Honda’s Marquez to Miss Argentina GP Due to Hand Injury

MotoGP - Portuguese Grand Prix - Algarve International Circuit, Portimao, Portugal - March 26, 2023 Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez reacts after crashing during the race. (Reuters)
MotoGP - Portuguese Grand Prix - Algarve International Circuit, Portimao, Portugal - March 26, 2023 Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez reacts after crashing during the race. (Reuters)
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Honda’s Marquez to Miss Argentina GP Due to Hand Injury

MotoGP - Portuguese Grand Prix - Algarve International Circuit, Portimao, Portugal - March 26, 2023 Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez reacts after crashing during the race. (Reuters)
MotoGP - Portuguese Grand Prix - Algarve International Circuit, Portimao, Portugal - March 26, 2023 Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez reacts after crashing during the race. (Reuters)

Honda's Marc Marquez will miss the second round of the MotoGP championship in Argentina after undergoing surgery to repair a fracture in his right hand following a collision with Miguel Oliveira in the season-opening race, the team said on Monday.

Pole sitter Marquez lost position in the opening laps of the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday to drop to fourth when he clipped Pramac Racing's Jorge Martin before barging into RNF Racing's Oliveira who was in second place.

Marquez and Oliveira crashed out of the race after the incident. Marquez, a six-times premier class champion, later apologized for his mistake.

"Upon returning to Spain for further checks, Marc Marquez was diagnosed with a displaced intra-articular fracture of the base of the first metacarpal of the thumb of the right hand," Honda said in a statement.

"After surgery to repair the broken first metacarpal in his right hand, Marc Marquez will miss the second round of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship."

The Argentina GP will be held this weekend at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit.



‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
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‘Flooding Rains’ Threaten to Dampen Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony

Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Opening Ceremony - Paris, France - July 26, 2024. Spectators are seen behind the Eiffel Tower ahead of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. (Reuters)

The Paris Olympics look likely to get off to a soggy start.

Meteo-France, the French weather service, is predicting “flooding rains” Friday evening when the opening ceremony is set to unroll along the Seine River. But the show is set to go on as planned, starting at 1:30 p.m. EDT/7:30 p.m. CEST and should last more than three hours.

Already in the late afternoon, skies were gray with intermittent drizzle. There was a silver lining, though, with temperatures expected to stay relatively warm throughout the evening.

Instead of a traditional march into a stadium, about 6,800 athletes will parade on more than 90 boats on the Seine River for 6 kilometers (3.7 miles). Though 10,700 athletes are expected to compete at these Olympics, hundreds of soccer players are based outside Paris, surfers are in Tahiti and many have yet to arrive for their events in the second week, organizers said Thursday.

Hundreds of thousands of people, including 320,000 paying and invited ticket-holders, are expected to line the Seine’s banks as athletes are paraded along the river on boats.