SOCCER
Chen booked, Gent go top
Taiwan international Javier Chen’s KV Mechelen were knocked off the top of the Belgian Jupiler League on Saturday after a goalless draw at champions KRC Genk. Chen was shown the yellow card in the 22nd minute, before Mechelen returned from the Cristal Arena with a hard-earned point against a Genk side drawn against Chelsea, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Valencia in the Champions League on Thursday. Top spot in the league was filled by KAA Gent, who beat Lierse SK 1-0 thanks to Cesar Arzo’s 39th-minute goal. That was enough to lift them above Cercle Brugge KSV, 3-1 winners on the road at bottom-of-the-league KVC Westerlo, and Mechelen on goal-difference.
BASEBALL
Taiwan edged by Cuba
Taiwan came up short against Cuba in a 7-4 loss at the International Baseball Federation’s Under-16 Baseball World Championship in Aguascalientes, Mexico, on Saturday. The defeat lowered Taiwan’s record to 3-3 and whether they will play in the third-place consolation game was to be determined by the outcome of a game between Mexico and the Netherlands, which was postponed a day. Taiwan opened the scoring with a run in the first, but Cuba, who play in the final against the US, answered in the second. The two teams continued to trade runs, taking a 4-4 tie into the seventh, when Jorge Martinez hit a two-run single to put Cuba ahead for good.
TENNIS
Lisicki wins Texas Open
Wimbledon semi-finalist Sabine Lisicki of Germany captured the inaugural WTA Texas Open in Dallas on Saturday with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over French qualifier Aravane Rezai in the championship match. The hardcourt event was a tuneup for the US Open, which is scheduled to begin today in New York. Lisicki, the fifth seed who is ranked 23rd in the world, rolled through the tournament without losing a set. Rezai, ranked 116th in the world, had split two prior meetings with Lisicki, but could win only six points off the German’s serve in the 49-minute match, never managing to force a break point against the champion. Big-serving Lisicki became only the second wildcard in Wimbledon history to reach the semi-finals, where she lost to Russian Maria Sharapova in June.
BOXING
Povetkin claims WBA belt
Russia’s Alexander Povetkin won the vacant WBA heavyweight title in Erfurt, Germany, on Saturday with a points victory over Uzbek Ruslan Chagaev. The three judges came down in favor of Povetkin with 117-113 on two cards and 116-112 on the third as the 2004 Olympic champion took the title left vacant when Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitschko was promoted to super champion status. Povetkin, unbeaten from 22 fights with 15 knockouts, now has the chance to take on the undisputed champion Klitschko, who earned a unanimous decision over Britain’s David Haye last month to add Haye’s WBA belt to his IBF and WBO crowns. The 31-year-old Russian marked points at the beginning of the fight with his speed and agility along with fast combinations to the face and body. Chagaev, nicknamed the “White Tyson,” went for the knockout blow and landed some big left hand jabs in the sixth and seventh rounds, before his rival regained the initiative. For 32-year-old Chagaev, who has 17 knockouts from 27 victories, it was his second defeat after falling to Klitschko in 2009.
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