TENNIS
Taiwan’s Chan advances
Taiwanese Chan Hao-ching and Czech partner Lucie Hradecka on Monday advanced to the quarter-finals of the San Diego Open in California. The duo beat Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok and Belgian Kimberley Zimmerman 6-4, 5-7, 10-8. Chan and Hradecka next face the winners of yesterday’s match between the US pairing of Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria and Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski and Mexican Giuliana Olmos.
SOCCER
No Qatar for rowdy UK fans
More than 1,300 fans from England and Wales with banning orders would not be allowed to travel to Qatar for this year’s World Cup, the British Home Office has said. The new measures, which come into effect from Friday, prevent supporters with a history of soccer-related violence from making the trip to the sport’s showpiece event, which starts on Nov. 20 and runs till Dec. 18. “We will not let the behavior of a minority of lawbreakers tarnish what will be an exciting tournament,” British Home Secretary Suella Braverman said. Last season, pitch invasions and crowd trouble rose sharply across England, with the Premier League introducing enhanced safety measures to control misbehavior ahead of the new campaign. The Home Office warned that fans flouting the rules could face six months in prison and an unlimited fine.
MOTORSPORTS
W Series canceled
The all-female W Series on Monday canceled its remaining three races in the US and Mexico for financial reasons and declared Britain’s Jamie Chadwick champion for the third season in a row. The series had been due to support Formula One at next week’s Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, before ending its season with two races at Mexico City’s Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez at the end of the month. “Due to recent unforeseen circumstances outside of W Series’ control, we had not been in receipt of contracted funds due to us,” W Series founder and chief executive Catherine Bond Muir said. “Therefore, we have been forced to make the unfortunate decision not to complete our scheduled calendar this season.” She added that she was confident the series would return next year. W Series, which is free to enter, had net liabilities of ￡7.5 million (US$8.3 million) as of the end of last year, a UK Companies House filing showed.
SOCCER
NWSL sacks coaches
The US National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) on Monday terminated the contracts of Orlando Pride coach Amanda Cromwell and assistant coach Sam Greene on Monday after the league found they had participated in retaliatory conduct against players. The two coaches were on administrative leave since June 6 while a joint investigation team looked into alleged “retaliation,” contravening the league’s policy on discrimination, harassment and bullying. “Cromwell and Greene are ineligible to work in the NWSL in any capacity unless or until approved by the commissioner,” the league said in a statement. An independent report released last week by former acting US attorney general Sally Yates found that the league consistently failed to take action and did not “institute basic measures to prevent and address” widespread abuse by coaches.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
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