TENNIS
Seeds tumble in Guangzhou
Wild-card entry Zhang Shuai of China and US qualifier Vania King advanced to the semi-finals of Guangzhou Open on Thursday as the three remaining seeded players were eliminated. King beat eighth-seeded Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), while Zhang defeated Johanna Konta of Britain 7-5, 6-3. Also, unseeded Yvonne Meusburger of Austria eliminated second-seeded Alize Cornet of France 6-4, 6-1 and Zheng Jie beat third seed Laura Robson of Britain 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-2. King will face Zheng in the semi-finals, and Zhang will face Meusburger. Reigning champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan failed to make the quarter-finals at this year’s event, crashing out on Wednesday at the hands of Zhuang.
SNOOKER
Champ clarifies comments
World champion Ronnie O’Sullivan issued a statement yesterday to clarify his comments after former world No. 5 Stephen Lee was found guilty of match-fixing this week. Lee faces a lifetime ban from the sport and O’Sullivan tweeted that he believed many other players had been involved in throwing matches. The five-time world champion was asked to explain his comments by World Snooker chief Barry Hearn. “I would like to clarify the comments that I made on Twitter 17th September as they were an instant reaction to an issue which I feel strongly about, namely the integrity of my sport,” O’Sullivan said. “The news about Stephen Lee’s match-fixing case was eye-opening to all players on the circuit, and sends out a clear message to any would-be cheats. I fully support this decision and commend the [sport’s ruling body] WPBSA for taking positive action in this case.” O’Sullivan said his reference to players throwing matches related to rumors from many years ago when the tour was much smaller than it is now.
TENNIS
Radwanska into last eight
Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska advanced to the quarter-finals of the Korea Open yesterday with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Estrella Cabeza Candela. “I had never played her before, and she started very well, the first few games were long and tight, but after a few games I knew what I had to do to win the match, and I started to play more aggressive from there,’’ Radwanska said. The Pole, making her debut at the Seoul tournament, will next face Vera Dushevina. Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm beat second-seeded Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-1 and will face Francesca Schiavone in the quarter-finals. Date-Krumm’s win over the No.19-ranked Kirilenko was her 10th victory over a top 20 player since coming back to the tour in 2008. Wild-card entry Jang Su-jeong of South Korea also advanced with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over qualifier Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. Jang will face Lara Arruabarrena in the last eight.
CRICKET
Durham win English title
Durham won their third County Championship title in six years after completing an eight-wicket victory over Nottinghamshire with more than a day to spare yesterday. Rain washed out the third day’s morning session, but when play resumed after lunch at Chester-le-Street, northeast county Durham’s headquarters, the hosts needed just 62 more runs to win with all 10 second innings wickets left. They took just 16 overs to reach their target, and although they lost Keaton Jennings and Scott Borthwick along the way, Mark Stoneman’s 35 not out saw Durham to victory, the opener sealing the title in style with a boundary off Paul Franks.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was