GOLF
Kjeldsen, Fitzpatrick lead
Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen joined England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick at the top of the British Masters leaderboard on Friday after both reached a nine-under total of 133 at the halfway stage. Kjeldsen, who won the Irish Open earlier this year, made a three-under 68 in his second round, while Fitzpatrick, the sole leader on day one, shot a two-under 69. England’s Richard Bland was a shot further back, alongside Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat. Bridgestone Invitational winner Shane Lowry, of Ireland, was also in contention going into the weekend. He was two shots off the lead with 135. Tournament host Ian Poulter was five shots behind on a four-under total of 138.
CRICKET
Zimbabwe edge Ireland
Sikander Raza and Craig Ervine both hit half-centuries as Zimbabwe edged Ireland by two wickets with six deliveries to spare in the first one-day international on Friday. Set a target of 220 runs to win the first of the three-game series, Raza hit an unbeaten 60 off 72 deliveries, including four boundaries. Ervine also made 60, with his runs coming off 78 deliveries and featuring five fours. Earlier, Ireland reached 219-8 in 50 overs after being put into bat, with Gary Wilson top scoring with an undefeated 70 from 88 deliveries. Ed Joyce also reached a half-century, finishing on 53 in an innings which featured one of the game’s two sixes.
MOTORCYCLING
Lorenzo takes pole
Jorge Lorenzo is to start from pole in today’s Japan Grand Prix, having held off his Yamaha teammate and championship leader Valentino Rossi, who is to start in second. The Spaniard led all four practice sessions before clocking 1 minute, 43.79 seconds in the qualifying round yesterday, only 0.081 seconds faster than the veteran Italian rider. Injured defending champion Marc Marquez shares the front row with the Yamaha duo, coming in 0.426 seconds after Lorenzo. Rossi, who leads Lorenzo only by a slender 14-point advantage, has said that the season remains wide open with four more races in the play, including the Japanese race. Thick cloud cover brought the temperature down at Motegi, where rainfall is expected today. Alex de Angelis crashed hard during the fourth free practice earlier yesterday, prompting a red flag to temporarily suspend the session. The ART rider was reportedly conscious and breathing, but was taken by helicopter to Dokkyo Hospital in the region for checks and treatment. He left the circuit speaking and moving his limbs, MotoGP.com said. He reported chest and back pain and will be checked in hospital by CT scan, it said.
SURFING
Shark bites man in Hawaii
A 25-year-old Oahu man has been bitten by a shark while surfing on Oahu’s North Shore. Honolulu Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Shayne Enright said the attack happened near a popular surfing spot known as Leftovers, about 5km from the famed Banzai Pipeline. Enright said an emergency call was received at 10:25am and the man was already on the beach when rescue crews arrived. The man had an injury to his left leg and cuts on his hands. The man was hospitalized for treatment in critical condition. Enright said another surfer was with the man and helped him back to shore after the attack. There, people put the man on a surf or paddle board and used a leash as a tourniquet.
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