UNIVERSIADE
Taiwanese wins gold
Taiwan’s Kuo Hsing-chun grabbed the gold medal on Monday in the women’s under-58kg event at the Summer Universiade in Kazan, Russia, with a record-breaking performance. Kuo broke Universiade records for the snatch, with a lift of 104kg, the clean and jerk (134kg) and the combined (238kg). Christina Iovu of Azerbaijan placed second with a combined lift of 226kg (100kg + 126kg), and the bronze medal went to Hyo Sim-choe of North Korea, who finished with a total of 225kg (100kg + 125kg). Troubled by an injury at the time, Kuo finished a disappointing eighth in the under 58kg weightlifting event at last year’s London Olympic Games with a combined lift of 228kg. The 20-year-old has since won two gold medals at the Asian Weightlifting Championships, held in Astana, Kazakhstan from June 21 to June 26, with a clean and jerk of 134kg and a total lift of 236kg.
TENNIS
Halep advances in Hungary
Third-seeded Simona Halep of Romania won the last nine games to beat Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-0 in the first round of the Hungarian Grand Prix on Monday. Fourth-seeded Annika Beck of Germany dispatched Tadeja Majeric of Slovenia 6-1, 6-2. In the second set, Majeric broke to take a 2-0 lead, but Beck then won six consecutive games at the Romai Tennis Academy. Johanna Larsson of Sweden, seeded fifth, beat Spain’s Lara Arruabarrena 6-2, 7-5. Spain’s Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor defeated Nina Bratchikova of Russia 6-1, 7-5. The tournament was to continue yesterday with more first-round matches.
TENNIS
Errani routs Cohen
Top-seeded Sara Errani bounced back from her first-round upset at Wimbledon by routing 141st-ranked Julia Cohen of the US 6-0, 6-1 in the Italiacom Open on Monday. It was a welcome return to red clay courts for Errani, last year’s French Open runner-up, after losing to Puerto Rican teenager Monica Puig at the All England Club. Errani won this tournament in 2008 and last year. In the second round, Errani will face either last year’s runner-up Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova or Kristyna Pliskova. In Monday’s only other main-draw matches, seventh-seeded Silvia Soler-Espinosa of Spain held off Mathilde Johansson of France 6-4, 1-6, 7-5, and Italian wild card Corinna Dentoni rallied past Caroline Garcia of France 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
ATHLETICS
Watt out of worlds
Olympic long-jump silver medalist Mitchell Watt yesterday pulled out of the Moscow world championships after an injury-plagued build-up. The Australian said his preparation was not good enough to compete at the championships in the Russian capital from Aug. 10 to Aug. 18. “I have been battling ankle and Achilles pain across my early season and this has caused continued trouble for me in practice and competition,” said the 25-year-old, who jumped 8.16m at the London Olympics for silver behind winner Greg Rutherford from Britain.
SOCCER
Benteke asks to leave Villa
The close-season bidding war is on for Christian Benteke after the Aston Villa striker handed in a surprise transfer request. The Congo-born Belgian international had already been given the once over by Villa’s Premier League rivals Arsenal and Chelsea this summer after a magnificent first season in England.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB