Novak Djokovic is unlikely to play at the Australian Open if rules on Covid-19 vaccinations are not relaxed, the world No 1’s father, Srdjan Djokovic, said.
Organisers of the year’s first grand slam have said that all players will have to be vaccinated to take part.
Continue reading...Statement says Chinese player’s responses to chief of sport body were ‘clearly’ influenced by others
The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has said it remains “deeply concerned” about the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, weeks after she disappeared following her allegations against a high-ranking Chinese former politician.
The WTA said in an email statement on Saturday that its chief executive, Steve Simon, had attempted to contact Peng through “various communication channels” including two emails. It said it was concerned about her welfare and ability to communicate freely and that her responses were “clearly” influenced by others.
Continue reading...Michael Vaughan has said he was sorry for the pain his former Yorkshire teammate Azeem Rafiq endured arising from the racism he experienced at the club.
Yorkshire’s new chairman, Lord Patel, has apologised to Rafiq for what he had been through and the former player told MPs this month of the “inhuman” treatment he suffered during his time at the county, with Vaughan among a number of figures implicated in the case. In an interview with BBC Breakfast shown on Saturday morning, Vaughan denied making racist comments.
Continue reading...Fame and adoration could not protect her when she made sexual assault claims against a Chinese official
After Peng Shuai and Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková won the doubles final at the 2014 Beijing Open, they went to karaoke to celebrate. The fifth-seeded duo had just beaten India’s Sania Mirza and Zimbabwe’s Cara Black, who had never lost a match in the Asia-Pacific region.
“She was at the beginning of her comeback and I was happy to be there to play with her,” Hlaváčková recalls, on the phone from Rome. Their victory called for a night out so they went to a big Beijing nightclub. “She was singing a lot of Chinese songs.”
Continue reading...While world wonders about fate of tennis star, former Chinese vice-premier has remained silent
For the past three weeks, the world has been asking #WhereIsPengShuai, after the Chinese tennis star alleged on social media she was sexually assaulted by a former senior government official.
Peng’s allegations, published on Weibo in a post, were quickly censored. She was not seen for almost three weeks, prompting an international campaign calling for information on her whereabouts and wellbeing.
Continue reading...Carlos Arthur Nuzman, the head of the Brazilian Olympic Committee for more than two decades, has been sentenced to 30 years and 11 months in jail for allegedly buying votes for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Olympics. The ruling by Judge Marcelo Bretas became public on Thursday.
Nuzman, who also headed the Rio 2016 organising committee, was found guilty of corruption, criminal organisation, money laundering and tax evasion. The 79-year-old will not be jailed until all his appeals are heard. He and his lawyer did not comment on the decision.
Continue reading...The world champion shares his motivational struggles before an intriguing showdown with his old rival Ian Nepomniachtchi
“I’m less hungry. I think you’re always going to be if you’re playing for the world title for the fifth time, rather than the first.” It is quite the opening gambit from Magnus Carlsen, in his final newspaper interview before he puts his crown on the line again. But sport’s deepest thinker is merely revving up before he truly opens up.
Carlsen has long established himself as the greatest chess player of his generation. Perhaps any generation, given he is the highest-rated of all time and has held the Fide world title since 2013. But there is something else that marks the Norwegian out in an era where sporting superstars are increasingly bland and on brand: his unflinching honesty.
Continue reading...Two-time Olympic gold medallist enlists as alarm grows over war that threatens to engulf Addis Ababa
The two-time Olympic gold medallist Haile Gebrselassie has announced he is enlisting in the Ethiopian military to fight an insurgency that threatens the capital, Addis Ababa.
Gebrselassie, who set 27 long-distance running records, told Reuters he was joining up on Wednesday. The Olympic silver medallist runner Feyisa Lilesa would also enlist, local media reported.
Continue reading...Foreign ministry takes unrepentant stance to concerns in west over wellbeing of tennis player
China’s foreign ministry has accused unnamed people of “malicious hyping” in the case of the tennis star Peng Shuai, in a hardline and unrepentant response to questions in the west over her wellbeing.
The whereabouts and wellbeing of Peng, a former doubles world number one, has become a matter of international concern over the past three weeks, after she alleged in a message on the Chinese social media site Weibo that the country’s former vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her. Peng ceased to be seen in public shortly after she made her allegation on 2 November.
Continue reading...Analysis: Olympic committee is accused of engaging in a ‘publicity stunt’ by taking part in video call
As human rights organisations and the world’s media questioned the whereabouts of the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, the International Olympic Committee opted for a “quiet diplomacy” approach, arguing that was the most effective way to deal with such a case.
“Experience shows that quiet diplomacy offers the best opportunity to find a solution for questions of such nature. This explains why the IOC will not comment any further at this stage,” the Lausanne-based organisation said in an emailed statement on Thursday about the case of Peng, who disappeared from public view after she made an accusation of sexual assault against a former senior Chinese official.
Continue reading...Former footy player Paul Wheatley is serving a prison sentence – the culmination of a chain of events that could be traced back to numerous on-field head knocks
Paul Wheatley is often in bed by 7.30pm. There is little else to do once locked in his prison cell well before the sun’s light fades. So he reads a bit, then attempts to drift into unconsciousness.
It is the only sure way to push out the voice which follows him everywhere. The one most familiar and cherished in his world frantically repeating his name, each an anguished attempt to rouse him from a seizure before they were off the road and the tree appeared and it was too late.
Continue reading...Analysis: calls growing amid Xinjiang allegations and Peng Shuai fallout, but Beijing takes slights very seriously
Boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics in February may seem a simple, symbolic diplomatic gesture – when put alongside the allegations of labour camps in Xinjiang province and the apparent sexual exploitation of the Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai – but such is the contemporary economic power of China that the step will only be taken after much agonising.
The threats and economic boycotts that Australia, Canada and more recently Lithuania have suffered at the hands of the Chinese for challenging Beijing’s authority in one way or another are not experiences other countries will want to copy lightly.
Continue reading...A year before kick off, workers claim companies are refusing to enforce sweeping new labour laws created to stamp out human rights abuses
When Qatar won the bid to host the World Cup in 2010, the triumphant Gulf state unveiled plans to host the most spectacular of all World Cup tournaments and began an ambitious building plan of state-of-the-art stadiums, luxury hotels and a sparkling new metro.
Yet, over the next decade, the brutal conditions in which hundreds of thousands of migrant workers toiled in searing heat to build Qatar’s World Cup vision has been exposed, with investigations into the forced labour , debt bondage and worker death toll causing international outrage.
Continue reading...Governing body says Peng spoke to its president for 30 minutes after growing demands for assurances of her safety
The Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai said she was safe and well in a video call on Sunday, the International Olympic Committee has said, amid growing international demands for assurances that she is free and not under threat.
In a statement, the IOC said Peng had spoken to its president, Thomas Bach, for 30 minutes. “She explained that she is safe and well, living at her home in Beijing, but would like to have her privacy respected at this time,” it said in a statement.
Continue reading...Mark Cavendish has just been out on his bike. He went out on his bike this morning, he’ll be back out on his bike tomorrow morning, he went out on his bike this afternoon, and when training was over and he needed to get back to his hotel in order to do this interview, there was really only one method of transport that fitted the bill. The point – and admittedly, it’s not a particularly earth-shattering one – is that he loves riding his bike. Anytime, anywhere, anyhow. It’s his sanctuary, his freedom, his reason for being.
And so, while most of us conceive of professional cycling in terms of suffering – lung-busting sprints, brutal training rides, the tortuous mountain ascents of the Tour de France – Cavendish sees things differently. For all the sweat and pain he endures in the saddle, he knows from bitter experience that the real agony is not being able to ride at all.
Continue reading...Further footage of missing tennis star from Chinese state media rejected by WTA amid widespread scepticism that she is free and well
Fresh videos of missing tennis star Peng Shuai were posted by Chinese state media on Sunday morning, amid growing global pressure for Beijing to provide verifiable evidence of her whereabouts and safety.
The latest footage, released by Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of state newspaper the Global Times, appears to show the player being introduced at a youth tennis match in Beijing. Hu said on Twitter – a platform that is officially banned in China – that the footage was taken on Sunday but this claim could not be verified.
Continue reading...Manchester United’s board decided to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjær at an emergency meeting on Saturday night and Joel Glazer, the co-chairman who heads the American family’s ownership, has agreed to rubber-stamp the move.
A meeting, which lasted several hours, was called after the team’s chastening 4-1 defeat at Watford. The plan is for an announcement to avoid describing Solskjær as sacked and refer to a mutual agreement. Compensation and other final touches were being attended to after the board completed their discussions.
Continue reading...Diversity report alleges that the FA’s referee system is obstructing black and Asian people from reaching elite levels of the game
English football has been rocked by a fresh racism scandal after black and Asian referees revealed the scale of abuse and prejudice that, they say, is holding them back.
A dossier compiled by match officials, and seen by the Observer, alleges that racism in the Football Association’s refereeing system is undermining efforts by black and Asian people to reach the highest levels of the game.
Continue reading...World No 1 Novak Djokovic and all other players will have to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to compete in the Australia Open next January, tournament chief Craig Tiley said on Saturday.
Djokovic has declined to disclose whether he is vaccinated and said that he would wait until Tennis Australia revealed the health protocols before he made a decision about playing at Melbourne Park.
Continue reading...Lewis Hamilton has been praised for “an incredible act of allyship” after wearing a rainbow-coloured helmet in practice at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix.
The seven-time Formula One world champion’s helmet bore the colours of the Progress Pride flag – a banner which includes the traditional rainbow design with additional colours that recognise the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.
Continue reading...