CRICKET
England coach Flower quits
Andy Flower has quit as England’s head coach following the team’s whitewash Ashes loss in Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Friday. Despite the former Zimbabwe international being in charge of England’s recent 5-0 Ashes series Test drubbing in Australia, the ECB said they wanted to retain his services, while Flower himself said he would remain a selector “for the time being.” Flower, explaining his reasons for standing down, said in an statement: “Following the recent very disappointing Ashes defeat it is clear to me that this is now time for England cricket, led by [captain] Alastair Cook, to rebuild... I do not feel like I am in a position to undertake that challenge.” In December 2012 Flower ceded coaching control of England’s one-day teams to former England spinner Ashley Giles, who has been tipped as his successor with the Test side. Flower said he had come to the conclusion a man in his position needed to be “responsible across all formats.” He had been England’s head coach since 2009. He oversaw three Ashes series victories and guided England to the 2010 World Twenty20 title — the first time they had won a major international limited-overs event. Under Flower, England also rose to the top of the world Test rankings in 2011.
GOLF
McIlroy leads, Woods toils
Rory McIlroy remains on track to end a 14-month European Tour title drought after shooting a second-round 70 to lead the Dubai Desert Classic on Friday, while world No. 1 Tiger Woods toiled on the Majlis course. McIlroy reached the event’s halfway stage on 11-under 133, having done most of the hard work a day earlier with a first-round 63. He is one shot ahead of Brooks Koepka of the US, who followed his first-day 69 with a 65. Scoring on Friday proved tougher for most players as Thursday’s lush greens dried out under the unforgiving Gulf sun, with the Northern Irishman’s playing partners Woods and Stephen Gallacher shooting 73 and 71 respectively. That left Woods on 141 and defending Dubai champion Gallacher on 137.
GOLF
Jones, Watson share lead
Australia’s Matt Jones fired his second straight six-under 65 on Friday to seize a share of the second-round lead of the Phoenix Open alongside former Masters champion Bubba Watson. Watson, tied for the lead after a first-round 64, carded a 66 to maintain a share of the lead on 12-under 130. The leading duo were two strokes in front of Australian Greg Chalmers and Harris English, who both posted second-round 67s. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama also shot a 67 to join the group sharing fifth place on nine-under. He was tied with Pat Perez and Kevin Stadler.
SOCCER
Celta edge Granada 2-1
Augusto Fernandez scored a late winner as RC Celta de Vigo beat Granada 2-1 in La Liga on Friday. Celta coped with Granada’s initial momentum and then took the lead in the 28th minute when midfielder Rafinho floated a cross to the far post for Gustavo Carabel to head home. Granada struck back in the 41st minute when Youssef El-Arabi rose high to head home a corner. With a draw looking likely, Celta struck on the counterattack with just two minutes to play. Michael Krohn-Dehli’s cross into the penalty area was deflected by goalkeeper Roberto and Augusto reached the loose ball first to poke it under the goalkeeper for the winner. Celta moved one point ahead of Granada into 11th place before the rest of the weekend’s fixtures.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with