WEIGHTLIFTING
Lin receives eight-year ban
Taiwan’s Lin Tzu-chi has been banned from competition for eight years and stripped of all medals, prizes and titles earned since 2016 for a doping offense, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Thursday. Lin had been banned for two years by the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee’s Anti-Doping Commission after she failed a steroids test in 2016 just before the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed that ban, saying that it was the second time Lin had breached anti-doping rules and that she should be banned for eight years. The court upheld the agency’s appeal and imposed an eight-year ban on the 30-year-old with effect from Wednesday. Lin is to be stripped of all weightlifting medals, prizes and points obtained after June 24, 2016, the court said. Lin last week placed fourth in the women’s 64kg category of the International Weightlifting Federation’s World Championships, but has been disqualified due to the ban.
GOLF
Howell takes two-shot lead
Charles Howell on Thursday bundled up and made birdies for an eight-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead in the first round of the RSM Classic. Howell played the Plantation course at Sea Island Golf Club without a bogey. Defending champion Austin Cook and J.J. Spaun were also on the Plantation course and each had a six-under 66. Tournament host Davis Love III had two bogeys and still managed a 67. The Seaside course was more exposed to the chilly, blustery conditions. The best score there belonged to Brian Harman and Peter Uihlein at four-under 66. Also on the Seaside course was Taiwan’s C.T. Pan, who carded a one-over 71 for a share of 87th.
GOLF
Olson storms to CME lead
Amy Olson on Thursday shot a nine-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over Brittany Lincicome and Nasa Hataoka after the first round of the LPGA’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Olson had two separate streaks of four consecutive birdies, finished with nine overall and never dropped a shot on what became a fantastic day for scoring at Tiburon Golf Club. Lincicome started with five straight birdies on her way to a 64. Japan’s Hataoka entered the week as one of five women with the best chance of winning the Race to the CME Globe and a US$1 million bonus and left the round in command for that prize. Lexi Thompson had five birdies and an eagle in a seven-under 65, putting her alone in fourth. Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling carded an even-par 72 for a share of 46th, while Chien Pei-yun was in a group on 56th with a one-over 73.
GOLF
An makes hole-in-one for 69
South Korea’s An Byeong-hun yesterday sunk a hole-in-one to win an expensive watch and retain a share of the lead at the Australian Open, alongside local hope Max McCardle. They were one shot clear at eight-under from in-form Matt Kuchar. Amateur David Micheluzzi, playing only his second professional event, and fellow Australian Jake McLeod were alongside the American world No. 29. Another American, Keegan Bradley made his move with a 66 to finish two behind the leaders in a group of seven including Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Japanese amateur Keita Nakajima. An began the day with a one-shot lead and finished with a three-under 69 to stay on top.
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