BASEBALL
Taiwan games scrapped
The San Francisco Giants and the Arizona Diamondbacks will not play a pair of games in Taiwan to open next year’s Major League Baseball regular season as planned, the league said on its official Web site. “We were informed that a deal couldn’t be pulled together at this time,” MLB.com quoted Diamondbacks spokesperson Shaun Rachau as saying. The original deal would have seen the two teams play two exhibition and two regular-season games in Taiwan in late March. The regular-season games were to be counted as Diamondbacks home games. Bros Sports, organizers of the games in Taiwan, had not been informed of the decision and the firm was contacting the league for further information, said Hu Lung-chih, the sports company’s general manager.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Kiwis take Four Nations title
Scrumhalf Nathan Fien scored a try less than a minute from time to give New Zealand a 16-12 win over Australia in the final of the Four Nations in Brisbane, Australia, yesterday. Fien touched down near the posts in the 80th minute to set up an easy kick for Benji Marshall and give New Zealand the lead for the first time in a rugged match. The Kiwis carried the ball almost 80m as the final minute of the match ticked away to score the winning try and add a Four Nations victory over Australia to last season’s World Cup final win against the Kangaroos.
FENCING
Romania strike epee gold
Romania won the gold medal in women’s epee at the World Championships with a 35-26 defeat of Germany in the final at the Grand Palais in Paris on Friday. The win was the eastern European nation’s first ever gold medal in the competition and came on the back of a superlative showing from Ana Branza, who saw off Imke Duplitzer 18-10 to set the foundations for a famous triumph. Germany were at least able to console themselves with silver after five straight third-place finishes and their runner-up showing was in stark contrast to some disappointing individual performances as neither their 2008 Olympic champion and 2007 world champion Britta Heidemann, nor reigning European champion Imke Duplitzer were able to make any impression. South Korea landed the bronze medal.
SPEEDSKATING
Davis wins 1,000m at opener
Olympic champion Shani Davis won the men’s 1,000m in the speedskating World Cup season opener in Heerenveen, the Netherlands, on Friday. Davis finished in 1 minute, 8.40 seconds to beat Dutch pair Stefan Groothuis and Simon Kuipers. Groothuis was 0.11 seconds back in second place, while Kuipers was 0.28 seconds behind in third. Joji Kato of Japan won the 500m, ahead of South Korean duo Lee Kang-seok and Lee Kyou-hyuk. Olympic gold medalist Christine Nesbitt of Canada ensured the opening day ended without a Dutch gold after clinching the women’s 1,000m in 1 minute, 15.84 seconds ahead of local favorites Margot Boer and Ireen Wust. Germany’s Jenny Wolf continued her domination of the women’s 500m, winning in 38.02 seconds.
RALLYING
Loeb takes narrow lead
Sebastien Loeb took a narrow lead after the first day of the season-ending Wales Rally. Loeb has already been crowned world champion for a seventh time and looks to finish the season on a high after taking a 1.8 second lead over Petter Solberg of Norway. The Frenchman navigated the wet conditions to win four of Friday’s seven stages. Sebastian Ogier of France was 3.6 seconds back.
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