■ BADMINTON
Hidayat through to finals
Taufik Hidayat of Indonesia outclassed Park Sung-hwan of South Korea 21-10, 22-20 on Saturday to reach the final of the badminton world championships. The 2004 Olympic champion will chase a second world title against Chen Jin of China, who overcame European champion Peter Gade of Denmark 19-21, 21-8, 21-11. Park suddenly became a dark horse in the title race after knocking out defending champion Lin Dan of China in the quarterfinals, but the 16th-ranked South Korean suffered his eighth loss in as many matches against Hidayat. In women’s singles, Lin Wang of China routed Tine Baun of Denmark 21-11, 21-8 in the first semi-final. In the mixed doubles semi-finals, He Hanbin and Yu Yang of China beat Taiwan’s Lee Sheng-mu and Chien Yu-chin 21-13, 21-8. In the women’s doubles semi-finals, Du Jing and Yu Yang of China defeated Taiwan’s Cheng Wen-hsing and Chien Yu-chin 21-16, 21-15.
■ MOTO GP
Spies grabs pole position
American Ben Spies captured his first pole position after a brilliant performance in Saturday’s qualifying session for the Indianapolis MotoGP. The 26-year-old put his Yamaha on the front row of the grid after lapping the famous “brickyard” circuit in one minute 40.105 seconds. “This is a great feeling for me to get my first MotoGP pole position and for it to come in front of the American crowd and here at Indianapolis with all the history makes it even more special,” Spies said. Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo of Spain was second fastest in 1:40.325 while American Nicky Hayden finished third. World champion Valentino Rossi qualified seventh despite falling twice.
■ GOLF
Laied has three-shot lead
Briton Martin Laird fired a six-under 65 to surge into a three-shot lead after Saturday’s third round of the Barclays tournament, the opening event of the FedExCup playoff series. The Scot reeled off four birdies in a row from the second hole on the way to a 12-under-par total of 201 at Ridgewood Country Club. “I’m playing really well,” the 27-year-old Glaswegian told reporters. “The putter’s nice and hot.” Overnight leader Jason Day (70) of Australia was in joint second place with long-hitting American Dustin Johnson (64), one stroke better than Australian Adam Scott (68) on 205. Six players were one more shot away on 206, including Briton Justin Rose, who registered a 65. Tiger Woods, who led after the first round before slipping four behind at the halfway mark, nearly shot himself out of the playoffs by posting a triple-bogey seven at the first hole after launching his tee shot into a car park.
■ GOLF
Edoardo vies for wild card
Italian brothers Francesco and Edoardo Molinari set up an intriguing finale at the Johnnie Walker Championship, with a Ryder Cup place also at stake for the older of the two. Francesco, already assured of his place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team, led after the third round at Gleneagles on Saturday while Edoardo, who is hoping to convince European captain Colin Montgomerie to include him on a wild card, trailed by one stroke. The pair, who won the World Cup together last year, were to play together in yesterday’s final round after Francesco posted a four-under 68 for a 10-under 206 total. Yesterday’s showdown was to be a repeat of last month’s Scottish Open when Edoardo outdid his brother to take the title. Another victory for Edoardo would make it difficult for Montgomerie not to choose him as one of his three wild cards.
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