■BASKETBALL
Taiwan progress in Thailand
Taiwan finished third in the preliminary round of the 2010 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia U-18 Championship for Women in Thailand and were scheduled to meet China yesterday in the semi-finals. Opening the tournament with three victories, Taiwan lost to China and Japan in the last two games to finish third in the six-team round-robin preliminary round with three wins and two losses, behind defending champions Japan (5-0) and China (4-1). South Korea squeezed into the final four with two wins and three losses. The tournament, being held, in Surat Thani, is a qualifying event for the FIBA World U-19 Championship for Women to be held in Chile next year. The top three teams in Thailand will represent Asia in Chile.
■SOFTBALL
US, Japan stay unbeaten
The US and Japan continued their unbeaten run on Sunday at the world championship. The US, which has won this tournament six straight times, defeated Australia 9-2 and Olympic champions Japan edged Canada 2-1. Both teams are 5-0 with two more games to play in the group stage. Cat Osterman picked up the victory for the US, a complete-game victory with 10 strikeouts. Alissa Haber led the Americans at the plate. She was 3-for-3 with four RBIs and scored one run. Mika Someya picked up the complete-game victory for Japan with seven strikeouts and no walks. Japan took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Canada tied it in the top of the fifth. However, in the bottom of the fifth Ayumi Karino doubled in Shizuyo Hamamoto — who had also doubled — to restore the one-run lead. Canada’s first two batters were retired in the top of the seventh, but Melanie Matthews singled to bring the potentially tiebreaking run to the plate. Caitlin Lever was thrown out at first on a fielder’s choice to end the game. In other results on Sunday, Taiwan beat Argentina 6-3, China blanked the Dominican Republic 7-0, the Netherlands trounced South Africa 7-0, the Czech Republic edged Botswana 5-4, Venezuela beat New Zealand 5-2 and Cuba overcame Britain 4-1.
■RUGBY UNION
Cooper fined, disqualified
Wallabies fly-half Quade Cooper has been fined and disqualified from driving after pleading guilty to a charge of driving while on a suspended license. Magistrate Judith Daley, sitting in the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday, fined Cooper A$400 (US$344), banned him for driving for six months and entered a traffic conviction against him. A lawyer for the 22-year-old told the court Cooper’s action was inadvertent. Liam Burrow said Cooper had changed address in March and had not received a letter informing him his license had been suspended. Burrow said Cooper was unaware his license was suspended until he was stopped by police for a license check in Brisbane last week. Cooper is due in court again on Friday on a burglary charge relating to an incident at a Gold Coast residence on Dec. 6 last year.
■GAMBLING
Police smash betting ring
Hong Kong police said yesterday they have smashed a record HK$170 million (US$22 million) gambling ring that took illegal bets on World Cup soccer games and horse racing. Authorities arrested four men linked to triad gangs and seized betting records in the latest in a series of raids that have netted at least three dozen suspects since the soccer tournament kicked off this earlier this month. “This is a record for a single raid,” a police spokeswoman said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but