India’s Pusarla Sindhu on Friday assured herself of a third Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Championships medal, swatting aside China’s Sun Yu 21-14, 21-9 to enter the semi-finals of the event in Glasgow, Scotland, while Taiwan’s last entry was ousted.
The 22-year-old, who has won bronze medals in the 2013 and 2014 editions and is looking to become the first person from her country to claim the title, set up a clash with China’s world junior champion Chen Yufei.
“I lost to her [Sun] the last time we played in Dubai,” said Sindhu, who displayed sublime skills at the net, an area she has improved on. “Overall it went well today. I’m happy.”
Photo: Reuters
Sindhu will be wary of her semi-final opponent Chen, who upset top seed Akane Yamaguchi in the previous round before following that up by stunning Thailand’s eighth seed Ratchanok Intanon 14-21, 21-16, 21-12 on Friday.
Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen, striving to emulate compatriot Peter Rasmussen, who was the last European man to win this event in 1997, mixed power and precision to down Taiwan’s Chen Chou-tien 21-18, 20-22, 21-16 in 74 minutes.
“It’s my goal to win as many medals as possible for myself and Denmark,” said the world No. 3, who won the bronze medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. “I’m just overwhelmingly happy right now.”
Axelsen faces China’s Chen Long, who kept alive his hopes of a hat-trick of world titles by beating compatriot Tian Houwei 21-12, 21-17 in 63 minutes.
South Korea’s Son Wan-ho beat Kidambi Srikanth 21-14, 21-18 to end the Indian’s 13 match winning streak. Srikanth, who won back-to-back Superseries in Indonesia and Australia this year, paid the price for too many errors against the top seed.
In the semi-finals, Son faces Chinese seventh seed Lin Dan, who saw off the challenge of Hong Kong’s Wong Wing-ki 21-17, 21-18 in 59 minutes.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB