TENNIS
Ana Konjuh wins in Croatia
Croatia’s Ana Konjuh eased past Grace Min of the US 6-1, 6-3 at the Bol Open in Croatia to book a second-round match against Turkey’s Ipek Soylu. Fellow Croats Tereza Mrdeza and Ani Mijacika faced each other in the first round, with Mrdeza winning 6-3, 6-4. Joining Konjuh and Mrdeza in the second round were Nao Hibino and Polona Hercog. Hercog defeated Petra Martic 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, while Hibino ousted Marine Partaud 6-2, 6-1. No. 1 seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova was upset by Kristina Kucova, losing 6-4, 6-0, while Zhang Shuai exited after a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) defeat to Ysaline Bonaventure.
SAILING
Japan to host ACWS
America’s Cup-style racing is to be held in Asia for the first time when the America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) is sailed in Fukuoka, Japan, on Nov. 18 to Nov. 20. The America’s Cup World Series features fast, 45-foot catamarans. It is a series of warm-up regattas for the 2017 America’s Cup, which is to be sailed in Bermuda. SoftBank Team Japan is one of the challengers for the 2017 America’s Cup and the fourth-ever from that country.
SOCCER
Pele to auction medals
Pele said he was putting more than 2,000 items up for auction, including his three World Cup medals and a one-of-a-kind Jules Rimet trophy, to raise funds for charity and his former club Santos. The three-day auction, which is to open on Tuesday next week in London, features memorabilia from the 75-year-old’s illustrious career with Brazil, Santos and the New York Cosmos and could fetch up to US$1 million, auctioneers said. “That was the decision to do this, to help the charity and the children,” the Brazilian, widely regarded as the greatest soccer player ever, told Reuters TV. “The idea is that half of the money goes to the children’s hospital and the other charities and the rest of the memorabilia will go to Santos, for an exhibition. Santos, the team that made me be here.”
SOCCER
Kaka adds to Brazil’s woes
Brazil’s Copa America Centenario injury crisis deepened on Wednesday after veteran striker Kaka withdrew from the squad with a hamstring injury three days before the team’s tournament opener against Ecuador. The 34-year-old Orlando City attacking midfielder had been looking forward to competing in his first Copa America, but saw his dream dashed after suffering an injury at Brazil’s Los Angeles training base. “Kaka has had discomfort in training and safety will be auditioned MRI, which showed a small problem. Doctors indicate between 15 and 20 days of recovery,” Brazilian Football Confederation official Gilmar Rinaldi said.
OLYMPICS
Bekele laments exclusion
Kenenisa Bekele says his exclusion from Ethiopia’s marathon team for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was “unjust” and claims that his national federation’s selection criteria are “biased.” Bekele, a three-time Olympic champion and the world-record holder in the 5,000m and 10,000m said that athletes were informed too late that they must run in at least two major marathons in the past year to be eligible for Ethiopia’s team. Bekele returned from a year-long injury break to finish third at the London Marathon in April, his only marathon in the past year, although he won the Great Manchester Run 10km race last month. “I cannot get the chance to compete [at the Olympics] now and there is nothing I can do about it,” he said.
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