GOLF
Thomas in driver’s seat
Reigning PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas on Friday eagled the par-five 18 for a 66, leaving him tied with England’s Paul Casey and Webb Simpson at the halfway point of the Tour Championship. The trio is at seven-under 133 after the second round of the fourth and final tournament of the PGA Tour’s 2017 playoffs. Simpson and Casey each shot three-under 67 on Friday after starting their rounds tied for second place. Thomas, who has won five times this season, hit his 231-yard approach shot on the 590-yard final hole to within six feet of the cup and made the putt for eagle. “I really felt like I played or had the opportunity to really go decently low today or post a pretty solid number out there,” 24-year-old Thomas said. “I had some good putts that I don’t know how they didn’t go in.” Tied for fourth at six-under 134 is Patrick Reed, England’s Justin Rose (66), Gary Woodland (67) and Spain’s Jon Rahm (67). Rookie Xander Schauffele (66), US Open champion Brooks Koepka (69) and Jason Dufner (67) are tied for eighth at five-under 133.
OLYMPIC GAMES
IOC confident over Korea
The French Olympic Committee on Friday played down security concerns over next year’s winter Games in South Korea, as organizers said athletes’ well-being was their priority and expressed confidence the event would go ahead. With tensions on the Korean Peninsula threatening to bubble over, the French government on Thursday became the first to publicly raise the possibility of skipping the Feb. 9 to Feb. 25 Pyeongchang Olympics on safety grounds. North Korea, which conducted a sixth nuclear test on Sept. 3 to global condemnation, said on Friday it might test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean. “We are monitoring the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the region very closely,” an International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman said. “Athletes’ safety and security are of course a primary concern for the IOC [International Olympic Committee]. This is why ... we continue to be in touch with the heads of state concerned. In none of the discussions has anybody expressed any doubt about the Olympic Games 2018.” The IOC said it was helping North Korea prepare its athletes for the Games and would cover costs of their equipment if needed.
CRICKET
Boyzone stop play in England
Irish boyband Boyzone indirectly caused a rain-lashed four-day English county championship cricket match to be abandoned without a ball being bowled on Friday. The game between Derbyshire and Kent at Chesterfield was called off when umpires Stephen Gale and Billy Taylor decided there could be no play after heavy rain on Thursday only added to the already saturated outfield at the Queen’s Park venue. The match had been switched to Chesterfield because there were concerns a Boyzone pop concert at the County Ground — the full-time home arena of Derbyshire in Derby — yesterday could have damaged the outfield. “When we turned up on day one, I think we all knew we weren’t going to bowl a ball on here for the four days and probably not for another four days because it’s just not in a fit state to play cricket,” Kent head coach Matt Walker said. “You don’t expect it these days with the facilities at grounds and everything in place to stop this from happening, but when you come to an outground there is a risk and certainly in September there is an even higher risk. It’s not the groundsmen’s fault, they were fighting a losing battle from ball one really.”
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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