COME OUT & PLAY
72 Aussie Open players forced to quarantine for two weeks
Another 25 tennis players were forced into quarantine in Australia ahead of the season’s first major after another positive coronavirus test on a charter flight, taking the total number of competitors isolating in hotel rooms to 72 on Sunday.
The positive test came from a passenger who was not a member of the playing contingent, Australian Open organizers said. But all 58 passengers, including the 25 players on the flight from Doha, Qatar that arrived in Melbourne on Saturday, now cannot leave their hotel rooms for two weeks.
Organizers had previously announced that 47 players had to quarantine after four COVID-19 cases emerged from two other charter flights bringing players, staff, officials and media to Australia.
Some players have expressed anger at being classified as close contacts merely for being on board those flights with people who later tested positive and, therefore, forced into a harsher quarantine than the broader group of players who’ll be allowed out of their rooms to practice for up to five hours per day.
But local health authorities have said all players were warned of the risks in advance. And any players considering bending the rules have been warned. Breach quarantine regulations and there’s the prospect of heavy fines or being moved to a more secure quarantine complex with police stationed at their doors.
Three cases were announced Saturday and Victoria state’s COVID-19 quarantine commissioner Emma Cassar told a news conference on Sunday that there’d been a fourth positive test involving a person flying in for the Australian Open. So far, none has involved a player.
Three cases emerged from the flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne, officials said, including a member of the air crew, a coach and the latest being a member of the TV broadcasting team. The other case was a coach who took the charter flight from Abu Dhabi to Melbourne.
All four had tested negative before boarding their flights to Australia. All four have now been transferred to a health hotel.
Sylvain Bruneau, who coaches 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu, posted on social media to say he was on the flight from
Abu Dhabi and had tested positive.
SIXERS-THUNDER OFF
Another NBA game was called off Sunday because of coronavirus concerns, and the Grizzlies said center will not play today because of the league’s health and safety protocols.
The NBA said the Philadelphia at Oklahoma City game, scheduled for Sunday night, could not be played because the 76ers did not “have the league-required eight available players to proceed” because of contact tracing.
It was the 13th game called off since Jan. 10 because of virus issues, a span in which the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have stiffened protocols and even added testing with hopes of keeping the season going without much in the way of additional problems.
“Nobody is complaining,” Detroit coach Dwane Casey said. “It’s different. We have to go with the flow. We trust and believe in the NBA, that they’re doing what’s right for us and our families.”
VANDY KICKER GETS BIDEN INVITE
Sarah Fuller, the first woman to score in a Power Five conference football game, says she’s been invited to attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.
“It’s an honor to be invited to participate in one of America’s greatest traditions,” Fuller posted Sunday on social media.
HUSKERS ON HOLD
Nebraska’s basketball program will pause for at least seven more days after coach Fred Hoiberg and 11 other staffers or players tested positive for COVID-19.
The Cornhuskers’ home game against Minnesota on Wednesday and game at Iowa next Sunday have been postponed. The schools will work with the Big Ten Conference to reschedule.
Hoiberg said he tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday and began self-isolating.
“I am experiencing symptoms, but my condition has improved over the last 24 hours,” Hoiberg said.”
Nebraska already has had games against Illinois and Maryland canceled because of COVID-19 issues.
KAREEM TAKES HIS SHOT
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has revealed that he received the COVID-19 vaccine and is encouraging others to consider doing the same. The Hall of Famer and NBA’s leading all-time scorer has taped a short message that will be aired beginning today during broadcasts of games played on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
NA TAKES SONY
Three shots behind with six holes to play, Kevin Na birdied three straight holes and finished with an up-and-down birdie from behind the 18th green for a 5-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Sony Open in Honolulu.
Na won for the fifth time in his PGA Tour career, and this one looked unlikely when he three-putted for bogey on the 12th hole.