TABLE TENNIS
China, Singapore post wins
China and defending champions Singapore both opened their bids to claim the women’s title at the world team table tennis championships with solid wins on Sunday. China’s singles world champion Ding Ning started her team’s 3-0 rout of Belarus by beating Veronika Pavlovich in consecutive games in a ruthless 3-0 display in the Group A match. Li Xiaoxia then overcame Viktoria Pavlovich and Guo Yue completed the Chinese cleansweep by accounting for Alena Dubkova. Singapore also got off to a winning start with a 3-0 win over Turkey in Group B. Taiwan slipped to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of North Korea, while the Netherlands enjoyed a 3-0 win over Sweden to go second in the group behind Singapore. In Group C, both hosts Germany and Japan enjoyed wins as Germany beat France 3-0, then Spain 3-1 later on Sunday night, while Japan backed up their opening 3-1 win over Spain with a win over Serbia by the same margin. Hong Kong, South Korea and Austria picked up wins over the Czech Republic, Croatia and Russia respectively in Group D.
SOCCER
Fan killed in pre-game fight
A fan was shot to death and three were hospitalized in a serious condition after a fight between rival supporter groups in Brazil on Sunday. Andre Alves, 21, was killed with a shot to the head in a confrontation that involved nearly 500 fans before a match between rival clubs Corinthians and Palmeiras. One of the three fans in serious condition was shot in the hip and had to undergo surgery. Three people were treated and released. Witnesses told media Alves was among a group of Palmeiras fans who got ambushed by Corinthians supporters in the city’s north side. The fans fought with iron bars, pieces of wood and rocks. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to stop the fight on Sunday morning. Four people were detained.
SOCCER
Ajax beats PSV Eindhoven
Second-half goals from Ismail Aissati and Siem de Jong earned Ajax a 2-0 win over PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch league on Sunday to keep the pressure on leaders AZ Alkmaar with seven matches remaining. Almaar stayed top on 56 points, one point ahead of Ajax, after beating mid-table RKC Waalwijk 1-0 with Johann Gudmundsson scoring the winner four minutes into the second half. Aissati opened the scoring for Ajax after 56 minutes with a brilliant long-range drive into the corner. Six minutes later, he was fouled by Marcelo, resulting in a penalty that was converted by De Jong to wrap up their seventh straight win.
RUGBY UNION
Slade out with broken leg
All Blacks flyhalf Colin Slade will be sidelined for the rest of the year after breaking his leg in the Otago Highlanders’ first Super Rugby defeat of the season at the ACT Brumbies on the weekend. The luckless Slade, who has won 10 New Zealand caps as understudy to Dan Carter, had an operation on his injured left leg in Canberra on Sunday and will play no further part in the season. Slade missed much of the last Super Rugby season when he broke his jaw twice and when Carter was ruled out of the World Cup in October last year, a groin strain of his own prevented the 24-year-old from making the most of his opportunity. With his back-up Liam Sopoaga also out for a lengthy period, Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph faces a desperate scramble to find another flyhalf before their match against the Melbourne Rebels on Friday.
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