The opening game at the baseball World Cup, which was to take place in Taipei yesterday, has been postponed because of heavy rain, organizers said.
The Taiwan-Italy match has been rescheduled for Monday, but yesterday's opening ceremony was to go on as scheduled, with 10 of the 16 teams participating to attend, organizers said.
Cuba are looking to clinch a 10th successive title at the 37th World Cup. It has had a stranglehold on the tournament since its inception, winning 25 of the 28 tournaments it has competed in, including the last nine.
"Their odds of successfully defending the championship are pretty high," tournament spokesman Jabbar Chia said.
Most of the players in this year's squad also took part in last year's World Baseball Classic, when Cuba finished second to Japan, Chia said.
He said Cuba's chances had received an additional boost from Japan, which has left several of its stars behind in preparation for Olympic qualifying next month.
But the Cubans will be facing stiff competition from the US, which has a number of players who have been in the US Major Leagues on the roster.
Cuba's first match-up in the 16-team competition is against Australia today.
Pool A groups Japan, the US and Panama, who are expected to easily advance to the next round, along with contenders Taiwan, Italy and Mexico, who will have to battle it out for a fourth spot.
In Pool B, Australia, the Netherlands and Venezuela are considered strong contenders alongside Cuba.
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka yesterday got her season off to a winning start for Japan in the United Cup, after the UK’s Emma Raducanu pulled out of their singles clash with a fitness issue, while in Brisbane, Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Wu Fang-hsien crashed out of the women’s doubles. In Perth, despite Osaka’s win, the UK took the match 2-1 with a deciding mixed doubles victory. Osaka was too strong for reserve and 276th-ranked Katie Swan, winning 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 as Raducanu watched from the sidelines. “I’m proud of how I fought,” Osaka said. “I’d never played here, it was tough.” Britain
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