JURISPRUDENCE

Eight years after he shot dead his girlfriend, Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius is up for parole, but first he must meet with her parents.

Pistorius, a world-famous double-amputee athlete who competed at the 2012 Olympics, has been eligible for parole since July after he was convicted of murder for shooting model Reva Steenkamp multiple times through a toilet door in his home on Valentine’s Day 2013.

Pistorius was convicted of murder in 2015 and ultimately sentenced to 13 years and five months in prison. He became eligible for parole under South African law after serving half his sentence.

A parole hearing for Pistorius was scheduled for last month and then canceled, partly because a meeting between Pistorius and Steenkamp’s parents, Barry and June, had not been arranged, lawyers for both parties told The Associated Press on Monday.

Corrections department officials scheduled the parole hearing for October but it was called off when a full report on Pistorius’ time in prison wasn’t available, said Julian Knight, a lawyer for Pistorius. The date for a new hearing has not yet been set, Knight said.

Also, Barry and June Steenkamp want a face-to-face meeting with Pistorius before he is considered for early release from prison, as is their right under South Africa’s victim-offender dialogue policy. The Steenkamps have previously said they want to challenge Pistorius on why he shot their daughter and they would get to do that, with victim-offender meetings aimed at achieving some kind of closure for families of victims of crimes.

TENNIS

UPPER AUSTRIA LADIES LINZ: Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko won seven straight points to finish off fifth-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 7-6 (2) of Russia in the opening round at Linz, Austria.

Tsurenko came back from a break down in the second set and from 2-0 behind in the tiebreaker.

Alexandrova, who reached the final of the Kremlin Cup last month, was a semifinalist at the Austrian indoor event last year and a runner-up in 2018.

PARALYMPICS: Three-time Paralympic wheelchair tennis champion medalist Nick Taylor has announced his retirement.

Taylor, an American who turns 42 this week, won 11 Grand Slam doubles titles with David Wagner – seven at the U.S. Open and four at the Australian Open.

At the Paralympic Games, they won gold medals in 2004, 2008 and 2012, along with a silver in 2016. Taylor also won the quad singles bronze in 2012.

The pair played together at an event at the USTA National Campus in Orlando over the weekend, Taylor’s farewell to competition.

Taylor, who is from Kansas, has been ranked No. 1 in quad singles and doubles.

He now aims to make it to the 2024 Paris Paralympics in a new sport, boccia.

GOLF

PGA: The Mexico Open will be part of the PGA Tour schedule for the first time, offering a $7.3 million purse next spring in Puerto Vallarta.

The Mexico Open will be at Vidanta Vallarta near the Pacific coast on April 28 to May 1 with a field of 132 players that guarantees at least four spots for Latin American players.

The host organization is Grupo Salinas, which brought Mexico its first big event in 2017 with a World Golf Championship event at Chapultepec in Mexico City.

SOCCER

ITALY: Italy lost another two midfielders ahead of the key World Cup qualifier against Switzerland in Rome on Friday, as the Swiss injury list also lengthened.

Coach Roberto Mancini, already without regular starter Marco Verratti through injury, said that Nicolo Zaniolo and Lorenzo Pellegrini would return to their club Roma.

Pellegrini has a knee injury while Zaniolo has a left calf issue. Both also missed Italy’s victorious European Championship campaign through injury.

Switzerland had already been without captain Granit Xhaka and forward Haris Seferovic to long-term injuries, and lost winger Steven Zuber on Monday as the fourth player to drop out injured from the squad selected last week.

Italy and Switzerland have 14 points atop Group C with the European champion having the tiebreaker advantage on goal difference of two goals better.

Only the first-place finisher gets a direct spot into next year’s finals in Qatar. The second-placed team goes into the playoffs in March, needing to advance past two opponents to reach the World Cup.

U.S. MEN: Christian Pulisic was among just 10 of 25 players on hand for the United States’ first day of training ahead of Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Mexico, and Chelsea Manager Thomas Tuchel urged caution with the attacker as he regains fitness.

Pulisic injured his left ankle during the Sept. 8 qualifier at Honduras. He didn’t return to action until Nov. 2, when he played the final 17 minutes of Chelsea’s Champions League match at Malmo. Pulisic entered for the final six minutes of Saturday’s Premier League game at Burnley.

“He means so much to our team, so it’s awesome having him back,” midfielder Brenden Aaronson said. “It’s like another confidence boost just having him here.”

DOPING

HOCKEY: Colorado Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin has been given until Nov. 16 to respond to an allegation of doping dating back to 2013, the Russian Hockey Federation said.

RHF Executive Director Dmitry Kurbatov told Russian news agencies that the World Anti-Doping Agency had raised questions about a sample given by Nichushkin in 2013 and later obtained by WADA from the shuttered Moscow anti-doping laboratory in 2019.

A message sent to Nichuskin’s agent last week was not returned. Any doping suspension would be imposed by the International Ice Hockey Federation and would not affect his NHL participation.

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