OLYMPICS
Triathlete not afraid of Seine
Australian triathlete Matt Hauser said he would gladly swim in the Seine during the Paris Games, despite water quality concerns, after a sewer problem last year led to the cancelation of a pre-Olympics swimming event, along with the swimming legs of triathlon and Para triathlon events. Hauser, who won a triathlon bronze at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, said the Seine held no fears for him. “To be honest, for me, I’d swim in anything to try and get a medal,” the 26-year-old said in comments published yesterday by the Sydney Morning Herald. “Give me a swig of Coca-Cola and some Gastro-Stop tablets and just put me in there.” Several French officials have promised to take a dip in the Seine before the Olympics to show the water is safe, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
BASKETBALL
Clark eyes US$28m Nike deal
Caitlin Clark, the most prolific scorer in NCAA Division I history and the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, is to continue her association with Nike by signing a US$28 million contract that spans eight years and includes a signature shoe. The Wall Street Journal and The Athletic reported the pending deal, citing unnamed people familiar with the negotiations between the sportswear giant and Clark’s agents. The new deal would be the richest sponsorship contract for a women’s basketball player. Under Armour and Adidas also participated in contract discussions with Clark’s team in February, the reports said. Puma also showed some interest, but walked away when told the bidding would start at US$3 million per year, the Wall Street Journal said.
GYMNASTICS
US to pay Nassar victims
The US Department of Justice has reached a US$138.7 million civil settlement with hundreds of victims of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who is serving a prison sentence for sexually abusing athletes under his care, the agency said on Tuesday. The settlement resolves claims the FBI botched the initial investigation into Nassar, it said. “These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset,” US Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement. The settlement resolves 139 separate claims, the department said. The women accused the FBI of failing to act on evidence it received in 2015, allowing Nassar to continue sexually abusing young women and girls until he was charged in 2016.
SOCCER
Juventus slides into Cup final
Arkadiusz Milik’s late strike on Tuesday helped Juventus reach the Coppa Italia final with a 3-2 aggregate win over SS Lazio, despite losing a tense second leg 2-1. Nursing a 2-0 first-leg win, Juventus found themselves 2-0 down on the night and completely dominated as Lazio made a fight of it with a brace of goals from Valentin Castellanos. However, late Juventus substitute Milik scored with his first touch on 83 minutes to settle Juve’s nerves and the two-legged semi with a prod-in. The Turin side is to play either Atalanta BC or ACF Fiorentina in the May 15 final. “We suffered against a good side, so we’re happy to be in the final,” Polish striker Milik said. “We know we have to play better in the final, and we know we can play better.”
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with