Golf, cricket and rugby union on Friday became the first major sports to be affected by a new COVID-19 variant, prompting fears of renewed travel restrictions and disrupted events just as they were returning to normal nearly two years into the pandemic.
European golfers withdrew midway through the season-opening DP World Tour tournament in Johannesburg and were scrambling to catch flights out of South Africa.
Visiting cricket and rugby teams were doing the same.
Golf was the first to be hit by the emergence of the new B.1.1.529 variant, which was initially identified in South Africa and is causing concern that it might be resistant to vaccines.
While the start of the World Tour was ruined, rugby games in South Africa in a new European-South African tournament were postponed “due to the sudden developments,” organizers said.
A tour to South Africa by India’s cricket team next month was likely to be reconsidered, although there was no official comment yet.
The Netherlands cricket team, already in South Africa for a series, were considering whether to cancel their remaining games and return home early.
The Royal Netherlands Cricket Federation said it was looking at options, but was “unlikely” to be able to find flights at short notice.
“The physical and mental health of the players is the first priority,” the federation said.
Organizers of golf’s Joburg Open, which started on Thursday, said it would continue even after at least 23 mostly European players pulled out in the hours after South African health authorities announced they had detected the new variant.
The tournament was later reduced to a 54-hole, three-round event ending yesterday “to help non-South African resident players, caddies and tournament support staff return to their home countries,” the organizers said.
The Joburg Open was scheduled to be the first of three events in South Africa to start the new season on the circuit formerly known as the European Tour.
However, next week’s South African Open is to be a South African tour event with international players likely to head home to beat travel restrictions.
The Alfred Dunhill Championship set for Dec. 9 to 12 was canceled.
Many of the players who withdrew from the Joburg Open were from Britain or Ireland and reacted following the British government’s announcement that it would reimpose a ban on visitors from South Africa and five other southern African countries from 4am today.
Returning residents would have compulsory 10-day quarantine periods in designated hotels.
Irish golfer Paul Dunne, one of those to withdraw, told RTE Radio that he had booked a flight home via Dubai and the only ones now available went through Ethiopia, where a year-long conflict now threatens to reach the capital, Addis Ababa.
“Nobody fancies traveling through there either,” Dunne said. “Bit of a minefield at the minute.”
Not all were leaving. Scottish golfer David Drysdale said that he had decided to keep playing in the Joburg Open and then stay in South Africa with his wife, who is also his caddy, and make a vacation of it.
“Most of the British players have all decided to head home and that’s totally understandable if you’ve got a wife and kids at home,” Drysdale told the Scotsman newspaper. “There wasn’t a [plane] seat to be had by the time we found out what had happened. A lot of the guys were panicking, but we thought: ‘what’s the point?’ We are staying with a mate in Joburg and our plan is to still stay until Christmas then return home.”
“Hopefully this variant is not as bad as they are fearing ... it’s not even been 24 hours since we heard about this,” he said.
Four rugby teams — two from Wales, one from Ireland and one from Italy — were also trying to return home from South Africa before they even had the chance to play after their games were postponed by the United Rugby Championship.
“With the situation in South Africa having changed so quickly, we are now looking to repatriate our staff ASAP,” Welsh club Cardiff said.
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
SPEEDSKATER: Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s run at the Asian Winter Games without a medal since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990 Speedskater Chen Ying-chu yesterday made history as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games. Competing at the HIC Speedskating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 10.510 seconds in the women’s 100m event, finishing third behind South Koreans Lee Na-hyum and Kim Min-sun, who posted times of 10.501 and 10.505 seconds respectively. Her bronze medal ended Taiwan’s drought at the Asian Winter Games since the nation first participated in the second iteration in 1990. This year’s Games mark Chen’s debut at the event. Previously excelling in roller speedskating, she won six medals at world championships before transitioning
The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38