SOCCER
Thai police warn of scam
Thai police have warned Liverpool fans not to fall for online scammers impersonating Bayer 04 Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso, who is tipped to replace Juergen Klopp at Anfield in the summer. The Thai Central Investigation Bureau told people to watch out for a viral message purporting to show the Spaniard’s Instagram account asking for donations of 300 baht (US$8.50) to help pay his airfare. “I am Xabi Alonso, I will be in charge of Liverpool next season, but I am short of money for my flights to Liverpool,” said the message, written in Thai. “Liverpool fans, calm down. Xabi is not yet the manager, but there is already a scammer,” police said in a statement posted on Facebook on Sunday. The message — doctored to look like it came from Alonso’s official Instagram account — was “a scammer pretending to be Xabi,” police said.
SOCCER
Ryan dismisses criticism
Australia captain Mat Ryan has dismissed criticism of the Socceroos’ Asian Cup campaign as “outside noise.” Australia’s 4-0 win over 146th-ranked Indonesia drew only faint praise in home media, while fans lamented the team’s lack of fluidity in attack. Ryan said results were all that mattered. “There can be a lot of outside noise and all that about, you know, the team should be doing this and doing that, but you know football isn’t easy... Everyone claims that it is from the outside,” he said.
ICE SKATING
US to receive gold
Members of the US Olympic figure skating team on Monday were told that they are to receive gold medals after Russian skater Kamila Valieva was disqualified for doping at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee received word that the International Olympic Committee would award the gold to the US for the team competition after Valieva’s positive test from six weeks before the competition was announced. It was uncertain is how Valieva’s disqualification would affect the silver and bronze medals. Japan finished third and are likely to move to second. Depending on how a scoring rule is interpreted, Russia could still finish third — ahead of Canada — even after deducting Valieva’s points.
RUGBY UNION
Rebels to get support
Rugby Australia yesterday said that it would help the Melbourne Rebels to take their place in this year’s Super Rugby competition after the debt-laden club went into voluntary administration. The governing body said it would work with the appointed administrator to ensure that the men’s and women’s teams would be able to field sides in 2024. The Rebels are reportedly in more than A$10 million (US$6.6 million) of debt.
BASEBALL
Paxton, Dodgers sign deal
James Paxton and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday finalized a US$11 million, one-year contract. The left-hander can earn up to US$13 million if he is healthy during the early part of the season and starts at least 20 games. He joins a Dodgers rotation projected to include fellow newcomers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow, along with Walker Buehler, and Bobby Miller or Emmet Sheehan.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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