SOCCER
Greece beat Mexico in U-20
It was disappointing night for Latin American teams at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup as Greece scored late to beat Mexico 2-1 and South American champions Colombia were held to 1-1 by Australia on Saturday. Greece scored first in Gaziantep through Andreas Bouchalakis in the 16th minute. Mexico’s Jorge Espericueta drew the CONCACAF champion level in the 40th of the Group D match with a wonderful long-range free-kick. Dimitrios Kolovos then made a turn in the area and scored a late winner in the 88th. Hosts Turkey made an ideal start with a 3-0 win over El Salvador to top Group C. Cenk Sahin launched an attack down the right side in the ninth before sending a low cross for Salih Ucan to slot home. The two teamed up again after halftime, as Ucan slipped a pass to Sahin, who scored the first of his two goals in the 46th. Seventeen minutes later, Sahin slotted home inside the far post to put the match out of reach. In the other Group D match, Paraguay and Mali settled for a 1-1 draw.
SOCCER
Almeria to return to Primera
UD Almeria will return to the Primera Division after a two-year absence next season after they sealed a 4-0 aggregate win over Girona in the promotion playoff final with a 3-0 win at home over the Catalans on Saturday night. Already leading 1-0 from the first-leg in Girona earlier in the week, Aleix Vidal got the hosts off to a perfect start on 17 minutes as he fired home from the edge of the area to give the Andalusians a comfortable advantage. Brazilian Charles, who also scored the winner in the first-leg, then sealed the victory on the night with two more goals in the second-half.
ATHLETICS
Rollins runs 12.26 seconds
Brianna Rollins equaled the fourth-fastest 100m hurdles ever run as she clocked a stunning 12.26 seconds at the US world championship trials on Saturday at Des Moines, Iowa. Finally catching an allowable wind, the 21-year-old US collegiate record holder sent a strong message to Australian Olympic and world champion Sally Pearson with the fastest time since 1992. Only Bulgarian Yordanka Donkova, whose 1988 world record is 12.21 seconds, and compatriot Ginka Zagorcheva, the former record holder, have run faster. Donkova has done so twice. Runner-up Queen Harrison (12.43 seconds), third-place finisher Nia Ali (12.48) and Beijing Olympic winner Dawn Harper, who has a wild card entry, also made the US team for the Aug. 10 to Aug. 18 world championships in Moscow.
ATHLETICS
Farah wins 5,000m
Double Olympic champion Mo Farah stormed to victory in the 5,000m at the European Team Championships on Saturday in his first British squad appearance since the London Games. Farah’s performance, capped by a blistering final lap of 50.89 seconds, helped Britain claim five wins to sit third out of 12 in the standings after the opening day in Gateshead. Farah took victory in 14 minutes, 10 seconds. “I had a text from [coach] Alberto [Salazar] this morning to just wait as late as possible,” the 30-year-old said. “I wasn’t allowed to do anything, wasn’t even allowed to go to the front, but I was tripping over as the race was so slow, so I went to the front, ran as easily as possible and went from the bell. I went hard. [Salazar] said just go, don’t build up.”
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two