SOCCER
Getafe get rare victory
Getafe picked up their first win in 14 games by coming from behind to triumph 2-1 against Real Sociedad in La Liga on Thursday and increase their chances of avoiding relegation. Granada also boosted their hopes of avoiding the drop by thrashing Levante UD 5-1 in a bottom-of-the-table clash to leave the Valencia club five points from safety. Granada moved to just above the bottom three in 17th spot on 33 points, two points above Getafe in 19th, while Levante are stuck in the basement slot on 28 with four games remaining. Getafe fell behind after 19 minutes when Sociedad’s Carlos Vela pounced on a goalkeeping blunder by Vicente Guaita, but a volley from Pablo Sarabia in the 45th and a penalty from Alvaro Vazquez after 56 minutes set up their first win since Jan. 17.
TENNIS
Kozlova defeats Flipkens
Ukraine’s Kateryna Kozlova beat fourth-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium on the fourth day of the WTA Istanbul Open in Turkey on Thursday, dropping seven sets in a 6-3, 6-4 triumph. Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia ousted another seeded player, beating Swede Johanna Larsson 6-4, 6-3, while seventh-seed Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine was eliminated by Kristmna Kucova of Slovakia 6-3, 1-6, 7-5. In other results, Japan’s Nao Hibino beat Rika Jani of Hungary 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Gagla Buyukakcay of Turkey eliminated Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-4, 6-2; and Swiss Stefanie Vvgele defeated Andreea Mitu of Romania 6-4, 6-1.
ICE HOCKEY
Laughton leaves hospital
Philadelphia center Scott Laughton was released from hospital on Thursday, but will not play in Game 5 of the Flyers’ National Hockey League playoff series with the Washington Capitals. The 21-year old Canadian was injured when he collided with Capitals’ defenseman John Carlson and fell hard into the end boards behind the Washington goal. No details of his injuries were given, but the Flyers said he suffered no broken bones. The team said that Laughton would not travel with his teammates to Washington for yesterday’s Game 5 of the best-of-seven first-round series, which the Capitals led 3-1. In 71 games this season, Laughton tallied seven goals and 14 assists. Philadelphia were to get Pierre-Edouard Bellemare back following a one-game suspension.
TENNIS
Siegemund upsets Halep
German qualifier Laura Siegemund upset fourth-seeded Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Porsche Grand Prix on Thursday. Siegemund is set to improve on her career-high No. 71 ranking at the indoor clay-court tournament in her hometown. She equaled her previous best result of making the quarter-finals at the clay event in Charleston, South Carolina, this month. Halep finished last year as No. 2 in the world, but the Romanian has dropped to No. 6 and will fall further after her latest loss. Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Andrea Petkovic of Germany 1-6, 6-1, 6-2. Petkovic fell heavily at the start of the second set and never regained her game. In the quarters, Radwanska faces Karolina Pliskova of the the Czech Republic, who beat Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-2. Also, fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic rallied to beat Monica Niculescu of Romania 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2; No. 7 Carla Suarez Navarro defeated wild-card Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany 6-2, 6-2; and No. 6 Roberta Vinci beat wild-card Julia Goerges of Germany 6-3, 6-4.
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