■TENNIS
Injuries plague Croatia
Former world No.3 Ivan Ljubicic pulled out of the Beijing Olympics singles tournament yesterday, joining fellow Croats Ivo Karlovic and Mario Ancic on the sidelines. Ljubicic, who has slipped to 51 in the world rankings, withdrew with an unspecified injury and his place was taken by Devon Mullings of the Bahamas, the world 1025, who now plays Argentina’s Agustin Calleri in the first round. Karlovic, the world number 18 who recently defeated Roger Federer in Cincinnati, pulled out on Friday after developing a high temperature. Ancic pulled out earlier this month, also because of illness, leaving rising youngster Marin Cilic as Croatia’s only men’s hope.
■ARCHERY
South Korea dominates
Defending Olympic champion Park Sung-hyun’s record-tying effort highlighted South Korea’s dominance on the opening day of women’s archery competition yesterday. Park’s score of 673 in the individual ranking round equaled the Olympic record set by Lina Herasymenko of the Ukraine in 1996. Park set the still-standing world record of 682 in the same round in 2004. South Korean Yun Ok-hee, who holds the world’s No. 1 ranking, finished second with a score of 667, while teammate Joo Hyun-jung followed with a score of 664.
■HANDBALL
France’s women beat Angola
Former world champions France beat Angola 30-24 in the opening preliminary match of the women’s handball at the Olympics yesterday, making up for a weak first half by smothering their opponents in the second. Angola led narrowly in the first half, but started to flag after right wing Nair Filipe Pires de Almeida hurt her shoulder. South Korea tied 29-29 with Russia, prompting Russian left wing Emiliya Turey to say her team lost control of the game in the second half. In their next match, Russia will face Sweden, who lost 24-30 to Hungary yesterday. Romania easily beat Kazakhstan 31-19 in a heated match, Romanian center back Valeria Bese receiving a red card 11 minutes into the second half after a push.
■GYMNASTICS
Chinese team shines
China’s all-conquering men’s gymnastics team powered to top spot in their qualification section before an ecstatic crowd yesterday, shouldering aside the US on the way. Every routine from a Chinese team was met with cheers and applause in the 18,000-seater National Indoor Stadium as the hosts crushed the opposition in the second of three qualifying rounds. China remain favorites for a swag of medals when the gymnastics finals begin on Tuesday, qualifying first in section two with 374.675 points, with Japan second on 369.55 and Russia third on 366.225.
■EQUESTRIAN
Couple lead dressage phase
Australian couple Lucinda and Clayton Fredericks led the first session of equestrian eventing’s dressage phase yesterday. Lucinda provisionally took top spot with 30.40 penalty points on Headley Britannia with her husband second on 37.0 points on Ben Along Time. Lucinda won the Badminton Horse Trials last year and Burghley in 2006. “I thoroughly enjoyed my ride. She’s so little, she’s actually quite easy to maneuver,” Lucinda told reporters of her horse. US rider Gina Miles, riding McKinlaigh, came third with 39.30 penalty points. New Zealand’s Mark Todd, competing in his sixth Olympics, lies ninth with a score of 49.40 on Gandalf.
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