SOCCER
Gunmen attack Young Stars
Gunmen attacked a bus carrying players and officials of one of South Sudan’s top-flight soccer clubs, killing the driver and injuring six others. The Confederation of African Football said the Young Stars were traveling from the capital, Juba, back to their hometown of Torit when the attack happened. The governing body said the club’s chairman was among the injured. It said the gunmen were unidentified. The Young Stars were going home after losing in the South Sudan Cup final. The confederation said the bus attack followed an attack on a bar in Juba, where gunmen opened fire on people watching a soccer game on TV, killing 11.
CRICKET
West Indies drop Bravo
Batsman Darren Bravo has been dropped from the West Indies squad in Zimbabwe for a triangular one-day international series because of “unacceptable behavior,” the West Indies Cricket Board said on Saturday. Bravo was replaced by Jason Mohammed in the 15-man squad one day after he described board chairman Dave Cameron as a “big idiot” in a tweet following a disagreement over his playing contract. In an interview with SportsMax TV, a Caribbean TV network, Cameron said that Bravo had been offered a grade “C” contract due to his slipping batting average. “It is explicit that if your averages are not above a certain level, it tells you what contracts you get,” Cameron said. “It is very, very explicit. His averages in the last two years have been declining, so what do you do? Reward poor performance or do you encourage him to get better?”
RUGBY UNION
Ireland return home to win
Ireland received a hero’s welcome from 51,000 fans in Dublin following their historic defeat of the All Blacks and then celebrated with a hard-fought and entertaining 52-21 win over Canada at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday. A week after earning their first-ever win over world champions New Zealand in Chicago, a completely revamped Ireland team had a slightly absent-minded homecoming before finally overpowering the world’s 18th-ranked side with eight tries. Ireland coach Joe Schmidt opted to rest all the players who began the All Blacks game with a view to next weekend’s hotly-anticipated rematch and witnessed a mixture of enterprise and errors from a side that ended up giving debuts to eight players, including three in the starting XV. The second-string side’s victory, although scrappy, gave Schmidt plenty of food for thought for the All Blacks return, especially with fine returns to the international fold after injury for key forwards Sean O’Brien and captain Peter O’Mahony.
BOXING
Danny Garcia defeats Vargas
Danny Garcia on Saturday night passed the test. The World Boxing Council welterweight champion vowed not to overlook Samuel Vargas, with a major matchup against World Boxing Association champion Keith Thurman looming in March next year, and he did not in front of his hometown crowd. In a nontitle fight scheduled for 10 rounds, Garcia stopped Vargas in the seventh round at Temple University’s Liacouras Center. Afterward, Garcia climbed through the ropes and stood at the edge of the ring, yelling and pointing at Thurman, who was below him ringside at the TV broadcast table. The two then stood toe-to-toe in the ring. “I just had to tell Keith he’s next,” Garcia said. “I’m gonna whoop him. There’s not much more to say. He got what he asked for and now he’s going to face a real big dog.”
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
Playing soccer and competing for trophies is the best way that many transplanted Hong Kongers and Macanese have found to stay in touch, and to interact with Taiwanese society, said officials at the Taiwan-Hong Kong-Macau Football Friendship Cup, which was held on April 13. Twelve clubs, mostly of players and coaches originally from Hong Kong and Macau, took part in the tournament in New Taipei City. The event is sponsored by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Taiwan-Hong Kong Economic and Cultural Co-operation Council. Participating teams were from the wider Taipei area, Hsinchu, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other areas. They divided into two