TENNIS
Sinner advances at Finals
Jannik Sinner on Wednesday reached the last four of the ATP Finals after beating Alexander Zverev 6-4, 6-3 to qualify from the Bjorn Borg group with a match to spare. World No. 1 Sinner is bidding to retain his title at the prestigious end-of-season tournament, as he cruised into the semi-finals in front of a delighted crowd in Turin, Italy. Zverev has not beaten Sinner since the 2023 US Open, being destroyed by the Italian in the semi-finals of the this year’s Paris Masters, and again the German could not handle the four-time Grand Slam champion. “Listen, I hope to see him again — it’s as simple as that — this week,” Zverev said.
Photo: AFP
FOOTBALL
Antonio Brown out on bail
Former NFL star wide receiver Antonio Brown is to be released on US$25,000 bail and must wear a GPS ankle monitor on an attempted murder charge in Florida, a judge ordered on Wednesday. Brown, 37, has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree attempted murder charge, which carries a potential 15-year prison sentence and a fine up to US$10,000 if he is convicted. Brown is accused of grabbing a handgun from a security staffer after a celebrity boxing match in Miami on May 16 and firing two shots at a man he had gotten into a fistfight with earlier, according to an arrest warrant. The victim, Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, told investigators that one of the bullets grazed his neck. Brown’s attorney said that the affidavit is mistaken and that Brown actually used his personal firearm, and that the shots were not aimed at anyone.
OLYMPICS
Only winter sports: organizers
Organizers of traditional snow and ice sports on Wednesday said they do not want events from summer federations added to their Winter Olympics program. Cyclocross and cross-country running have been suggested as additions to the Winter Games for the 2030 Olympics hosted in the French Alps and Nice. Those would be unwelcome “piecemeal proposals,” the Winter Olympic Federations group of governing bodies said in a statement. Adding the sports, which are typically raced on mud, would mean amending the Olympic Charter rules, which require Winter Games sports to be played on snow and ice. “If they were super popular sports they would already be in the Summer Games, and they’re not,” International Biathlon Union secretary-general Max Cobb said. “There wasn’t anybody thinking: ‘Oh, what a good idea.’ We’re all scratching our heads.”
TENNIS
Indian denied China visa
India’s top-ranked men’s tennis player Sumit Nagal on Tuesday said that China denied him a visa weeks before he was set to appear at an Australian Open qualifying tournament in Sichuan Province. “I am supposed to fly to China soon to represent India at the Australian Open Playoff. But my visa was rejected without reason,” Nagal wrote on social media. Nagal, 28, represented India at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics and reached a career-high world No. 68th last year. When asked about Nagal’s apparent visa denial, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian yesterday said: “China will, in accordance with rules and regulations, review and issue visas for all athletes including Indian [athletes] coming to compete in China.”
TIGHT GAME: The Detroit Pistons, the NBA’s second-best team, barely outlasted the Washington Wizards, who fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss Cade Cunningham’s triple double, Daniss Jenkins’ three-pointer at the buzzer and Javonte Green’s overtime dunk lifted Detroit past Washington 137-135 on Monday, stretching the Pistons’ win streak to seven games. In an unexpected thriller, the NBA’s second-best team barely outlasted a Wizards club that fell to an NBA-worst 1-10 with their ninth consecutive loss. “We knew how big this game was for us,” Jenkins said. “We wasn’t going to let nothing stop us from getting this W.” Cunningham made 14-of-45 shots and 16-of-18 free throws for a career-high 46 points, and added 12 rebounds, 11 assists, five steals and two
LIKE FINE WINE: Thirty-eight-year-old Djokovic won his 101st title of his career in Athens, becoming the oldest tournament winner since Ken Roswell, 44, in 1977 Elena Rybakina on Saturday clinched her biggest title since Wimbledon in 2022, defeating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6 (7/0) at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. The world No. 6 put on yet another serving masterclass and was at her returning best as she became the first Kazakh and the first player representing an Asian country to lift the WTA Finals singles trophy. Having gone 3-0 in round-robin play, Rybakina earned a record US$5.235 million and would finish the year ranked No. 5 in the world. “It’s been an incredible week, I honestly didn’t expect any result, and to go so far,
EMPTY STANDS: Maccabi fans were banned from attending by police, who cited violence and hate crimes when the team played Ajax in Amsterdam last season Aston Villa beat Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv 2-0 on Thursday in a Europa League game played amid heightened security measures, with more than 700 police officers deployed to deal with possible protests. Morgan Rogers put through Ian Maatsen in first-half stoppage time for the defender to score from a tight angle and Villa doubled the lead on the hour with Donyell Malen hitting the bottom corner from the penalty spot. It was Villa’s third win from games in the competition. The game at Villa Park had become the center of a political debate after Maccabi fans were banned from attending, as
An amateur soccer league organized by farmers, students and factory workers in rural China has unexpectedly drawn millions of fans and inspired big cities to form their own, raising hopes China can grow talent from the ground up and finally become a global force. The nation of 1.4 billion people has about 200 million soccer fans, more than any other country, but it has failed to build world-class teams, partly due to a top-down approach where clubs pick players from a very small pool of prescreened candidates. The professional game is marred by a history of fixed matches, corruption, and dismal performances,
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