Surfing-Australia names Olympic team after jellyfish to instil killer instinct reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Reuters Staff
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March 17 (Reuters) - Australia’s surfing team have named themselves the Irukandjis after one of the deadliest species of jellyfish on the planet, as they seek to inject a bit of cold-blooded killer instinct into their preparations for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
The team settled on the world s smallest jellyfish, a native to the country s northern waters, because the tiny creatures pack a serious punch , Surfing Australia chief executive, Chris Mater said in a statement here on Wednesday.
The name Irukandji refers to several similar, extremely venomous species of box-jellyfish, which have an adult size of about a cubic centimetre, and actively hunt prey and fire stingers into their victims.
Sheboygan, WI, USA / 1330 & 101.5 WHBL
Mar 16, 2021 10:52 PM
(Reuters) - Kento Momota feared he would be unable to play badminton again after a road accident in Malaysia left him with serious injuries last year, but having returned to full fitness the world No.1 says he is gunning for gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Japanese shuttler Momota, 26, fractured his nose and right eye socket, and sustained multiple lacerations to his face after the van he was travelling in crashed into a truck in January last year.
The accident, which killed the van driver, occurred hours after Momota had secured his first victory of the season at the Malaysia Masters.
Sailing - 36th America s Cup
(Reuters) – Luna Rossa co-helmsman Jimmy Spithill says he has unfinished business at the America’s Cup after tactical errors and poor execution saw the Australian suffer a second successive loss to Team New Zealand.
Spithill, who was part of Oracle Team USA’s team that lost 7-1 to TNZ in 2017, helped Luna Rossa into a 3-2 lead but five successive race defeats ended his bid for a third America’s Cup triumph on Wednesday.
The 7-3 loss also dashed Italy’s hopes of securing sport’s oldest international trophy for the first time and Spithill, who skippered Oracle to America’s Cup wins in 2010 and 2013, felt he had let the team down.
Badminton: All England Open start pushed back due to COVID-19 Reuters 4 days ago
(Reuters) - The start of the All England Open was delayed on Wednesday to allow the retesting of some samples after a number of inconclusive and positive COVID-19 results among participating teams, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said.
The BWF said in a statement play would begin at 1400 GMT instead of 0900 GMT. The BWF and Badminton England can confirm that a significant number of COVID-19 tests conducted . were deemed inconclusive and as a result, the samples will be rerun, the governing body said in a statement. BWF can also confirm a small number of positive tests were recorded and in agreement with Public Health England, these cases will be retested. These cases will continue to self-isolate while they are being retested.