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After Barty: Five young tennis stars who could take over at the top

SYDNEY (AFP) – World number one Ashleigh Barty’s sudden retirement has left a gaping hole in women’s tennis, already preparing for life without ageing superstar Serena Williams and with Naomi Osaka sliding down the rankings.

But there are plenty of reasons for long-term optimism. AFP Sport looks at the young generation jostling to become the next face of women’s tennis:

IGA SWIATEK
The increasingly confident Pole leads the pack. Aged just 20, Swiatek, whose father was an Olympic rower, is in line to become the new world number one when the updated rankings are released on Monday.

She shot to prominence by winning the French Open in 2020 and has shown remarkable consistency, making the second week for a sixth consecutive Grand Slam during the Australian Open in January.

After posting her first top-10 year-end finish in 2021, Swiatek made the semis at Melbourne Park, won Doha in February, then emphatically claimed the Indian Wells title last week.

Born in Warsaw, she is the first player since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009 to win five or more titles before turning 21, showing a more aggressive style since recruiting Tomasz Wiktorowski as her coach.

ABOVE & BELOW: Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and Emma Raducanu. PHOTOS: AFP

ARYNA SABALENKA
The powerful Belarusian has banked 10 singles titles with her explosive all-court ability.

Still only 23, she won two crowns during the 2021 campaign and made the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the US Open to reach a career-high ranking of two.

But she readily admits nerves can get the better of her and her abilities were questioned this year when she self-destructed at two season-opening tournaments in Australia, reduced to tears as her serve deserted her.

Sabalenka’s serving woes continued at the Australian Open and she has failed to make an impact at three tournaments since, leaving the Minsk-born right-hander needing to regroup.

EMMA RADUCANU
The 19-year-old Briton stunned the world of tennis as she won the US Open as a qualifier last year without dropping a set.

But she has struggled to repeat those exploits. In seven tournaments since, her best run was into the quarter-finals of the Transylvania Open in October.

Raducanu though has time on her side and she said in Miami this week that the early exits had not dented her confidence and she planned to stay in the game into her 30s.

Ranked number 13, she is on her first full season on the WTA Tour. With new coach Torben Beltz by her side she will be looking to show why tennis is so excited by her potential.

COCO GAUFF
The 18-year-old American is another prodigious talent with the world at her feet.

She won hearts as a 15-year-old in 2019 at Wimbledon when she arrived as a qualifier and reached the last 16, beating five-time champion Venus Williams along the way. Her exploits sparked ‘Coco Mania’ as she received messages of congratulations from far and wide and she went on to win her first WTA title that year.

Her second title came in 2021, a year in which she also beat Barty in Rome and made her first Grand Slam quarter-final at the French Open.

Currently ranked 17th, one place below her career best, Gauff models herself on the Williams sisters, pointing to their tenacity and fearlessness.

LEYLAH FERNANDEZ
Fernandez’s stunning exploits at the US Open last year, where she knocked out defending champion Osaka, world number two Sabalenka and fifth-ranked Elina Svitolina before losing to Raducanu in the final, earmarked her as a future star.

Not since Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2012 had a player beaten three top-five rivals in a Slam, putting her in esteemed company.

The 19-year-old Canadian couldn’t repeat her exploits at the Australian Open this year, crashing to a wildcard in round one.

But she took it in her stride, vowing to get straight back on the practice court and she retained her WTA Monterrey crown last month.

Coached by her father, the trilingual teenager – who speaks fluent English, French and Spanish – said that Barty was a role model and wanted to follow in her footsteps.

Spike in cholera in Cameroon kills 29 in one week

YAOUNDÉ (AFP) – Twenty-nine people have died from cholera in Cameroon in the space of a week, the health minister said yesterday.

Most of the deaths occurred in three cities in the west of the country, which has seen a spike in cases of the water-borne disease.

Cholera is an acute form of diarrhoea that is treatable with antibiotics and hydration but can kill within hours if left untreated.

“We saw a spike in cases of cholera in the Southwest region between March 16 and 22, 2022, with more than 300 cases registered,” Health Minister Manaouda Malachie tweeted.

He said there were “20 deaths in Kumba,… two deaths in Buea,… five deaths in Tiko (and) two deaths in Yaounde”, the capital.

A total of 62 people had died since October 2021 and over the period nearly 2,100 cases had been detected, Malachie wrote, adding that the authorities were coordinating a vaccination campaign and other measures to contain the outbreak.

The last epidemic was between January and August 2020, when 66 people died.

Australia dismisses Pakistan in final session to win series

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (AP) – Pakistan failed yesterday to hold out in the last session of the third and final cricket test which Australia won by 115 runs to clinch the series 1-0.

The hosts were dismissed for 235 in their second innings on a worn-out wicket as Australia enjoyed a successful end to its first test series in Pakistan since 1998.

Resuming on 73-0, and entering the final session at 190-5, Pakistan collapsed against veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon, who got plenty of turn and bounce from a fifth-day wicket and finished with 5-83 from 37 overs.

Australia was rewarded for setting Pakistan a challenging target of 351 after boldly declaring its second innings at 227-3. Pakistan had conceded a decisive 123-run lead after scoring 268 in its first innings in reply to Australia’s 391.

Lyon bowled an unchanged marathon spell of 28 overs on the last day. Pacer Pat Cummins clean bowled Number 11 Naseem Shah to finish off Pakistan. Opener Imam-ul-Haq (70) and captain Babar Azam (55) scored fighting half centuries but the rest of Pakistan’s batters crumbled against the menacing reverse swing of Cummins, who took 3-23, and the sharp spin of Lyon.

The first test ended in a tame draw at Rawalpindi where the pitch was rated as below average by the ICC. Babar’s brilliant 196 in more than 10 hours denied Australia a win at Karachi where Pakistan played out 171.4 overs in more than five sessions and forced an
epic draw.

Pakistan’s Babar Azam walks back to pavilion while Australian players celebrate his dismissal. PHOTO: AP

Contest aims to improve public speaking skills

Brunei Religious Officers Students Association (BruROSA) organised its second annual Open Mic Competition themed ‘The Obligatory Search of Knowledge’ recently.

The competition aimed to improve the students’ confidence and public speaking skills, while providing a platform to share Islamic knowledge. Five undergraduate students from different regions in the United Kingdom (UK) participated.

The event commenced with the recitation of Doa by BruROSA Financial Secretary Arif Ibrahim, followed by an opening speech by the guest of honour, Director of Studies of the Brunei Students’ Unit (UPP), Md Danny bin Aimi.

Three officers from the Brunei Students’ Unit were the judges of the competition. They were religious officer Haji Muhammad Fahmi bin Haji Abas who evaluated the participants’ speech content, Dr Widad Abdul Aziz judged the writing style of the participants’ transcript, and academic coordinator Erna Sumarne binti Haji Sumardi evaluated their speech delivery.

BruROSA President Fikri Ali announced the results of the competition.

BruROSA members during the event. PHOTO: BRUROSA

First place winner Nur Arina binti Haji Hamidun from Cardiff Metropolitan University won GBP150 with her topic, ‘Knowledge from the Eyes of a Muslim’.

Second place winner Md Aqiel Hidayat bin Haji Zulfa Hidayat from Coventry University with ‘Kepentingan Ilmu Duniawi dan Ukhrawi’ received GBP125, while third place winner Awangku Izz Khan Fayyadh bin Pengiran Haji Mohd Hasreen from the University of Manchester with ‘The Continuous Need to Learn and Grow’ won GBP100.

Meanwhile, fourth place winner Hamizan bin Haji Abdul Rahman from the University of Nottingham presented ‘Overcoming Mental Health Issues’ while fifth place winner Mohd Azizan bin Haji Anas from the University of Lancaster delivered ‘Bermusyawarah dalam Kehidupan’.

Participants also received certificates and BruROSA merchandise.

The event concluded with a group photo session and recitation of Surah Al-’Asr.

Never out of fashion

Andrea Sachs

THE WASHINGTON POST – From The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe’s acclaimed poem, we know that birds can speak. If the Enchanted Garden at the Poe Museum in Richmond, which celebrates its centennial this year, had a voice, it might have a choice word to say as well.

“Evermore,” the bricks from the Southern Literary Messenger building, the writer’s former office, would utter. “Evermore,” the ivy clipped from his mother’s grave would whisper.

“Evermore,” the copy of the bust of Poe would intone, before asking after the original plaster statue of his head. (Rest easy, Mr Poe. After police recovered the stolen object from the bar at the Raven Inn in 1987, it has been living safely and soberly inside the museum’s reading room.)

To be sure, 100 years is not forever, but for a museum dedicated to a 19th-Century American author who wades in the dark recesses of the human psyche, it comes close. Since opening in April 1922, the institution in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom neighbourhood has survived not only wars and financial crashes but also seismic changes in literary tastes and the act of reading itself.

“What’s kept the Poe Museum going for a century has been Poe. He’s never been out of fashion. He’s never been out of print,” said Chris Semtner, the museum’s curator who seamlessly inserts Poe quotes into conversation. “Poe’s works have continued to evolve with the times, so this museum has continued to evolve, because Poe is there for us.”

ABOVE & BELOW: Inside the Elizabeth Arnold Poe Memorial Building at the Poe Museum; and the Poe Museum opened as a memorial garden in April 1922. PHOTOS: THE WASHINGTON POST

The Poe Shrine at the museum
Though Edgar Allan Poe is buried in Baltimore, visitors to the Poe Museum in Richmond can leave notes for the American author at his ‘gravesite’

Before Poe was there for the museum, he was here in Richmond. His life intersected with the city at several plot points. After Poe’s father abandoned the family and his mother died, John Allan, a wealthy merchant, and his wife, Frances, raised the orphaned toddler.

Between 1835 and 1837, the aspiring writer worked as an editor and contributor at the Southern Literary Messenger, an influential periodical.

He married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia in Richmond. Following her death from tuberculosis in 1847, he planned to betroth his first love, Sarah Elmira Royster Shelton, in the same city.

However, in a case of life imitating macabre fiction, he mysteriously died 10 days before their wedding. Though he took his last breath in Baltimore nearly 175 years ago, his legacy still beats in the heart of Richmond.

“Richmond was mostly devoted to politics and the state Capitol. There wasn’t really a literary scene. Poe tried to change that and cultivate literature here,” Semtner said. “It’s still going today, and we’re still part of that tradition.”

The museum’s founders, a coterie of admirers, initially established an ode to Poe in the interior courtyard of the Old Stone House, the city’s oldest residential structure (circa 1740).

The shrine and memorial garden, which incorporate fragments from his life and works, were inspired by his poem To One in Paradise. “A green isle in the sea, love; a fountain and a shrine; all wreathed with fairy fruits and flowers,” Semtner recited on a recent Saturday afternoon as we stood in the manicured sanctum, still drowsy from the long winter. “This is a living, breathing Poe poem.”

In honour of the centennial, the museum will host an UnHappy Hour on April 28, featuring the local surf-rock horror band the Embalmers; a 1920s costume party (accessorise with a cloche hat and an afflicted soul); bites from Goatocado, Oak & Apple and Whisk; and a cash bar. The staff will also unveil a trove of Poe artefacts that Susan Jaffe Tane, a pre-eminent New York collector, donated for the occasion. Semtner said the nearly 70-piece gift will help the museum, which claims the world’s largest collection of Poe memorabilia (roughly 4,000 items), plug small gaps in the author’s professional and personal history, including his Richmond periods.

“That small band of writers and artists who started this back in 1922, they would be shocked to see how much the museum has grown over the years,” Semtner said. “They couldn’t have imagined that we were going to have Elmira’s engagement ring or that we were going to occupy four buildings in the garden or that we were going to have a global presence online, because they wouldn’t know what ‘online’ was.”

When I arrived, the museum was jammed with people, many of whom were lingering around the ticket counter petting Pluto (red collar), the resident black cat who was performing greeter duties that morning. “I feel like Edgar is Edgar Allan Poe reincarnated,” Maeve Jones, the executive director, said of the second, more enigmatic feline (gray collar).

After I gave Pluto a requisite scratch behind the ear, I followed Semtner and Jones through the Enchanted Garden and into the first of three themed buildings: childhood, in the Old Stone House; career, in the Elizabeth Arnold Poe Memorial Building; and death, in the North Building.

In a cluttered room near the display of Poe’s boyhood effects, Semtner slipped on a pair of gloves and, with light fingers, picked up one of the donated items.

“There is a slumped weariness in his expression,” Semtner said of the last photograph taken of Poe, a sixth-plate tintype based on a daguerreotype. “Maybe he knew that death was coming.”

Semtner next showed me an elegant pocket watch that Poe had owned when he wrote the The Tell-Tale Heart. Though clocks appear in the chilling story, the timepiece did not occupy Poe’s inspiration board for long. The author, a profligate spender and dapper dresser, relinquished the valuable to his tailor as payment. “This is Poe not managing money well,” Semtner said. “He bought his wife a harp and a piano and himself clothes. Those were his priorities: looking good.”

One artefact – a shard of his coffin – was seemingly plucked from Poe’s grisly imagination. In 1875, his body was relocated to another plot at the Westminster Burying Ground in Baltimore. The coffin shattered in the move, and his body tumbled out. The remnant will join a lock of hair, his engraved walking stick and a pair of his socks already on display in the death room.

“Coming here is the closest you get to seeing Poe in the flesh, the closest you get to seeing him face-to-face. This is the stuff that he owned, the things he wore, even a part of him,” Semtner said. “It’s almost like a time machine. You get to bring Poe back to today or go back to his time.”

Stoking the fighting spirit

LVIV, UKRAINE (AFP) – A brick-sized printer head scoots back and forth, spraying a furled plastic banner with the silhouette of a mythical fighter pilot.

Next door a drying glossy poster shows a tractor carting off a crippled Russian tank.
A nearby computer is loaded with a caricature of a slain invader. From his skeletal remains sprouts the stem of a sunflower, a national emblem of Ukraine.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine three weeks ago, the Zovnishnya Reklama print works has been a publishing hive for unashamedly patriotic billboards, posters, banners and stickers.

The back alley studio – enveloped in the heady odour of ink – is one of many outlets flooding the western city of Lviv with wartime messaging urging Ukraine on to victory.

“For us it is not propaganda,” said manager Volodymyr Kotovych, 26, clambering over reams of industrial paper stacked like logs on the workshop floor.

“These are patriotic slogans that motivate our people and our soldiers to have a better fighting spirit.”

ABOVE & BELOW: A worker of printing house Zovnishnya Reklama (utdoor advertising) takes part in placards production in western Ukrainian city of Lviv; and people walk past anti-Russian placards. PHOTOS: AFP

ABOVE & BELOW: Volodymyr Kotovich prints a banner with the silhouette of a mythical fighter pilot; and a worker sets anti-Russian poster

Lviv is known as the cultural capital of Ukraine. Residents gamely concede the capital Kyiv is the heart of the country but contend their hometown houses the nation’s soul.

In peacetime the city advertised its artful anima everywhere. Walls were plastered with invitations to stage performances and gallery exhibitions. The tunes of musical buskers overlapped in the cobbled streets.

But since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, the city of 700,000 has been decked with graphic and triumphant calls to arms – from official channels, private enterprises and guerilla artists.

One billboard depicts Russian President Vladimir Putin’s crumpled face in the dirt under a sketched boot emblazoned with the Ukrainian trident.

Another apes the style of World War II propaganda – a snarling Russian bear is torn asunder by a smaller vicious badger sporting the yellow armband of the Ukrainian armed forces.

“Whoever attacks us with the sword will die by that sword,” it declares, soliciting donations for the war effort.

From the opera theatre, three billowing drapes depict the folk heroes of the conflict.

The first lauds the “Ghost of Kyiv”, a feted fighter ace. Another heralds border guards who died at their posts. The third, an engineer who martyred himself to thwart a Russian armoured advance.

The feats – and even existence – of some of the men depicted is contested but all are rousing characters in a story Ukraine is telling itself about the path to victory.

Kotovych clearly feels there is a kernel of emotional truth in the tales, even if they aren’t entirely accurate.

The outlet he manages has given over 80 per cent of its time to making such prints, as traditional advertising work has dried up under the strictures of wartime.

For him, the distinction between their work and propaganda is the grassroots demand for expressions of solidarity during a national trial.

“Propaganda happens in Russia, where people are told one thing but the truth is something else entirely,” he said.

“This is done in the service of the people.”

Elsewhere in Lviv, there is evidence that Kotovych is correct – spontaneous art has sprung up supporting Ukraine in the war.

A city centre archway is glued with an A4 poster of the Russian eagle, slashed across by the Ukrainian national colours of blue and yellow.

An overpass is stencilled with the image of a Molotov cocktail – a symbol of the popular resistance to Russia’s invasion.

Sheafs of photocopied flyers are crudely taped around gutters with the black and white image of a soldier, his brow furrowed in determination, as jets soar overhead.

Tourist shops along the narrow routes of the city centre are already marketing the emerging art to the public, further proof of its popularity.

At Kram, a souvenir boutique lined with merchandise, tote bags bear the image of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, his clenched fist held high.

Chocolate bar wrappers are inked with portraits of national poet Taras Shevchenko in an army uniform.

“Propaganda or not, the Russians came to our land and we need to defend ourselves,” said 21-year-old cashier Mykhailyna Yarmola.

In peaceful times Lviv – just 70 kilometres from the Polish border – was a tourist hotspot drawing in droves of visitors.

Now the traffic is overwhelmingly outgoing. The UN said around 3.5 million have fled the country since the war began, leaving fewer and fewer to be buoyed up by arts and trinkets proffering hope.

Yarmola gestures at a confectionary branded with a message of defiance towards Russian warships – their most popular item.

“People take them as a gift or as a souvenir if they are leaving for elsewhere, to Poland, as refugees,” she said.

Vote campaign starts amid violence, virus fears

MANILA, PHILIPPINES  (AP) – Candidates for Philippine congressional seats and thousands of smaller races started campaigning yesterday with police watching closely due to past violence and to enforce a pandemic ban on handshakes, hugging and tightly packed crowds that are a hallmark of the country’s often circus-like campaigns.

Campaigning for the presidency and other high-profile races began last month. Nearly 66 million Filipinos in the country and over 1.6 million abroad have registered to vote in the May 9 elections for over 18,000 local government and congressional posts.

Social media has become a key battleground for votes after two years of lockdowns and home quarantine restrictions in a Southeast Asian country that was hit hard by coronavirus outbreaks. The last alarming spike occurred in January before easing with an intensified vaccination campaign. Many fear election disinformation could worsen in a country regarded as one of the world’s top Internet users.

In suburban Marikina city, a mayoral candidate walked from house to house under the intense summer heat and talked to residents as followers trailed him, including one who banged a snare drum to draw attention. In Quezon city, red and white confetti rained down on a stage, as the mayor, who is seeking re-election, and her allies held and raised each other’s hands in a show of unity. She later approached supporters, some of whom grabbed her hands.

Such fiesta-like scenes were replicated in most of the country.

Confetti drops as Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte and her party launch their campaign in Quezon City, Philippines. PHOTO: AP

Some candidates openly flouted elections coronavirus regulations, campaigning in public without the required face masks, shaking hands and huddling close to supporters seeking selfies.

Elections Commissioner George Garcia warned candidates not to violate coronavirus restrictions. “While we have eased restrictions, it doesn’t mean there can be super-spreader events,” he said in a news conference on Thursday.

A more serious concern has been elections violence. Local elections have been marred in the past by bloody feuds and accusations of cheating, especially in rural regions with weak law enforcement and a proliferation of unlicensed firearms and private armies.

Outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly warned he would deploy the military if candidates resort to violence and fraud.

“Nobody wants trouble, nobody wants cheating,” he said in a speech in September in south Mindanao region, where many elections security hotspots have been identified by the police.

“The military is the guardian of our country and I could call them anytime to see to it that people are protected and election’s freely, orderly exercised,” said Duterte, who has long been condemned himself for the thousands of killings of mostly petty suspects in his bloody crackdown against illegal drugs.

An unnecessary inconvenience

Recently I had to accompany a family member to the accident and emergency unit. The incident was so urgent that we had to rush the family member immediately to the hospital.

Upon arrival, we learnt that we were required to do the antigen rapid test (ART) before being allowed into the area.

Though we understand that these are the protocols, we were not offered a solution such as where we could acquire or purchase ART kits close by.

At this point, we were not angry, but frustrated. In such an urgent situation, we did not have the time to look for and buy ART kits.

It is also very impressive that the hospital staff go by the book when it comes to adhering to rules and directives but it would be helpful and logical to make certain allowances or exceptions when it comes to uncalled situations.

We implore the authorities to at least have ART kits available for purchase at entry points where they are required, especially in urgent situations.

Not Against ART

Ukraine war knocks German business confidence: survey

BERLIN (AFP) – The business climate in Europe’s top economy worsened in March, German survey data showed yesterday, amid fears over soaring energy prices and deepening supply chain woes due to the Ukraine invasion.

“War in Ukraine sends Ifo business climate index crashing,” said the Munich-based institute as its closely watched indicator plunged to 90.8 points from 98.5 in February.

“Companies in Germany are expecting hard times,” Ifo president Clemens Fuest said, noting that the “historic” 13.3-point drop in the indicator surpassed even the 11.8-point fall at the start of the pandemic two years ago.

Fuest said in a statement that the business climate in the flagship manufacturing industries had never declined so sharply, with “optimism giving way to clear pessimism” in the business outlook as well.

Senior economist at LBBW bank Jens-Oliver Niklasch said the grim numbers came in broadly in line with forecasts.

“Insecurity is very high due to the war,” he said, noting that economic growth projections for Germany had been corrected downward in recent days.

Time for Arab World to take a stand global football, says Qatari organiser

DOHA (AFP) – Qatar’s top World Cup organiser said it is time for the Arab world and the Middle East to take a stand within the global football community, after hitting back at Netherlands coach Louis Van Gaal for critising the decision to hold the event in the gulf state.

“The passion of the people of the Arab world, what football means to us, I think it is not a ridiculous notion that an Arab nation hosts the World Cup,” said Chief Executive of the World Cup Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy Hassan al-Thawadi in a rare outburst.

Van Gaal said this week that it was “ridiculous” for the World Cup to be held in Qatar and that FIFA had only been motivated by money.

Al-Thawadi said the Netherlands coach has failed to understand the Arab world’s passion for football and insisted Qatar had no regrets over its efforts to stage the World Cup that kicks off on November 21.

“For a person who has had many many years (as a coach) and who understands the power of football, it is ridiculous that he could actually make such a bland statement,” al-Thawadi said in comments from an interview released by Bein Sports TV late on Thursday.

“I am sure that he hasn’t spent a lot of time understanding what football means, not only to Qatar but to the Arab world.”

Al-Thawadi said Qatar had shown at the FIFA Arab Cup in November and December, where many stadiums were packed, that it could host major events.

Thousands of journalists and officials will be in the state on April 1 for the World Cup draw and to see the World Cup stadiums that Qatar has spent billions of dollars to build.

It has also held the world athletics championships, a Formula One race and other top events.

Its human rights record has been questioned, but Qatar said much of the criticism is unfair.

“The passion of the people of the Arab world, what football means to us, I think it is not a ridiculous notion that an Arab nation hosts the World Cup,” al-Thawadi said.

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Borneo Bulletin is the leading English daily in the country. It was first published by Brunei Press. Today, Borneo Bulletin has become the foremost source of information on local and foreign affairs, and the region’s business news.

© 2013 Borneo Bulletin Online - The Independent Newspaper in Brunei Darussalam, Sabah and Sarawak

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