Keep up to date with all the sports news. We have set up special pages on our website for football, tennis, skating, motorsport, cycling and darts news, on which the most important matters in these sports are highlighted. In this section Sport Kort mainly the other messages are discussed.
Former Olympic gymnastics champion Csollany passed away from Covid-19
11:34 PM: Hungarian former gymnast and former Olympic champion Szilveszter Csollany has died from the effects of Covid-19, the gymnastics federation and the Olympic committee of his country have announced. Csollany was 51 years old. He contracted the virus in early December and has been in a hospital in Budapest since then, where he was on a ventilator.
At the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Csollany won silver on the rings. Four years later he became Olympic champion in Sydney on the same device. In 2002 he also became world champion, after having had to settle for silver at five previous World Cups.
Csollany was a well-known antivaxer. He posted several publications about this on his Facebook page. According to the Hungarian tabloid Blikk, he had himself vaccinated anyway, because otherwise he could no longer continue to work as a gymnastics coach. Shortly afterwards he would have fallen ill.
Italian team cyclocross world championships thinned out by half due to corona
9.38 pm: The Italian selection for the Cyclo-cross World Championships next weekend in the United States has been considerably thinned out. Six of the twelve selected riders were not allowed to travel to Fayetteville (Arkansas) on Monday. They had been in contact with an Italian cyclocross rider who tested positive for corona at last weekend’s World Cup Cross in Hoogerheide.
The team was still in the Netherlands and the decision was also made there to only let the riders who have not had contact with the infected rider, received a booster shot and tested negative, fly from Schiphol to America. This was reported by the Italian Cycling Federation. It concerns Eva Lechner and Silvia Persico (women’s elite), Lucia Bramati (women’s promises), Davide Toneatti and Samuele Leone (men’s promises) and Federica Venturelli (women’s juniors).
The Italians left behind are: Gaia Realini (elite women), Jakob Dorigoni (elite men), Valentina Corvi (junior women), Tommaso Cafueri, Luca Paletti and Samuele Scappini (junior men).
Balotelli in Italian football selection for the first time since 2018
8.39 pm: Mario Balotelli has been included in the Italian football squad for the first time since 2018. The attacker currently playing for the Turkish Adana Demirspor is part of a provisional group of 35 men. National coach Roberto Mancini has also included seven players who have not previously been international.
Mancini has gathered the footballers for a three-day training camp. In March, the country will play in the play-offs for a place at the World Cup in Qatar, at the end of this year. The European champion failed to qualify directly.
Watford sends trainer Ranieri away
6.43 pm: Watford has sacked Premier League coach Claudio Ranieri. This is reported by the BBC based on official sources. The club is in second last place and lost to the low-ranking Norwich City last Friday. That broke the Italian.
Ranieri signed a two-year contract with Watford a few months ago. He then succeeded Spaniard Xisco Muñoz, who was also fired because of the disappointing results. Ranieri has lasted less than four months at the club.
Ranieri previously worked for Chelsea, Fulham and Leicester City in England. He led the latter club to its first league title in history in 2016.
Number of infections in Premier League continues to fall
5:02 p.m.: The number of coronavirus infections in the Premier League has fallen for the fourth consecutive week. The top English football league has reported 16 new cases in the past seven days. From December 20 to 26, there were still 103 positive tests, a record. Since then, the numbers have declined.
In the past week, 6,221 tests were conducted among players, coaches and other staff members. Since December, 22 matches have been postponed due to corona, the last time being on January 18.
Swimming World Cup in Japan may be postponed for another year
2:22 p.m.: The World Swimming Championships in the Japanese city of Fukuoka may be postponed by another year. The event was initially planned to be held in the summer of 2021, but because the Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed by a year, were taking place, the World Cup was moved to May 2022. Because the qualifying cycle has been disrupted on many continents due to the corona pandemic, it is considering the global swimming federation FINA to postpone the tournament for another year.
Technical director André Cats of the Dutch swimming association KNZB confirms when asked that this is “very serious”. Clarity should be made during this week. The event is scheduled for May 13-29. Japan expects about 2400 participants from almost 200 countries at the World Cup. They went on to compete for the world titles in the long course (50 meters), open water, water polo, diving, synchronized swimming and cliff diving.
The European Swimming Championships are scheduled for August in Rome.
Amateur clubs are getting ready for the resumption of sports competitions
13:47 o’clock: In anticipation of the cabinet press conference on Tuesday evening, the amateur football associations are preparing for the resumption of the competition. The sports competitions for amateurs may be allowed to resume next weekend. The KNVB will temporarily leave the program in the so-called B category for next weekend, which has been planned for some time, until the cabinet has made a decision.
“We are preparing all kinds of scenarios,” said a spokesman for the union. “We are not going to speculate, we will wait for the press conference first.” Since January 15, everyone can again work out at their own club almost without restrictions, both in outdoor and indoor sports. Playing against each other is allowed, but not playing against other clubs yet. With the exception of top sport, the competitions are therefore at a standstill. The current corona measures will in any case run until Tuesday, the day of the press conference.
Ben van Olffen, chairman of the Interest Organization Amateur Football Associations (BAV), knows that many clubs are preparing for the resumption of the season. “Although I do not think that the competition will be resumed on Saturday, at least not in the A category. It would make sense if all teams could play a practice match first. Smaller associations in particular do not have the opportunity to practice with teams of more or less equal resistance.”
According to Van Olffen, the amateur clubs are ready to start again. The BAV does not receive any signals that clubs have lost many volunteers due to the many corona interruptions in recent years. “I even get the impression that all those volunteers are eager to start again. Everyone misses social contact. Volunteers are usually very loyal to their association, which is why all those sports associations have such an important social function in society. Perhaps that is even more important than the sporting aspect.”
Cyclists to Barcelona next year for the start of Vuelta
12:30 pm The Vuelta a España starts next year in Barcelona. The Catalan city hosts the start of the first two stages. This year the Vuelta starts on Friday, August 19 in Utrecht with a team time trial, after which the second and third stage also pass over Dutch soil: from Den Bosch to Utrecht and a stage with start and finish in Breda.
The organization of the Vuelta chose Barcelona for the start of next year. The intention is that a team time trial will also be held there on Saturday, August 19, 2023. The Vuelta a España ends three weeks later, on Sunday, September 10, in Madrid. The rest of the trail will be revealed later.
In 1962, the Vuelta also started in Barcelona. The Tour de France also starts next year in Spain, in Bilbao.
Miami Heat takes over NBA lead from Nets
9:15 am The Miami Heat basketball players have taken over the lead from the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA’s Eastern Division. The Miami Heat defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 113-107, while the Nets lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves (125-136). The team from Miami now leads with 30 wins, Brooklyn Nets remained on 29 wins. Both clubs lost 17 matches.
Jimmy Butler scored a triple-double with the Heat with 20 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Despite 41 points to DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls lost 114-95 at Orlando Magic and thus remained on 28 victories in the east. The Bulls, like the Heat and the Nets, have lost 17 times.
Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to a 51-point win over Washington Wizards (116-87). In the west, the Golden State Warriors won the top game against Utah Jazz: 94-92. The Warriors are second in the west with 34 wins and 13 losses, behind Phoenix Suns (36-9). Utah Jazz takes fourth place 30-17.
Pechstein candidate to carry German flag in Beijing
08:30 am German speed skater Claudia Pechstein has a chance to wear the national flag at the opening ceremony at her eighth Olympics. The 49-year-old Pechstein, a five-time Olympic champion, is one of the six candidates nominated by the Olympic committee of Germany. German athletes and fans can vote until January 30; the votes of both groups count for 50 percent.
As with last year’s Summer Games in Tokyo, each country can designate two flag bearers, a man and a woman.
Pechstein faces competition from snowboard star Ramona Hofmeister and Natalie Geisenberger, four-time Olympic luge champion. For the men, bobsleigh Francesco Friedrich, ice hockey player Moritz Müller and tobogganist Tobias Wendl are the candidates. The German federation will announce on February 3, a day before the opening ceremony, which woman and man received the most votes.