New Zealand recorded their first ever men’s Champions Trophy victory over powerhouses the Netherlands on Tuesday with a sensational 3-1 win.
It was the first “Black Sticks” win in the Champions Trophy in 32 years since they defeated Spain 4-0 in the inaugural event in Pakistan in 1978. Spain won their first match of the tournament with a 3-2 victory over hosts Germany.
World Champions Australia went to the top of the table with their third victory from three matches, beating European Champions England 3-2.
PHOTO: EPA
New Zealand’s Simon Child jolted the Netherlands 10 minutes into the second half, scoring from his persistent run along the right backline, getting under Dutch keeper Mark Jenniskins to score from close range.
The Netherlands conceded a penalty corner, converted low inside the right post by Andrew Hayward giving New Zealand a 2-0 advantage, seven minutes before the break.
The Netherlands applied pressure on New Zealand early in the second half, gaining a penalty corner and a penalty stroke from the Black Sticks’ defensive infringement.
Teun de Nooijer beat New Zealand ’keeper Kyle Pontifex with his flick low inside the right post.
Blair Hilton scored New Zealand’s third goal a couple of minutes after de Nooijer’s strike, finishing a strong movement into the circle by Phillip Burrows, taking a rebound off the pads of Jenniskins to score.
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier