■BULLFIGHTING
Matador makes for door
Footage of Mexican bullfighter Christian Hernandez fleeing the ring on Sunday at the first sight of the slavering bull in the opposite corner has become a global Internet hit. Hernandez was making his debut at Mexico City’s Plaza Mexico. In the event he tried a token spin, appeared briefly on the verge of gelatinous collapse, and then hot-footed it over the nearest wall. He has since admitted: “I didn’t have the balls — this is not my thing.” Perhaps the only real surprise here is that this doesn’t happen more often. Even with the inclusion of bullfighting — at the more extreme end of what might legitimately be called sport — Hernandez joins a surprisingly select line of sportsmen who have discovered in the heat of battle that, frankly, they’d rather be at home doing something else. The boxer Oliver McCall had a similar experience during a bizarre world-title bout against Lennox Lewis in 1997. In the fourth round McCall burst into tears and refused to carry on, a shockingly sensible, and shockingly rare, reaction to being repeatedly punched in the head. The England cricket captain Mike Denness famously dropped himself from the team during the tour of Australia in 1974 to 1975 because he felt unable to face the furiously intimidating pace bowling of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee. A sense of creeping futility has often seemed to be the biggest obstacle facing snooker’s most talented player, Ronnie O’Sullivan. Four years ago at the UK Championships he did what no snooker player, perhaps bafflingly, has ever done before, walking out on his quarter-final against Steven Hendry after just five frames because he was bored. O’Sullivan later explained that he “had just had enough.” Which anyone who has ever spent six hours pinging a ball around a table may perhaps find entirely understandable. As will Hernandez’s latest move: Aged 22, he has now announced his retirement from bullfighting.
■HORSE RACING
Rite of Passage takes Cup
Rite of Passage surprised the race favorites to win the Gold Cup in a course record time at Royal Ascot on Thursday. Trading at 20-1 and ridden by Pat Smullen, Rite of Passage held off Age of Aquarius in a thrilling finale to the 4km race to finish in 4 minutes, 16.92 seconds, 1.37 seconds below the course record. Purple Moon was third. The Dermot Weld-trained horse picked up the mantle of Yeats, which won the Gold Cup four years in a row until being retired after last year’s win. “The plan was hatched a long time ago,” Weld said. Earlier on Ladies’ Day, Frankie Dettori rode his second winner in two days when he took the Ribblesdale Stakes on Hibaayeb. He beat out Eldalil and Gallic Star in the Group 2 fillies’ race.
■GOLF
Moriarty, Wiegele take lead
Ireland’s Colm Moriarty and Austria’s Martin Wiegele both shot five-under-par 66s to share the first-round lead at the Saint-Omer Open in France on Thursday. Wiegele, eighth on The Challenge Tour rankings, shot six birdies with a solitary dropped shot when he three-putted the second. “It was a perfect start, because the [windy] conditions were quite tough,” said the 31-year-old, who is hoping to follow his success at home in Austria two weeks ago. Moriarty also shot six birdies, but a dropped shot at the last cost him the outright lead. “I played very nicely,” said the 33-year-old. “It wasn’t as breezy as it has been over the past few days, so that helped.”
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two