■ Baseball
White Sox ptcher suspended
Chicago White Sox right-hander Bartolo Colon was suspended for five games Wednesday for hitting Baltimore's Jerry Hairston with a pitch earlier this month. Chicago manager Jerry Manuel was suspended one game by Bob Watson, baseball's vice president in charge of discipline. Colon hit Hairston with his second pitch in the top of the ninth inning on May 15, right after both benches had been warned. Colon was responding to Baltimore reliever Jorge Julio, who plunked Magglio Ordonez with a pitch in the eighth. Both Colon and Manuel were ejected from the game.
■ Cricket
Mendis to be kept on
The Sri Lankan cricket board said yesterday it has retained the services of interim coach Duleep Mendis for a tour of the West Indies next month. Mendis, a former captain of the Sri Lankan national team, took over as coach from Dav Whatmore last month after the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka decided not to renew Whatmore's contract. Mendis was appointed as interim coach pending the cricket board elections on June 6, after which a decision will be made on whom to appoint permanently to the post.
■ Football
Playoff scheme unchanged
The NFL isn't adding any teams to this season's playoffs, and it is determined to get a franchise in the Los Angeles area. Those were the main developments from the two-day owners meetings that concluded Wednesday with no vote on a proposal to increase the postseason field from 12 to 14. Kansas City withdrew the proposal because it lacked enough support after the league's competition committee unanimously rejected the plan to add two more wild-card teams. The other main subject of discussion was placing a team in Los Angeles, which has been without an NFL franchise since after the 1994 season.
■ Cricket
Damien Fleming retires
Former test bowler Damien Fleming retired from cricket on Thursday after being named a senior coach at the Australian Cricket Academy. Fleming has agreed to a two-year contract to work at the Adelaide-based academy with head coach Bennett King and two other senior coaches. Fleming replaces Wayne Phillips who has been appointed South Australian state coach. Fleming said he agonized over his decision to retire after 15 years of playing first-class and international cricket. "It definitely wasn't a black-and-white decision," he said.
Agencies
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set