GOLF
Lee wins in rainy Shenzhen
South Korea’s Lee Soo-min yesterday won the rain-delayed Shenzhen International, claiming his first European Tour title with a two-shot victory over the Netherlands’ Joost Luiten and South Africa’s Brandon Stone. More than nine hours of play were lost to rain and electrical storms during the tournament in the southern Chinese city, and Lee was among three joint leaders when play resumed early yesterday, with another trio just one shot behind. However, the 22-year-old went into the outright lead with a birdie on the 16th and when he followed with an eagle three on the par-five 17th, it meant his final-hole bogey was immaterial as he finished on 16-under-par. The win came in only his sixth start on the European Tour, and was a contrast to the Maybank Championship Malaysia, where he began the final round with a three-shot lead, but made two double-bogeys in his last three holes to slip to a share of second place. Taiwan’s Hsieh Chi-hsien carded a 65 to finish tied for 65th place on four-over 292.
BASKETBALL
Lakers release coach Scott
The Los Angeles Lakers have decided to part ways with head coach Byron Scott, who led the NBA club to a franchise worst 17-65 record in Kobe Bryant’s final season. The Lakers on Sunday night announced they would not pick up the option on Scott’s contract for the 2016-2017 season. “We would like to thank Byron for his hard work, dedication and loyalty over the last two years, but have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to make a change at this time,” general manager Mitch Kupchak said. Kupchak said the search for a new coach would begin immediately. Scott guided the Lakers through the final two years of Bryant’s all-star career, which ended with a 60-point performance against the Utah Jazz on April 13. However, Scott won just 38 games in his two years, finishing with the worst record (38-126) of all the Laker coaches who spent at least two seasons at the helm of the once proud franchise that is now the league’s doormat.
BASEBALL
‘Laws’ sells for US$3.26m
A group of documents from 1857 that set down some of the fundamental rules of baseball was acquired at auction on Sunday by an unidentified buyer for US$3.26 million, making it one of the highest-priced pieces of sports memorabilia. Laws of Base Ball was put up for online bidding this month by SCP Auctions; the price paid was the most ever for a baseball document, but less than the US$4.3 million paid in 2010 for James Naismith’s original 13 rules of basketball. The most expensive piece of sports memorabilia is a Babe Ruth jersey from 1920 that sold for US$4.4 million in 2012. Laws, which was written by Daniel Adams, who was known as Doc, established rules such as nine men on a side, 90-foot base paths and nine innings to a game.
BASEBALL
Car accident kills Acevedo
Teenaged New York Yankees prospect Sandy Acevedo died in a car accident on Saturday night, the Major League Baseball team announced on Sunday. Third baseman/infielder Acevedo, 18, was signed on a minor league contract by the Yankees last year as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic. In a mark of respect, the New York franchise held a moment of silence for Acevedo before Sunday’s series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium.
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