Fri, Sep 30, 2022 page7

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Agencies
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  SOCCER

  Injury costs rise

  Injuries across Europe’s top five leagues rose by 20 percent in the 2021-2022 season, according to a study published on Wednesday. The study by insurance brokers Howden found that clubs paid a record-high price for injuries of ￡513 million (US$560 million) last season. Injury cost was calculated by multiplying the cost per day of a player by the number of days they were unavailable because of an injury. World players’ union FIFPRO has said that structures must be put in place to limit player workloads. The Premier League had the highest injury cost of any of the top five divisions at nearly ￡185 million, with La Liga in Spain a distant second on ￡109 million.

  SOCCER

  Hitches mar women’s game

  Arsenal’s progress to the group stage of the Women’s Champions League did not come without a couple of bizarre hitches. The team advanced by beating Ajax 1-0 on Wednesday for a 3-2 aggregate victory, but only after pre-match shenanigans that saw the goalposts needing to be adjusted because they were too short and a late-game incident when Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall said he was incorrectly told he could make a concussion substitution. “It’s been a very weird experience being here,” Eidevall said. Staff brought out a ladder and were seen changing the height of the goal frame before kickoff after Arsenal officials made it known the crossbar was 10cm too low, British media reported. The crossbar was measured again at halftime. “Playing against a big club like Ajax where we had to measure the goals before the start of the game ... I have never experienced anything like it,” Eidevall said. The Swedish coach also said that he was told by the fourth official that he could replace Beth Mead with a concussion substitute after she needed to be taken off following a clash of heads. “We were preparing Lina Hurtig [to come on as a substitute], then when we are going to do it she [the fourth official] says no,” Eidevall said. “We were getting her ready for two or three minutes. We would have spent that time speaking to the players about how we could defend with 10 players. That misinformation from the referee. I honestly don’t know why and how that could be. It’s such a simple question to answer yes or no.” There are no concussion substitutions in UEFA-organized competitions.

  RUGBY UNION

  Tupaea out for nine months

  New Zealand center Quinn Tupaea faces nine months out of the game due to a knee injury he sustained during a clear-out by Australia’s Darcy Swain in Melbourne earlier this month. The team yesterday said that further scans on the anterior cruciate ligament injury revealed “more extensive damage” that would require surgery, extending Tupaea’s period on the sidelines by six months. The 23-year-old Waikato Chiefs midfielder will now miss the entirety of next year’s Super Rugby season and could face a challenging time getting back into All Blacks reckoning in time for the World Cup in France. Swain was shown a yellow card for clattering into Tupaea’s extended leg and later cited after officials said the incident met the red-card threshold. The lock was suspended for six weeks, but will miss only three Tests after his inclusion in an Australia A side for a tour of Japan.
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