BASEBALL
Taiwan pitch perfect game
Taiwan pitched a perfect game at the Asian Baseball Championship on Saturday, beating Pakistan 15-0 to face South Korea yesterday. Taiwan’s starter, Lin Yu-ching, and relief pitchers Lai Hung-cheng and Kuan Ta-yuan did not allow any hits and none of the Pakistani batters got on base. In addition, Taiwan made no errors. The game ended early in the seventh inning, shortened from the regular nine-inning game. Taiwan, which lost to Japan in the opening game and defeated the Philippines on Nov. 29, was standing at 2-1, behind Japan and South Korea, both of which have clinched three victories. Team manager Hsieh Chang-heng said it had not been decided who the starting pitcher would be in the game against South Korea. If Taiwan want to remain in competition for the championship, they need to win their next two games against South Korea and China.
ATHLETICS
Gitau wins in Fukuoka
Kenyan runner Joseph Gitau outpaced Polish Olympian Henryk Szost to take the lead for the last 8km and secure a surprise win in the Fukuoka international marathon yesterday. The Japan-based 24-year-old, who belongs to the JFE Steel athletics club in Hiroshima, clipped nearly 15 minutes off his personal best of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 54 seconds to cross the finishing line in 2:06:58. Japan’s Hiroyuki Horibata failed to clear the bottom line to qualify for the world championships next year, finishing second in 2:08:24, while Szost, ninth in the London Olympics, came third in 2:08:42. Ethiopian running legend Haile Gebrselassie, the Fukuoka champion in 2006, abandoned the race shortly after passing the 32km point. Gitau and Szost then took the lead ahead of Horibata, Martin Mathathi of Kenya and Arata Fujiwara of Japan after passing the 33km mark, before Gitau took the sole lead from 34km.
HOCKEY
England beat Germany
Adam Dixon and Harry Martin scored early first-half goals four minutes apart as England beat London Olympic gold medal winners Germany 4-1 at the Champions Trophy men’s field hockey tournament yesterday. England led 3-1 at halftime of the Pool A match after own goals by each team, then added the only goal of the second half after Germany’s Niklas Grell was sent off after receiving his second yellow card. Earlier in Pool B, Pakistan’s Abdul Haseem Khan scored in the 56th minute and Shafqat Rasool added a goal into an empty goal in the final minute to secure a 2-0 win over Belgium.
CYCLING
Beef man now president
The Spanish cycling federation (RFEC) has elected Jose Luis Lopez Cerron, the man who delivered the beef to Alberto Contador that the rider said led to him testing positive for clenbuterol in 2010, as its new president. Lopez Cerron, a former professional cyclist and organizer of Spain’s Tour of Castilla and Leon, was voted in at an assembly in Madrid on Saturday, the RFEC said on its Web site. The 56-year-old bought the allegedly contaminated meat in Irun, a town on Spain’s border, before taking it to Astana’s team hotel in Pau, France, where it was eaten by Contador on the 2010 Tour de France’s second rest day. The rider, who has since switched to Team Saxo-Tinkoff, went on to win the race, but his subsequent positive test for clenbuterol, a banned substance, led to him being stripped of the title, his third victory after triumphs in 2007 and 2009. He was banned for two years and returned in August to win the Tour of Spain.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
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