winning a 14th Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest. The world’s top-ranked hot dog devourer gulped down 26 more frankfurters and buns than runner-up Geoffrey Esper, and one more than Chesnut ate in winning the annual Fourth of July holiday event last year. “It just felt good,” Chestnut told broadcaster ESPN of chowing down in front of fans at a Nathan’s shop in New York City’s Coney Island, after last year’s contest was held indoors without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even if I was uncomfortable, having everybody cheer me and push me, it made me feel good,” he added. Chestnut has won 14 of the past 15 contests since he defeated six-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan in 2007. Michelle Lesco downed 30 and three-quarter hot dogs and buns to win the women’s title ahead of Sarah Rodriguez.
OLYMPICS
Japan selects flagbearer
Japan has selected basketball player Rui Hachimura and wrestler Yui Susaki as joint flagbearers for the Tokyo Olympics, organizers said yesterday, placing representatives of a younger, more diverse generation of Japanese at the head of its national team. Hachimura, 23, was raised in Japan as the child of a Japanese mother and Beninese father, and plays for the NBA’s Washington Wizards. He joins female wrestling medal hope Susaki, 22, as flagbearers leading the host nation’s team at the opening ceremony on July 23, the Japanese Olympic Committee announced. The joint flagbearer role for Japan and other teams is a break with tradition after the International Olympic Committee changed the rules to send a message of gender parity. Hachimura, one of a growing number of mixed race Japanese as international marriages increase, has commented publicly about his experience of racist abuse. In May his younger brother, Allen, who plays basketball at university, posted a screenshot of a racist message he had received. “People say Japan is not a racist country,” Allen Hachimura wrote in the Twitter post. “I want everyone to care about the problem of racism,” he added. “I get messages like this almost every day,” Rui Hachimura wrote in a reply to his brother’s post.
RUGBY UNION
Folau joins Japanese side
Dual-code international Israel Folau, who was sacked by Rugby Australia in 2019 for saying “hell awaits” gay people, is to play club rugby in Japan next season, the Japan Rugby Football Union announced yesterday. Folau has signed with the NTT Communications Shining Arcs in the premier domestic competition when it starts its new season in January next year. At his new club, based in Chiba near Tokyo, he would be coached by Rob Penney, who was sacked by NSW Waratahs in March after a nightmare five-loss start to the Super Rugby AU season. Folau was released “with immediate effect” by French rugby league side Catalans Dragons last week. The 32-year-old had informed the club he wanted to stay in Australia for what the Dragons said was “a personal family situation,” and also play for small-town club Southport Tigers, alongside his two brothers.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
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