■EAST ASIAN GAMES
Mixed day for Taiwan
Table tennis gold medal favorites China finished round-robin play undefeated yesterday to qualify for the semi-finals in the men’s competition in Hong Kong. The Chinese men beat Japan 3-0, closing out the round-robin stage without dropping a single match. In the semi-finals, they will face Hong Kong, who qualified by beating Taiwan 3-1. South Korea, who had two wins on Wednesday, will play either Japan or Macau in the other semi-final. The Chinese women qualified with two wins on Wednesday. Yesterday, they were joined by Japan, who defeated Macau 3-0. Hong Kong and Taiwan qualified in Pool B with one win each. In women’s basketball, Japan edged China 59-54, with Ryoko Utsumi scoring 18 points. Taiwan crushed Hong Kong 112-47. In men’s basketball, six Taiwanese players were in double digits in their 118-59 rout of Macau.
■CHINESE BOXING
Tournament starts today
This year’s Chinese boxing (San Da) tournament and the first national K-1 kickboxing competition will be held in Taipei today, with winners from the past few years competing for the title of the first K-1 king of Taiwan. The Chinese Boxing (San Da) Combat Association, which is organizing the event, has held four national San Da tournaments since it was established in 2003, but has not staged a national K-1 tournament before. The“K”in K-1 stands for karate, kickboxing, kung fu and other stand-up martial arts. San Da, also known as Chinese boxing, is basically kickboxing with throws and it combines techniques from kung fu, kickboxing and freestyle wrestling.
■BASEBALL
Chen gets a pay rise
Chen Wei-yin, a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) pitcher from Taiwan, re-signed on Wednesday with the Chunichi Dragons in Japan’s Central League for an annual salary of ¥110 million (US$1.15 million), a sharp rise from the ¥35 million he was offered last season, a Japanese newspaper reported on Wednesday. The pay rise came in the wake of Chen’s 1.54 earned run average last season.
■BOXING
Hopkins returns with a win
Bernard Hopkins of the US returned to the ring after a near 14-month absence to score a unanimous points decision victory over Mexican Enrique Ornelas in a non-title light-heavyweight bout on Wednesday. Hopkins, 44, the former middleweight and light-heavyweight champion, used his experience to land sharp counters and when Ornelas stood back, scored with lead right hands.
■GOLF
Appleby, Hend share lead
A three-putt bogey at the last dropped home favorite Stuart Appleby into a tie for the lead with compatriot Scott Hend on six-under after a blustery first round at the Australian Open yesterday. Former world No. 3 Adam Scott was just two shots back in a tie for fifth after an eagle three at the par-five 12th helped him to a 68.
■TENNIS
Mauresmo retires
Twice Grand Slam winner and former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo announced her retirement yesterday. “I came here to announce the end of my career. I made this decision after careful consideration,” the 30-year-old told a news conference before bursting into tears. Mauresmo first topped the rankings in September 2004 and clinched her Grand Slam titles in 2006 when she won the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
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