China’s world No. 1 and hot favorite Zhang Yining became the first player to reach the women’s singles fourth round at the world table tennis championships yesterday.
The Beijing Olympic gold medalist was in good form as she demolished Daniela Dodean of Romania to move a step closer to regaining the title she won in 2005.
She led a Chinese onslaught as Guo Yan, Li Xiaoxia, Guo Yue, Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen all advanced.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Guo Yan lost a game for the first time this week but still easily beat Park Young-sook of South Korea, while Li outclassed Elke Schall of Germany, again in five games.
Defending champion Guo Yue brushed aside Huang Yi-hua of Taiwan, while Ding defeated Wu Jiaduo of Germany and Liu saw off Japan’s Mikie Tasei.
Also joining the Chinese contingent in the fourth round is Krisztina Toth of Hungary, Yu Meng Yu of Singapore, Japan’s Kasumi Ishikawa and Czechs Renata Strbikova and Iveta Vacenovska.
Li Jiao of the Netherlands also made it through after a tough match against Sun Bei Bei of Singapore.
In the men’s singles, Chinese world No. 1 Wang Hao beat Thomas Keinath of Slovakia in the third round.
Three-time world champion Wang Liqin struggled to beat Adrien Mattenet of France, while Ma Long comfortably won against Zoran Primorac of Croatia.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite