CRICKET
Australia’s Finch retires
Australian men’s Twenty20 captain Aaron Finch yesterday retired from international cricket, ending his 12-year career as one of the most prolific run scorers in limited-overs formats. Finch’s position had been under a cloud since Australia failed to make the knockout stage of last year’s T20 World Cup at home. “Realizing that I won’t be playing on until the next T20 World Cup in 2024, now is the right moment to step down and give the team time to plan and build towards that event,” he told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. It was not immediately clear who would replace the Victoria-born batter, who has captained the team in 76 of the 103 T20s he has played since debuting against England in 2011. “To be able to represent Australia for 12 years and play with and against some of the greatest players of all time has been an incredible honor,” he said.
YACHTING
Sponsor drops mother
French sailor Clarisse Cremer lost her sponsor for next year’s Vendee Globe round-the-world sailing race after recently becoming a mother. The 33-year old — who in 2021 set the record for the fastest circumnavigation by a woman — was dropped as skipper by sponsor Banque Populaire, as the bank feared that under new regulations she would not be allowed to start. A change in regulations meant that Cremer was unable to rack up sufficient qualifying miles due to her pregnancy. Previously, any sailor who had finished the race was automatically qualified for the next edition. One in only 10 women to have finished the race in the past two decades, Cremer set the female record in the last edition, finishing in 87 days, 2 hours and 24 minutes. “The rules chosen by Vendee Globe forbid a woman to have a child, even if she is a recognized sportswoman, who already finished the previous edition. In the 21st century, who would believe that such rules would be fair?” she wrote on Instagram. Vendee Globe president Alain Leboeuf, quoted in Le Monde on Friday, said the decision to drop Cremer was “too hasty.” French Minister of Sports Amelie Oudea-Castera wrote on Twitter that she was in touch with all sides to find a solution. “Everyone knows that Clarisse Cremer, the fastest woman in the history of the Vendee Globe, deserves to be on the starting line in 2024,” she wrote.
TENNIS
Paralympic legend retires
Japanese Paralympic legend Shingo Kunieda yesterday said that he was ending his illustrious career satisfied that wheelchair tennis was now “finally seen as a sport” in the eyes of the public. Kunieda is known as the Roger Federer of wheelchair tennis and won 50 Grand Slam titles and four Paralympic gold medals, including a third singles title at the Tokyo Games in 2021. The 38-year-old, who announced his retirement last month, also spent a total of 582 weeks as the men’s world No. 1. Kunieda said that his first Paralympic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games was not even reported on the sports pages of Japan’s newspapers, but attitudes have since “changed a lot.” “After the Tokyo Games, it really felt like it was now being seen as a sport,” he told reporters. “I had always been trying to get people to think of it as a sport, and last year I didn’t feel the pressure to do that anymore. Finally, I was able to just purely play tennis and compete against my opponent.”
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
Jemimah Rodrigues on Thursday hit an unbeaten 127 as India pulled off a record chase of 339 against Australia to set up a Women’s World Cup final against South Africa. Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit 89, put on 167 runs for the third wicket as India won with nine balls and five wickets to spare at DY Patil Stadium, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The hosts finished on a total of 341-5 in reply to Australia’s impressive 338 and ensured there would be a new name on the 50-over trophy tomorrow. Amanjot Kaur hit the winning boundary to trigger wild celebrations
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title 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,”
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