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Mixed relay rules cyclocross World Cup still changed because of corona
10.39 pm: Cycling union UCI has changed the rules a day before the relay race for mixed teams at the World Championships cyclo-cross. According to the union, many riders are dealing with a corona infection or quarantine. That is why it has been decided not to have six riders per team participate in the event, but four.
Two men and two women will now be at the start of each delegation on Friday. The component will be tested as a test event this year. Each rider drives a lap of 3 kilometers and then taps the next one from the team. Due to the rule change, four laps will be run instead of the original six.
Canada and the US each compete with two teams. Belgium, Czech Republic and Italy all with one. The Netherlands is not participating.
The Cyclo-cross World Championships officially start on Saturday. The consequences of corona were already great in the Italian team. On Monday, half had to stay at home after contact with an infected cyclocross rider. It has already been announced for the Netherlands that Annemarie Worst and Denise Betsema will not travel to the US. Sausage was second in the past two years.
NOC*NSF will inform athletes about cross-border behavior
6.18 pm: Sports umbrella organization NOC*NSF wants to bring the theme of transgressive behavior to the attention of top athletes with information sessions. These will deal with various topics in the field of integrity in sport, such as match fixing and doping. “It is about responsible development in order to ultimately perform honorably,” the umbrella organization writes.
Top athletes, and also upcoming ones, can first receive a short digital course. This is followed by a more substantive training with your own team. “This awareness ensures that athletes are better able to recognize and discuss cross-border behavior in their environment,” according to NOC*NSF. The sessions also pay attention to places where abuses can be reported and where help is available.
“In order to lay a good foundation for the future, I therefore see this information for (upcoming) top athletes as a good step that contributes to a safe sports climate,” said technical director Maurits Hendriks. Sports associations will be able to organize a limited number of these training courses free of charge in the coming years.
Abuses have been reported in various sports in recent years. Numerous gymnasts have been victims of psychological and also physical abuse by coaches. Many still suffer from this to this day. Last year also transgressive behavior in the top sports center of the triathlon association came to light.
Shot putter Schilder reaches the limit for the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade
5.30 pm: Shot putter Jessica Schilder has reached the limit for the World Indoor Athletics Championships at a competition in the Czech Republic. The 22-year-old Volendam shot 18.43 meters, further than the limit of 18.30 meters. The World Cup is in March in Belgrade, Serbia.
Schilder has already hit further than this indoors, last year 18.69 meters in Poland. She also made her debut at the Olympic Games in Tokyo last year. She finished nineteenth in the qualifiers. That was too low to reach the final with the best twelve.
The World Indoor Athletics Championships in the Serbian capital are from March 18 to 20. Four years ago, the global title fight last took place in Birmingham. The 2020 championships in Nanjing, China, were canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Nanjing will now get the tournament in 2023.
Rough start to golfer Luiten in Dubai Desert Classic
4:41 PM: Golfer Joost Luiten got off to a rough start in the Dubai Desert Classic, the second lucrative tournament of this year on the new DP World Tour. De Bleiswijker hit 73 strokes in the first round, 1 over par. This puts him in joint 71st place in the standings.
Darius van Driel and Wil Besseling, the other two Dutchmen in the tournament, fared even worse. Van Driel scored 77 strokes (+5), Besseling is also on +5 after 17 holes. He must complete his last hole of the first round on Friday, as the tournament officials canceled the match due to the falling darkness.
Luiten did not make the cut in the opening tournament in Abu Dhabi last week. The six-time tournament winner has now ended up outside the top 300 in the world rankings. His first round in Dubai was mixed to say the least, including four bogeys, a double bogey and five birdies.
The Dane Joachim B. Hansen is the leader after the first round with 65 strokes (-7). The prize money in the Dubai Desert Classic is approximately 7 million euros.
Race class for women W Series skips Zandvoort circuit
2:26 pm: The W Series, the first race series for only female drivers, will again fill the additional program of Formula 1 next season. Eight race weekends are planned on the 2022 calendar, but the Zandvoort circuit is missing. Last year the W Series was part of the Dutch Grand Prix. The Dutch Beitske Visser, who finished eighth in the championship last year, will again play in the W Series this year.
The racing series will visit five new circuits, including the recently constructed circuit around the Hard Rock stadium in Miami in the United States. There, the W Series opens the season (May 6-8). Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Paul Ricard in France, Suzuka in Japan and Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico are also new. Silverstone in Great Britain, the Hungaroring in Budapest and Circuit of the Americas in Austin return to the calendar.
“We have always expressed our intention to make the series a true global movement and this calendar is the next step in achieving that,” said W Series boss Catherine Bond Muir. “Last year we forged a groundbreaking partnership with Formula 1 and our talented female drivers have proven that they belong on motorsport’s biggest stage.”
The W Series is intended to give female drivers the opportunity to climb up to Formula 1. Since Italy’s Lella Lombardi in 1976, not a woman has been active in the premier class.
China with largest team ever at Beijing Winter Games
13:21: China participates with no fewer than 176 athletes in the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. It is the largest team ever to send the country to the quadrennial event. China is present in all branches of sport. The Games will run from February 4 to 20.
The Chinese ice hockey team is also present. For a long time there was uncertainty whether the international federation wanted to let the team play, because the level was much too low. The IIHF finally decided to give the Chinese team the benefit of the doubt.
What is also striking is the large number of foreign coaches in the Chinese team. Of the 78 coaches, 51 come from another country, including America, Canada, Russia, France and Japan.
Ghana national coach fired at the request of the Minister of Sports
10:12 am Ghana national football team coach Milovan Rajevac has been sacked after the African Cup failure. The team that had been designated one of the favorites in advance, was ingloriously last in the group after the group stage. The defeat against the insignificant Comoros prompted the Ghanaian sports minister to demand the resignation of the 68-year-old Serbian national coach.
The Ghanaian Football Association (GFA) took some time to discuss it, but the final decision was made on Thursday. “After reading three reports and discussions with key stakeholders, the GFA has decided to end its relationship with coach Rajevac,” a statement said.
Rajevac had only been in service for four months. He was previously the national coach of Ghana. He led the national team to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2010.
Booker gives basketball players Phoenix Sun their eighth win in a row
08:00 o’clock Basketball player Devin Booker has helped Phoenix Suns to their eighth consecutive NBA win. Thanks to Booker’s 43 points, the Suns beat Utah Jazz 105-97.
Booker took no less than 21 points in the first quarter and partly because of this, the visitors took a 21-point lead. Chris Paul came to 21 points over the entire game. Jordan Clarkson was the most accurate on the Jazz side with 26 points.
The Suns are the leaders in the Western Conference. Utah Jazz, which is fourth, has lost its last three games.