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.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
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