RUGBY UNION
Japan told to speed up
Japanese organizers were yesterday warned to accelerate their preparations for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, with training venues a key area of concern. Following the conclusion of evaluation meetings in Tokyo, Rugby World Cup Tournament Director Alan Gilpin was underwhelmed by the progress made with two years to go before the sport’s showpiece competition comes to Asia for the first time. “There are some areas where the organizing committee has not progressed as much as we would expect by this stage,” he said in a media release. “The Japan Rugby 2019 organizing committee recognize that they need to accelerate the selection of training venues,” Gilpin added. “These venues must be of a world-class standard that provide the platform for the players to perform at their best.”
GOLF
Leishman in command
Marc Leishman on Saturday fired five birdies in a three-under par 68 to stretch his lead to five strokes over fellow Australian Jason Day and Rickie Fowler in the BMW Championship. Leishman started the day with a three-shot lead. His solid performance at Conway Farms put him on 19-under 194 going into the final round of the penultimate tournament in the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoff series. Day and Fowler both carded one-under par 70s for 199. England’s Justin Rose signed for a 66 that put him in solo fourth on 201. Spain’s Jon Rahm carded a 65 to head a group of seven players on 202. Leishman capped his round with a birdie at the par-five 18th to put himself in prime position to seize a third US PGA Tour title.
TRIATHLON
Mola, Duffy win grand final
Mario Mola of Spain and Flora Duffy of Bermuda on Saturday won their second-straight triathlon world championships when they reached the podium in the world series grand final. Mola was third in the men’s race, and Duffy won the women’s, her sixth win out of nine races in the series this year. Mola won four races this year and finished 10 seconds behind grand final winner Vincent Luis of France. Luis broke from the leading pack of four in the last few meters of the run. Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway finished second to replace Richard Murray of South Africa in third place for the season. Five-time world champion Javier Gomez Noya, fourth in the race, was second overall to compatriot Mola. Duffy dominated the women’s race to win by nearly one minute. “Today went just how I wanted it to,” Duffy said. Katie Zaferes of the US was second to finish a career-best third overall. Ashleigh Gentle of Australia was also a career-best second overall, and sixth in the final.
TENNIS
Apology for racist gesture
Brazilian tennis player Guilherme Clezar has apologized after making a racist gesture in a Davis Cup match in Japan. The 24-year-old Clezar put his fingers to the edge of his eyes and then stretched them after successfully challenging a line call. The Brazilian on Friday lost his singles match against Japan’s Yuichi Sugita in Osaka. Clezar was fined US$1,500 by the International Tennis Federation on Saturday for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” In a written apology, Clezar said: “Even though I didn’t mean any prejudice ... I want to express my regret and my most sincere apology.” The federation said it “condemns any form of offensive behavior.” Sugita won 6-2, 7-5, 7-6 (5) as Japan took a 2-0 lead over Brazil in their World Group playoff in Osaka.
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