REUTERS: Sweden’s Olympic 100m butterfly champion Sarah Sjostrom has returned to the pool three weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken elbow.

The much-medalled 27-year-old posted a picture on Instagram of herself poolside with the caption “I’m back. Just kicking of course.”

Sjostrom, whose world records include the 50m and 100m freestyle as well as 50m and 100m butterfly, broke her elbow in early February when she slipped on ice and fell to the ground in Stockholm.

The swimming programme at the Tokyo Olympics is due to start on July 24.

Sjostrom, who won gold, silver and bronze medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games and is also an eight times world championship gold medallist, said last month she was “determined and motivated to come back stronger then ever.

“I’ve seen athletes who come back stronger after injuries and they are my big inspiration now,” she said.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Timothy Heritage)

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka provided what was perhaps the best tennis on the opening day of the Qatar Open on Monday, with Azarenka prevailing 6-2 6-3.

Despite conceding the first set, Russia’s Kuznetsova put up a spirited defense in the second leading to increasingly sprawling rallies with her well-matched Belarusian opponent.

A number of knife-edge line calls added to the suspense as the two played into the evening, prolonged by Kuznetsova’s formidable depth and court coverage in the second set.

Azarenka’s composure slipped in the seventh game of the second as she failed to capitalize on several break points, swearing loudly towards her coach.

“I definitely missed the last six years I wanted to come (to Doha),” said two-time Doha champion Azarenka.

“We’ve been playing against each other for so long,” she said of her familiarity with Kuznetsova’s powerful style of play.

Seventh seed and Australian Open finalist, America’s Jennifer Brady, succumbed 6-1 6-2 to Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit who has only progressed as far as the second round at the last two editions in Doha.

Kontaveit kicked off the tournament by applying significant pressure on Brady in the opening exchanges, setting the stage for an upset under the cloudy Doha sky.

Brady, who had won nine of her last 11 matches prior to Doha, struggled to get into her stride with the Estonian dominating the opening set, repeatedly forcing Brady off balance.

‘Very tough match’

“I watched Jennifer’s journey at the Australian Open… I was expecting a very difficult match and I’m very pleased to get to the second round,” said Kontaveit.

Kontaveit was one of the players forced into two weeks of strict quarantine in Australia ahead of the Open at which she lost to Shelby Rogers in the third round.

“It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t something we’d done before,” she said.

Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova tested her Spanish opponent, world number 15 Garbine Muguruza, but ultimately slipped to a 6-2 7-6 defeat.

The Spaniard was a quarter-finalist in Qatar in 2020, losing to Ashleigh Barty who is absent from this year’s tournament, and once again advances to the second round.

Her imposing 1.8 metre presence on the court helped her assert dominance over Kudermetova in the first set.

She fended off several break points against her serve, helping to avoid her clash against the Russian going the distance like their last tussle in Dubai.

Muguruza won a hard-fought tie-break for the second set despite initially falling behind, eliminating the need for a third — and a re-run of Dubai.

She will now face reigning Doha champion Aryna Sabalenka in the second round.

“I was expecting a very tough match,” Muguruza said.

Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko put in one of her best performances of recent months, undoubtedly capitalising on Kiki Bertens’ recent achilles surgery, thrashing her 6-0, 6-2.

In October Netherlands’ Bertens posted a photo of herself in hospital with a cast on her left leg shooting a smile and thumbs up at the camera, writing that achilles pain had “bothered me too much lately in training and games”.

She was playing for the first time since the French Open and did not get into her stride for the duration of the match, although did manage a string of points before succumbing.

“The foot was fine today so I think that didn’t affect me at all,” said Bertens. “But I think I didn’t have match readiness getting into today. Jelena was playing really well.”

TAIPEI – A gynecologist at Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital hit back at social media celebrity Wang Yao on Friday, saying that there is no medical record of her in the department of obstetrics and gynecology.

Doctor Lung Chen-yu was responding to claims from the famous trans influencer a day earlier that she is three months pregnant. Wang underwent male-to-female gender reassignment surgery in 2017.

She took to Instagram on Thursday to announce her pregnancy and released ultrasound photos of her baby alongside a medical form allegedly provided by the Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital to support her claims.

The announcement has drawn many comments from medical professionals in Taiwan.

Doctor Su Yi-ning, a renowned ob-gyn professional, said: “Based on common sense in medical science, just one word, I wish you well, but don’t bulls***.”

Chan Te-fu, director of the Public Affairs Office at the Kaohsiung Medical University Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital, added that there’s no hospital in Taiwan conducting human trials for conception without a uterus.

He stressed that it is impossible for any doctor to conduct such a procedure in Taiwan and that the abdominal ultrasound photo was likely different from those provided by the hospital’s machines.

Meanwhile, Liu Yueh-ping, head of the Department of Medical Affairs at the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW), said on Friday that no human test of uterine transplantation has been approved in Taiwan. Liu said the ministry will further investigate the issue.

In response to media inquiries, Wang Yao’s boyfriend provided some more information in an Instagram story on Thursday.

“By chance, we came into contact with a doctor doing related medical research,” he wrote. “The chance of success is not 100 per cent and the process is risky. However, Wang Yao has insisted on trying.”

“The costs are sky-high and the details cannot be disclosed. In the early stage, she must frequently go back to the hospital to confirm her condition, and the child is indeed hers.”

After months of public speculation, Chinese influencer Grace Chow finally confirmed her breakup with Taiwanese singer Show Lo , 40, in a Weibo post this morning (April 23).

But that’s not all. The long post also detailed the reason for their split, and fans and netizens were left reeling in shock and disgust at her claims, one of which is his penchant for orgies.

Grace, 31, prefaced that they broke up a while ago but kept the news under wraps amid the coronavirus pandemic. So much time has since passed that she was able to write the post in complete calmness and not in a moment of recklessness or revenge, she said.

As with many other couples, the truth began unravelling all because she looked at his mobile phone – the first time in their nine-year relationship.

“If I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have known that you actually have another mobile phone used specifically to chat up girls,” Grace wrote.

“Practically every day that I wasn’t around, you invited women to your home, and the crux is, they were all different women. Every city that you go to, you have women that you could invite to the hotel.

“You have improper long-term relationships with the female artistes in your management agency — the ones you introduced me to — and even with your make-up artist. You and your group of male friends were so disrespectful to the women that you invited out.

“Worst, all of you would often hold ‘multi-player sports’ sessions — things that normal people cannot even begin to imagine.”

While she couldn’t bring herself to say it explicitly, it is clear that she is referring to orgies.

Grace added that, on hindsight, she should have left him the first time she caught him cheating on her, instead of forgiving him every time he was caught.

ALSO READ: Starlet claims Show Lo cheated with her

Despite his infidelity, she also believes he had truly loved her in the course of their long relationship because of all the sweet and romantic things he did such as re-scheduling his work to spend special days with her, showing her concern, and chatting with her on the phone every day. She also thanked him for the wonderful times they’ve had, and for helping her to mature and be independent.

“But how could a person who loves me also do these to me? And where did you find the time? Both of us sleep only at 3 to 4am every day. Do you mean you forgo sleep just to have sex with the women?” she wondered.

Grace explained that she revealed his infidelity because she didn’t want women to fall for the same lie that she did, thinking that they are the only one for him. She also warned against thinking they will be the one to change him, “because some people are just inherently scumbags”.

She added, presumably to Show: “You are really so, so, so, so, so x 100 scummy!”

ALSO READ: Did Show Lo ‘ suan ‘ his girlfriend for her plastic surgeries?

Show wrote a considerably much shorter response on Weibo.

He said: “Firstly, I’m sorry that my personal life has taken up public resources, and I thank everyone for their concern. There might be a lot of people waiting for my response, but I just want to say a couple goes through happy and bad times. We split up and got back together many times in these nine years. I will reflect on my mistakes, but a lot of things cannot be easily explained in just a few words. I also won’t try to.

“I’m thankful that we met and fell in love, I have no regrets as well.”

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