BASKETBALL
Joe Tsai buys Nets stake
Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has sold a 49 percent stake in the Brooklyn Nets basketball team to Joe Tsai, the executive vice chairman and cofounder of the Alibaba Group, the NBA team said in a statement. Prokhorov is to continue to be the team’s controlling owner through Onexim Sports and Entertainment Holding, and the sale would not affect its day-to-day management or basketball operations, the statement added.
FOOTBALL
Seahawks shun Kaepernick
The Seattle Seahawks are signing a quarterback to understudy starter Russell Wilson, but it is not Colin Kaepernick. The Seahawks are signing free agent Stephen Morris, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Friday citing a source close to the situation. The news comes one day after it was reported the Seahawks rescinded a workout invitation to Kaepernick after he reportedly would not say whether he plans to continue kneeling in protest during the US national anthem. Morris was first signed as an undrafted free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014, but has never taken a live regular-season snap in stints with Jacksonville, Philadelphia, Indianapolis and Washington.
DIVING
Vincent into final despite fall
South African diver Julia Vincent said it was a “work of God” that she reached yesterday’s women’s 3m springboard’ final at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia despite embarrassingly falling off the board during the preliminaries. Vincent suffered the humiliation of slipping off the springboard and into the water on her third dive, receiving a “no score” from the judges. Yet, she somehow still made the final in 11th place out of 15. “I’m in. Honestly, that’s a work of God. I genuinely thought I was out,” Vincent said. “When I saw my name, I was speechless. I’ve just got to do better tonight.” Vincent said she was not sure how she came off the springboard. “I didn’t feel nervous, I felt confident going into the dive. Sometimes you’ll just make a small mistake and it will put you right off,” she said.
SOCCER
Matildas secure World Cup
Australia coach Alen Stajcic hailed his team’s spirit and unity as they fought back to gain a late 1-1 draw with Japan on Friday to qualify for the finals of next year’s Women’s World Cup. Reigning Asian Women’s Player of the Year Sam Kerr scored with just four minutes remaining to earn the Matildas the point they need to advance to the finals in France alongside the Japanese as both nations progressed to the semi-finals of the Women’s Asian Cup. “Thankfully we’ve got great character in our team and great spirit,” Stajcic said. “We fought until the end, until we got that goal back. Not only is there good skill, good fitness and good speed in our team, there’s also good team spirit and the will to fight to the end, so I’m really proud of the group for that quality that we have.” Mizuho Sakaguchi had given the Japanese the lead in the 63rd and a win for Asako Takakura’s side coupled with a victory for South Korea over Vietnam in the day’s other game would have seen the Australians pushed into a World Cup playoff with the Philippines, but Kerr struck in the 86th minute to ensure Australia join Japan, China and Thailand as four of Asia’s five qualifiers, with the South Koreans taking on the Philippines tomorrow for the final berth. “Since we became a new team I have spoken with our players about Nadeshiko pride and I think we showed it today, but still it’s not enough,” Takakura 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