TENNIS
Lu blitzes Belgian
Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan routed Belgium’s Romain Bogaerts 6-1, 6-1 on Sunday in the first round of the Winston-Salem Open. The tournament — the final men’s tuneup event before the US Open — began on Sunday with a handful of first-round matches. Mardy Fish beat Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Fish — a wild-card entrant — advanced to face Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the second round. Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-3, 6-4, while Robin Haase of the Netherlands edged Adrian Mannarino of France 6-3, 6-3. Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez topped Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
CYCLING
Stybar wins stage and race
Czech rider Zdenez Stybar won the seventh and final stage of the Eneco Tour of the Low Countries on Sunday to claim overall victory. The Omega-Pharma rider beat Britain’s Team Sky rider Ian Stannard by four seconds following a sprint finish after countering the Team Sky rider’s attack 7km from the end of the 208km stage from Tienen to Geraatdsbergen. Last year’s winner Dutchman Lars Boom finished third at 12 seconds with overnight leader Tom Dumoulin coming home in eighth, 25 seconds down. Stybar had started the day 9 seconds off the lead and coupled with time bonuses gained for winning the stage, he finished the tour 26 seconds ahead of Dutchman Dumoulin in second with Ukrainian Andriy Grivko third overall at 50 seconds.
SOCCER
Saints splash out for striker
Southampton broke their club record transfer fee on Sunday when they paid Roma £15 million (17.6 million euros) for striker Pablo Osvaldo. The four-year deal for the 27-year-old Argentina-born Italian international betters the £12.5million Southampton paid for Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama last month. Osvaldo will now be reunited with Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino under whom he played during an 18-month spell with Spanish side RCD Espanyol. Osvaldo should be available for Saturday’s Premier League game against Sunderland at St Mary’s.
FOOTBALL
Keller out for season
Miami Dolphins tight end Dustin Keller has been ruled out for the season with multiple knee ligament damage suffered in the pre-season loss to the Houston Texans, ESPN reported on Sunday. Keller suffered the injury when he was tackled in the second quarter of Saturday’s game and ESPN reported that he had suffered three torn ligaments and a dislocated knee cap. The 28-year-old joined the Dolphins in the off-season after spending four years with AFC East rivals the New York Jets.
SAILING
Luna Rossa even series
Emirates Team New Zealand fell out of the second race of the Louis Vuitton Cup finals series because of a mechanical problem on Sunday, handing Italy’s Luna Rossa a victory that evened the finals at one each. After a nosedive sent two men tumbling overboard during their opening win, Emirates sailed smoothly at the start of the second day. The Kiwis pushed ahead by about 400m before the electronic system that controls the hydraulics malfunctioned near the end of the third leg of the five-leg race on foggy San Francisco Bay. For the second straight day, officials called off the second race due to strong wind. Two makeup races were due to be held yesterday if conditions permitted. The winner of the best-of-13 series will face Oracle Team USA in the 34th America’s Cup starting on Sept. 7.
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