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.
Brazil has four teams, more than any other country, in the expanded Club World Cup that kicked off yesterday in the US, but for SE Palmeiras, the competition holds a special meaning: winning it would provide some redemption. Under coach Abel Ferreira since 2020, Palmeiras lifted two Copa Libertadores titles, plus Brazilian league, cup and state championships. Even before Ferreira, it boasted another South American crown and 11 league titles. The only major trophy missing is a world champions’ title. Other Brazilian clubs like Fluminense FC and Botafogo FR, also in the tournament, have never won it either, but the problem for Palmeiras
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
‘STILL’: In front of a packed New Jersey arena attended by Donald Trump and Mike Tyson, UFC 316 delivered high drama as Merab Dvalishvili retained his title Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili scored a second-round submission win over Sean O’Malley to retain his bantamweight title at Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 316 on Saturday, with Kayla Harrison also winning by submission in the co-main event, tapping out Juliana Pena to claim the women’s bantamweight crown. In front of a packed crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, which included US President Donald Trump and retired heavyweight great Mike Tyson, Dvalishvili, a 34-year-old from the country of Georgia, won the belt in a convincing, although not aesthetically pleasing, unanimous decision. Dvalishvili (19-4) sat on top of the cage and shouted
Manchester City on Monday completed the signing of left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers for a reported ￡31 million (US$41.8 million). The 24-year-old Algeria international has signed a five-year contract and will be available for the FIFA Club World Cup, which begins later this week. Ait-Nouri is expected to be just one of a trio of new City faces for that tournament with deals close to completion for AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders and Olympique Lyonnais playmaker Rayan Cherki. After missing out on a major trophy in the recently completed season for the first time since 2016-2017, City are hoping
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