■ Rowing
Kiwi grabs gold medal
Mahe Drysdale edged Olympic champion Olaf Tufte of Norway in the final of the men's single sculls in Kaizu, Japan, yesterday to capture one of four gold medals for New Zealand at the World Rowing Championships. Drysdale clocked a time of 7 minutes, 16.42 seconds at Nagaragawa Regatta Course. Tufte finished second in 7:18.34 for the silver medal while Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic took the bronze in 7:21.12. Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater cruised to victory in the men's pairs with a time of 6:52.51 to give New Zealand another gold.
■ Rugby
Serevi to coach in Fiji
Sevens superstar Waisale Serevi has been signed to a full-time coaching position with the Fiji Rugby Union and will likely accompany the Fiji national team on its end-of-year tour to Europe. Serevi, who is regarded as one of the world's greatest sevens players, has signed a one-year contract which will see him working with Fiji's national sevens and 15 teams, the union announced yesterday. The Fiji union recently decided for financial reasons not to continue the contract of Paul Feeney, who has worked as backline coach under Fijian national 15s coach Wayne Pivac. The union said it would seek a local appointee and Serevi has been chosen for the job. Serevi said he welcomed the chance to develop a new career in rugby.
■ Formula one
Fans want more passing
Fans have demanded more passing in Formula One, and the sport's governing body says new technology could make it happen. Max Mosley, president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), announced a partnership with chipmaker AMD in Monza, Italy on Friday after a survey showed 94 percent of fans want more overtaking. "We didn't realize how important [passing] was to the fans until recently," Mosley said. He said he was working off responses from 93,000 questionnaire about the sport. Mosley said AMD would help the FIA develop aerodynamics for cars that would enable more passing with little reduction in speed. "AMD is making available to us an immensely powerful computer," Mosley said. He said the computer could "run a number of programs" which would be equivalent to crews testing with two Formula One cars.
■ Cycling
Heeswijk takes Stage 7
Dutch cyclist Max Van Heeswijk won the seventh stage of the Tour of Spain in a sprint finish in Vinaroz, Spain on Friday, while Spain's Roberto Heras remained the overall leader. Discovery Channel's Van Heeswijk covered the long and flat 212.5km leg between Teruel and Vinaroz in northern Spain in 5 hours, 21 minutes, 21 seconds. Germany's Erik Zabel finished second and Italy's Alberto Ongarato came third. Italy's top sprinter, Alessandro Petacchi, who won stages Monday and Tuesday, had to withdraw after getting a puncture in the final stretch.
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