■OLYMPICS
Race too tight to call: Rogge
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said the race to win the right to host the 2016 Games was too close to call, and that he was delighted he didn’t have a vote. The Belgian professed himself to be very pleased after all four candidate cities — Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro — completed 90 minute presentations and answered questions in front of 93 of the 107 IOC members Lausanne, Switzerland on Wednesday. Rogge said that this was vastly different to the final presentations which will be made in Copenhagen on Oct. 2 when all four bidding cities learn their fate. “There there will be heads of state, dignitaries and celebrities which makes it a wholly different scenario,” he said.
■SOCCER
Ronaldo ends goal drought
Ronaldo scored his first goal for nearly two months on Wednesday to help his Corinthians side beat Internacional 2-0 in the first leg of the Brazil Cup final. The former FIFA World Player of the Year scored his 11th goal of the season eight minutes into the second half when he took a long pass from Elias, dribbled past Indio and shot low into the bottom corner of goalkeeper Lauro’s net. Jorge Henrique opened the scoring for Corinthians midway through the first half, finishing off a fine move on the wing by Marcelo Oliveira.
■SOCCER
Kahn hosts reality show
A Chinese television reality show hosted by former German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn was scheduled to open yesterday, producers and sponsors said. Kahn’s 10-week show, I Never Give Up, gives aspiring young Chinese goalkeepers the chance to win a place at the German Soccer Federation’s (DFB) top training academy, Berger Feld Schule. “In this show Oliver Kahn is not just looking for China’s new football talent, but sharing his advice for success in sports and life,” German airline Lufthansa, a sponsor of the TV series, said in a statement. Heilongjiang Satellite TV, based in the city of Harbin, planned to air the first program last night. Kahn, 40, who retired from playing with Bayern Munich last year, reportedly said he would be gentle with the competitors and avoid the blunt criticisms and public humiliation that have featured in similar reality shows. The show aims to reflect the “importance of individuality and personality, but most of all how the contestants handle defeat,” the official China Daily newspaper quoted Kahn as saying. “We don’t want to do an empty and meaningless, mindless casting show,” he said. The show features 10 goalkeepers aged 17 to 24, including two women.
■TENNIS
Mayer replaces Nalbandian
Argentina on Wednesday named Leonardo Mayer as a replacement for David Nalbandian on its Davis Cup team for next month’s quarter-final against the Czech Republic. The team will be led by Juan Martin Del Potro, who reached the semi-finals of the French Open and is ranked No. 5 by the ATP. Mayer, ranked No. 70, is the only new face on the team, which also includes Jose Acasuso and Juan Monaco. Mayer, 22, lost to Tommy Haas of Germany in the second round of the French Open, and defeated James Blake of the US in the first round. Nalbandian, ranked No. 16, is recovering from hip surgery and will also miss Wimbledon and the US Open. The Czech Republic vs Argentina match is from July 10 to July 12 in Ostrava in the Czech Republic.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with