TENNIS
Zhang Shuai eliminated
China’s Zhang Shuai yesterday became the latest seed to exit the Japan Women’s Open when she was ambushed by Kazakh qualifier Zarina Diyas. The 23-year-old Diyas, ranked 72 places below Zhang at 100th in the world, thrashed the second seed 6-4, 6-2 in Tokyo, meaning only two of the top eight seeds in the tournament have reached the quarter-finals. Eighth seed Yulia Putintseva made it a red-letter day for Kazakhstan against Chinese opponents by ousting Han Xinyun, who retired with a hip injury when trailing 6-2, 2-0. As Japanese organizers rue the loss of six seeds and local favorite Kimiko Date in her final tournament at the age of 46, Croatian Jana Fett crushed Slovakia’ Jana Cepelova 6-0, 6-3. In other matches, Wang Qiang restored a measure of pride for China with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Kurumi Nara, while Christina McHale of the US overpowered Spain’s Sara Sorribes 6-1, 6-1.
SOCCER
Syria to play in Malaysia
Football Federation Australia said it has received official confirmation that Syria are to host Australia in Malaysia in the first leg of their Asian World Cup qualifying playoff next month. Because of the continuing civil war at home, Syria played all of their third-round Asian World Cup qualifying matches in Malaysia. Officials have stuck with the formula by confirming Hang Jebat Stadium in Malacca for their Oct. 5 “home” game, despite speculation the playoff could be staged in the Middle East. The Socceroos are to host the return match in Sydney on Oct. 10. The winner of the Asian playoff faces the fourth-place team from CONCACAF qualifying in North and Central America in another home-and-away series for a place in next year’s World Cup in Russia.
BOXING
Golovkin misses birth
Gennady Golovkin is one of the most dedicated boxers in the world and even the birth of his daughter could not pry him out of the gym. The three-belt champion missed the birth on Friday last week because he was training for his upcoming world middleweight title fight. Golovkin stayed in the gym for two hours after his wife, Alina, gave birth to the couple’s second child. They also have a son. “He didn’t leave the gym until 6pm,” Golovkin’s trainer Abel Sanchez said. “The baby was born at 4pm. His wife was in the hospital for one day. She came home next day so he was home with them.” Golovkin, who holds the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation middleweight belts, faces Canelo Alvarez in a 12-round mega title fight in Las Vegas tomorrow. Sanchez said he was concerned during the long training camp about how Golovkin was doing with the baby on the way and the most important fight of his career around the corner. “I started to voice my concern. ‘The baby’s not here.’ He said: ‘Coach the baby is going to come whether I am there or not. I have already done my part,’” Sanchez said. Golovkin has been in high spirits as the fight preparation shifted this week from their training camp to Las Vegas. “He is in a great mood. I don’t know if it is because of the baby being here or if because he finally got the fight he wanted,” Sanchez 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