Ilya Kovalchuk scored a goal and made two more as Russia survived an early onslaught to beat Austria 8-4 at the world ice hockey championships in Helsinki on Monday.
The Russians were 2-0 up and cruising after Kovalchuk’s ninth-minute goal, but three quick-fire goals, including two in a 15-second burst, put Austria in front, before Russia leveled again at the end of the first period.
Alexander Radulov put Russia ahead again, only for the dogged Austrians to pull them back through a Florian Iberer goal. After that, the Austrian resistance crumbled and the Russians fired four more goals to complete the rout.
By winning their final group game in fine style, defending champions Russia will progress to the quarter-finals as no worse than third seeds. Austria are condemned to finish bottom of their group and drop from the elite to division one of world ice hockey.
In the early game in the Finnish capital, Latvia beat France 3-1 in a result that moved them out of the relegation zone and dented France’s hopes of making the quarter-finals.
A third-quarter Brenden Dillon strike in Stockholm helped Canada edge Slovenia 4-3 in their final group game to move to the top of their group ahead of Switzerland.
Slovenia failed to win any games at the world championships and are relegated to division one for next year.
Earlier in the day, Denmark held on to beat Belarus 3-2, despite the latter fighting back from 3-0 down.
Third-placed Sweden have also made the quarter-finals, with the final berth in the Stockholm group going to the winners of the crunch game between Norway and the Czech Republic.
Slovakia, Latvia, France and Germany are all in with a shout of making the final quarter-final spot, with the latter pair due to face one another in a must-win match.
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,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set