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.”
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Tuesday said that he would leave the English club at the end of the Premier League season, marking an earlier-than-planned departure for one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers and soccer’s biggest names. The 33-year-old Egypt forward, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, “reached an agreement” to quit the team a year before his contract was due to expire, the Premier League champions said. Salah’s form has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield, to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the
There were some big games to be played yesterday in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks to play the Detroit Pistons in a matchup pitting a Hawks team who are rolling against a Pistons team trying to lock up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Oklahoma City Thunder were to play the Boston Celtics, a showdown featuring the two most recent champions, while the Houston Rockets faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that could factor mightily into Western Conference seeding. Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards were to play the Utah Jazz, with the Wizards on a 16-game slide visiting against a team
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