TENNIS
Stosur wins Japan Open
Sam Stosur won the Japan Women’s Open for a third time yesterday with a straight-sets triumph against Zarina Diyas in Osaka. The defending champion Stosur was broken in the first game by the 20-year-old from Kazakhstan, which set the tone for a tight opening set, but the No. 1 seed drew on her power and experience to win 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. Diyas, the No.5 seed had produced some flashes of brilliance, but could not capitalize when seemingly in control. The 30-year-old Australian, who did not drop a set all week, wrapped up the championship with minimal fuss in the second set to collect her first WTA title of the season, together with a US$43,000 winner’s check.
MOTORCYCLING
Marquez wins MotoGP title
Spanish sensation Marc Marquez, just 21 years old, retained his MotoGP championship title by finishing runner-up at the Japanese Grand Prix yesterday. Fellow Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo won at Motegi as he had last year, finishing in 42 minutes, 21.259 seconds to back up his victory at Aragon two weeks ago with Marquez behind him on his Honda and Italy’s Valentino Rossi third for Yamaha. Marquez’s second place meant he can no longer be caught by Rossi or Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa, with three races remaining this season. Marquez won 10 straight races this season..
RUGBY UNION
Uruguay to go to World Cup
Uruguay secured the 20th and last berth at next year’s rugby World Cup with a 36-27 victory over Russia in the second leg of their repechage at the Charrua Stadium in Montevideo on Saturday. Los Teros, who lost the first leg 22-21 in Krasnoyarsk two weeks ago, triumphed 57-49 on aggregate and take their place in a daunting Pool A with hosts England, Wales, Australia and Fiji at the Sept. 18 to Oct. 31 tournament next year. It is the third time they have made the finals, after 1999 and 2003, having lost in the playoffs for the past two tournaments.
SOCCER
Brazil beat Argentina
Diego Tardelli scored twice to lead Brazil to a 2-0 win over Argentina in a friendly on Saturday, with Lionel Messi missing a penalty that would have tied the game in the first half. Tardelli volleyed home the opening goal in the 28th minute at the Beijing National Stadium. Messi had a chance to level in the 41st after Angel di Maria was fouled in the area, but his penalty was saved by Brazil goalkeeper Jefferson. Tardelli scored his second after a goalmouth scramble in the 64th, heading the ball past Sergio Romero to seal the win. Brazil have won three straight games under coach Dunga after a disappointing end to the World Cup.
SOCCER
Benzema outshines Ronaldo
Karim Benzema scored an early goal and set up Paul Pogba’s winner as France beat Portugal 2-1 in an international friendly at the Stade de France on Saturday. The Real Madrid striker outshone his clubmate Cristiano Ronaldo as France ripped into Portugal from the off, taking the lead after three minutes. Under intense early pressure Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio could only parry Bacary Sagna’s shot, leaving Benzema to twist and convert unmarked on the 6-yard line. Benzema then generously set up rising French star Pogba, the swashbuckling Juventus midfielder, to fire home a precise side-footed effort from just inside the area on 69 minutes after great work from Patrice Evra.
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier