Kiwi’s history-making row across Atlantic Whittaker’s not so subtle dig at Adesanya
Isaac Giesen has become the first New Zealander to row the Atlantic solo.
At age 26, he also becomes the youngest person to have completed that feat. He is also the first person from the Southern Hemisphere to row the Atlantic twice in a year, having completed it last year as part of a team.
Giesen took 71 days to row the 4815 kilometres from the Canary Islands to Antigua as an entrant in the Atlantic Challenge race, finishing his journey about midnight Thursday (NZ time).
Eleven kilograms lighter at 91kg, Giesen immediately set about replacing some of the lost weight with a big feed of chicken wings.
From Christchurch, ‘‘The Blue Rower’’ – as Giesen labelled his entry into the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge race – said his motivation was raise money and awareness for depression.
‘‘My motivation for the race and for raising money and awareness for depression is for my aunty who passed when I was 12 years old to suicide, as well as another two friends from the same cause when I was 19.
‘‘I want to do it for these people above who had no voice to speak out and to create awareness and more understanding about mental health. I want to help educate people about the pain it creates and to get people to start listening,’’ said Giesen, who has a degree in viticulture and winemaking. UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker has fired back at Israel Adesanya to further ignite their inevitable transTasman super fight.
The New Zealand-born but Australiaraised Whittaker, who was forced to pull out of his title defence against Kelvin Gastelum due to a ‘‘freak’’ abdominal injury in Melbourne earlier this month, has labelled Adesanya as having an over-inflated opinion of himself.
On that same Melbourne card, Adesanya defeated mixed martial arts legend Anderson Silva by unanimous decision in a fight that was promoted to the main event when the Whittaker and Gastelum fight was abandoned.
Adesanya, who has been chasing a transTasman title fight with Whittaker, was booed by the Australian crowd following his victory when he referred to Whittaker as ‘‘not turning up to work’’.
Whittaker, who could have died if he had fought with the abdominal injury, has now fired back at the Nigerian-born Auckland fighter.
‘‘I think that Adesanya isn’t as good as he thinks he is,’’ Whittaker told the GrangeTV podcast. ‘‘I think he’s very good – very, very good – and I have a lot of respect for his skillset, 100 per cent.
‘‘He’s a dangerous guy. But I don’t think the pedestal that he’s on is as high as everyone else thinks it is, as he thinks it is,’’ Whittaker told GrangeTV.
Adesanya will now fight Gastelum – at a yet-to-be-determined venue – on April 14 for the interim middleweight title at UFC 236.
Whittaker, who will fight the winner of Adesanya and Gastelum, took particular aim at Adesanya’s striking which the UFC champion feels is overrated.
‘‘I think his fight with Anderson Silva Robert Whittaker
was the first time his stand-up capabilities were put to the test with someone with similar stand-up capabilities.
‘‘I don’t think Adesanya’s striking is as good as he believes. It’s very good. I’m not saying his striking is bad, it’s very, very good – but I just don’t think it’s as good as he thinks it is.
‘‘The times Adesanya’s looked very good is against people that don’t have the greatest striking,’’ Whittaker told GrangeTV.
Gastelum, who missed out on a fight in Melbourne after Whittaker pulled out, also had a dig at Adesanya.
‘‘He beat a 43-year old Anderson Silva. I’m not sure that’s a claim for a title shot. But if the UFC decides he’s No 1 contender and gets to skip the five guys in front of him, then so be it. I guess I will fight the No 1 contender and defend my title,’’ Gastelum told media in Melbourne. Russia’s officially neutral track and field team swelled in size as the IAAF approved 21 more athletes to compete internationally. The IAAF ruled Yelena Sokolova, the 2012 Olympic silver medallist in long jump, can return to international competition for the first time since Russia’s team was banned in 2015 over widespread doping. Triple jumper Irina Gumenyuk has her approval extended from last season. However, with just eight days before the European indoor championships start in Glasgow, Russia says they won’t have time to get British visas.