Felix Neureuther and Veronika Velez Zuzulova upset the World Cup favorites when they won the men’s and women’s city events respectively on Tuesday.
German Neureuther, a specialist of sorts after finishing second in a similar event in Moscow a year ago, used the support of 15,000 fans in Munich’s Olympic Park to upstage Austrian World Cup holder Marcel Hirscher in the final of the parallel slalom competition.
Hirscher still grabbed 80 precious points in the overall standings to close the gap on Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal, who was knocked out in the first round of the event that involved the 12 best slalom specialists and the four best all-rounders.
Photo: EPA
“The crowd was going crazy. It was such a big motivation for today. I’d beaten Marcel once before this season. I knew I could do it. I just had to take every risk,” Neureuther said after his third World Cup victory.
France’s Alexis Pinturault, winner in Moscow a year ago, was third this time.
In the women’s competition, Slovakian Velez Zuzulova made the best of her current form to beat World Cup leader Tina Maze in the final.
Winner of her country’s first World Cup race in the Austrian resort of Semmering on Saturday, Velez Suzulova made it two in a row thanks to two blistering runs against Slovenia’s Maze.
“It took me eleven years to win my first race and now I made two in three days,” she said.
“I was hoping that the other girls partied a lot last night and would be tired today,” she added.
Austria’s Michaela Kirchgasser was third.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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