■ Baseball
Cuba puts Taiwan out
Kendry Morales batted a home run for the second night in a row as Cuba beat Taiwan 6-3 and qualified for the World Baseball Cup final. Cuba faces Panama today in the contest over the gold and silver medals of this world competition. Cuba will be defending the championship it won during the last world cup four years ago in Taiwan. Cheered by a crowd of about 20,000 fans at Havana's Latinomericano Stadium on Thursday night, the Cubans remained unbeaten in eight games. Morales hit his spectacular home run in the third inning to the right field. A homer by Morales on Wednesday in the ninth of the quarterfinal against Brazil gave Cuba the 4-3 win helped get his team to the semifinal. In the fourth, Eduardo Paret brought in a run with a double to right field and Yulieski Gourriel added another two runs with a homer of his own in the seventh. Lin Hung-yuan slammed a homer in the eighth inning against relief pitcher Yadiel Marti and Chang Chih-yao hit another two runs against Pedro Luis Lazo.
■ Baseball
Hanshin Tigers lead series
Shinjiro Hiyama provided the key hit yesterday as the Hanshin Tigers defeated the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 3-2 to win another tension-filled game and take a three games to two lead in the Japan Series. Hiyama drove in a pair of runs with a clutch, two-out single to left in the bottom of the sixth inning off Daiei starter Kazumi Saito that scored Makoto Imaoka and Norihiro Akahoshi to give the Tigers the lead for good. "There were two out and I couldn't just hit a pop fly," said Hiyama. "I was just looking for a good pitch to hit so I could get the runners home." Daiei won the first two games at Fukuoka Dome.
■ Cricket
England remains frustrated
Bangladesh reached 245 for six in their second innings, a lead of 153, on the fourth day of the first test yesterday as England struggled against a team who have lost 23 of their 24 test matches. When bad light ended play early, Mushfiqur Rahman was unbeaten on 43 and Khaled Mahmud was 17 not out. Matthew Hoggard was the only England bowler to pick up a wicket in the final session when Javed Omar (27) was adjudged lbw by umpire Asoka de Silva, despite the hint of an inside edge. England took three wickets in the afternoon session, including 20-year-old Hannan Sarkar who edged a good length ball from Hoggard to Marcus Trescothick at first slip for 59.
■ Soccer
Fans set for book bonanza
Argentina's government plans to give away 400,000 soccer-themed books at matches between now and December to encourage reading, despite fears many could be torn up for ticker-tape celebrations. President Nestor Kirchner believes the scheme will be a success even if only a small percentage of people read the short stories by well known Argentine and Latin American writers. "We Argentines need to once again feel the will to think, to dream, to build a different country than the one we've had to live in," Kirchner said on Thursday as he announced the program, called "When you read, you win." Argentina has a 98 percent literacy rate, one of the highest in Latin America. Argentine fans became known around the world for welcoming their teams onto the field with huge clouds of ticker tape usually cut from newspapers and first seen on television outside Latin America during the 1978 World Cup finals.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and