Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1071614
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 16 JANUARY 2019 21 AUSTRALIAN OPEN SPORTS FOOTBALL Uefa investigates Chelsea for alleged racist chanting in Europa League game Serena and Venus Williams through to second round UEFA has opened disciplinary proceedings into alleged rac- ist chanting by Chelsea fans in the Europa League game with MOL Vidi. A vocal minority chanted of- fensive songs about Tottenham fans in the 2-2 draw in Hungary on 13 December. Chelsea said fans who sang an anti-Semitic chant during the game had "shamed the club". Uefa's control, ethics and dis- ciplinary body will rule on the case at its next meeting on 28 February. The events in Hungary came five days after the alleged rac- ist abuse of Manchester City's Raheem Sterling by some Chel- sea supporters during a Pre- mier League game at Stamford Bridge. Four fans were sus- pended by the club. Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck greeted Chelsea supporters at the turnstiles before a Premier League win at Brighton on 16 December and wrote an open letter condemning the actions of "a few mindless individuals". In October, Buck told the Sun newspaper Chelsea may re- quire fans found guilty of anti- Semitic abuse to visit the site of Nazi concentration camp Aus- chwitz rather than ban them. "If you just ban people, you will never change their behav- iour," he said. The club's Say No to Anti- Semitism scheme, which began in January, provides one-to- one education courses. A group of 150 Chelsea club staff, stewards and supporters visited Auschwitz in June to learn about the deaths of more than a million people there be- tween 1940 and 1945. Chelsea launched a campaign in January to raise awareness and educate about anti- Semitism in football SERENA Williams stormed into the Australian Open sec- ond round as she began her bid for a 24th Grand Slam title with a win over Tatjana Maria. The 37-year-old American, whose 23rd major title came in Melbourne when she was pregnant two years ago, won 6-0 6-2 in 49 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. Williams holds the most Open era singles titles, but is looking to equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24. Sister Venus dug deep to beat Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2. The Romanian 26th seed served for the match at 5-3 in the second set but Venus broke to love. The 38-year-old American, ranked 36th, went on to take the set before dominating the third. The seven-time Grand Slam champion said: "It was pretty hairy there. I hope that this tough match will prepare me for the rest of the tourna- ment." Williams, who has reached the final at Melbourne Park twice, most recently in 2017 when she lost to Serena, will meet Alize Cornet of France next. Serena still has health con- cerns Serena, the 16th seed, took the first set in 18 minutes against Germany's Maria and fired 22 winners during her opening match. It was her first Grand Slam match since her rant against umpire Carlos Ramos at last year's US Open final. Asked if she had discussed coaching signals with Patrick Mouratoglou after the warn- ing from Ramos that sparked the furore in New York, Wil- liams said: "I literally have no comment." The seven-time Australian Open winner, who will face Canada's Eugenie Boucha- rd next, wore compression stockings and said she was "definitely still concerned" about the dangers of deep vein thrombosis. "I have had some issues and they're not done," said Williams, who experienced potentially life-threatening blood clots after giving birth to daughter Alexis Olympia. "It's just something I have to do for pretty much probably the rest of my career, we'll see. But I'm always at the doc- tor. "With DVTs, it's very scary. I know a lot of people - they're very common - have them. Especially for me, it's incred- ibly frightening. "I lay on the side of precau- tion as opposed to not." Bouchard, a Wimbledon finalist in 2014 and former world number five, said she was excited to play Williams, who she described as the "greatest ever". "Her ranking is top-20 right now, but to me she's always basically number one," the 24-year-old said. "I don't want to talk about it too much and put her on too much of a pedestal because I have to play her in two days, but I love her." Serena Williams has won seven Australian Open titles