CRICKET
Teenager hits debut 100
Teenager Prithvi Shaw became the youngest Indian to score a century on debut in the first Test against the West Indies in Rajkot yesterday. Shaw, who was 18 years and 329 days old, reached his hundred off just 99 deliveries in the second session on the first day. He became India’s second-youngest century-maker after Sachin Tendulkar, who in 1990 was aged 17 years and 107 days when he scored 119 not out against England in Manchester, but that was in his ninth Test. Shaw, a diminutive right-hander, reached the landmark with two runs off paceman Keemo Paul and punched his fist in the air as he was given a standing ovation by the home crowd. He was dismissed for 134, caught and bowled by leg-break bowler Devendra Bishoo. Shaw is the seventh-youngest international batsman to score his first Test century. He is also the third batsman after Shikhar Dhawan (85 deliveries) and Dwayne Smith (93) to hit his debut ton in fewer than 100 balls. At the close of play, India had advanced to 364-4.
RUGBY UNION
TMO powers reduced
World Rugby has reined in the power of television match officials (TMO) for the end-of-year internationals in Europe and handed back more control to on-field referees. The influence of the TMO came under scrutiny during the June Tests in the southern hemisphere and the latter stages of the Super Rugby competition. Coaches, the Sunwolves’ Tony Brown and the Queensland Reds’ Brad Thorn in particular, questioned cards given to their players in Super Rugby fixtures after the TMO convinced on-field referees to change their initial assessment of the incident. Former players working as television analysts also criticized the amount of time taken to make decisions, while they queried the application of the letter of the law in certain events. World Rugby council member John Jeffrey, a former Scotland international, said the decisionmaking focus would shift back to on-field referees during the Autumn internationals. The influence of television officials would also be restricted to checking tries and for foul play. “On the run” conversations between the TMO and three on-field officials would also be removed. “While we hope that the revised protocol will have a positive impact in terms of time impact on the game and accuracy, as with any trial, we will undertake a full review after the November window before determining whether to proceed,” Jeffrey said in a statement.
BASKETBALL
Bucks christen new arena
Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks put on a smashing opening-night performance at their new arena on Wednesday. Antetokounmpo had 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists as the Bucks routed the Chicago Bulls 116-82 in the first game at the Fiserv Forum. The Bucks had the look of contenders under new coach Mike Budenholzer, scoring 63 points in the first half of their pre-season opener and leading by as much as 34 points. Their new arena opened in August and the Bucks looked right at home there against the Bulls, overwhelming them on the backboards with a 64-43 rebound advantage. Bobby Portis led Chicago with 17 points and Kris Dunn added 10.
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