Tottenham Hotspur drew with Aston Villa at Villa Park on Saturday to leapfrog Arsenal and go third in the standings on 26 points, while Manchester City remain sixth on 22 after they were held at home by struggling Hull City to record a Premier League record seventh successive draw.
Villa went ahead after 10 minutes courtesy of Gabriel Agbonlahor’s close-range strike, though the home side lived dangerously at times and Spurs equalized with a thumping drive by Michael Dawson after 77 minutes to make it 1-1.
Manchester City went ahead at Eastlands with a deflected long-range shot by Shaun Wright-Phillips at the end of the first half but Hull battled throughout and midfielder Jimmy Bullard scored a late penalty and the match finished 1-1.
Bullard’s 82nd minute goal sparked an unusual celebration with the Tigers’ players sitting down on the pitch to recreate manager Phil Brown’s half-time team talk in last season’s 5-1 defeat at the same venue.
West Ham, who had managed only one home win before Saturday, were grateful to be playing a Burnley side who had lost five and drawn one of their six away games.
The Londoners went ahead through Jack Collison, added a second through Junior Stanislas and were 3-0 up at half-time with a Carlton Cole penalty.
Guillermo Franco and a Luis Jimenez penalty had the home fans singing, before two goals from Steven Fletcher and one for Chris Eagles brought some respectability to the scoreline that ended 5-3.
Hugo Rodallega hit a 76th minute winner for Wigan who put their drubbing at Tottenham firmly behind them by beating Sunderland 1-0.
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
A soccer jersey carrying a national map including disputed Western Sahara has become a hot commodity in Morocco after a diplomatic dispute with Algeria. Retailers said RS Berkane jerseys have been flying off the shelves after a Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup match against Algerian club USM Alger was canceled last month over the jerseys. “We are overwhelmed by the influx of messages and requests,” said Brahim Rabii, representative of the official RS Berkane jersey distributor. Algeria broke off diplomatic relations with Morocco in 2021, partly over the issue of Western Sahara. The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco, but claimed