GOLF
Smith leads in Australia
Defending champion Cameron Smith held a one-stroke lead over Marc Leishman and fellow Australian Jake McLeod after the second round of the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines yesterday. Smith shot a seven-under 65 for a two-round total of nine-under 135. Leishman had his second consecutive 68, while McLeod, a coleader after the first round, shot 70. American Harold Varner III shot his second straight 69 and was three strokes behind.
BASKETBALL
Argentina make US wait
Nicolas Laprovittola scored 17 points and Lucio Redivo added 14 as Argentina shook off a slow start to beat the US 80-63 in a World Cup qualifying game on Thursday. The win put Argentina (8-1) atop Group E qualifying in the Americas region, one game up on the US (7-2) with three contests remaining for both teams. The top three teams in the division are assured of a spot in next year’s World Cup and the US can clinch one with a win tomorrow against Uruguay, who defeated Puerto Rico 64-62 to move into third. The US are using rosters filled primarily by G League players in qualifying because of changes in FIBA rules. NBA players are not available for the qualifying games, although if the team make it to the World Cup in China it will then be NBA stars taking over.
ATHLETICS
Runners face tech check
Facial recognition is to be deployed at a marathon in China tomorrow to crack down on cheating, state media said, after a half-marathon was blighted by widescale flouting of the rules. A half-marathon last weekend in Shenzhen found that 258 runners had cheated, including many who took shortcuts, prompting Chinese authorities to get tough. For tomorrow’s Kunming Marathon, organizers are to use facial recognition to ensure people do not get someone else to run for them. “Competitors must carry a valid ID and carry out verification through the facial-identification system,” Xinhua news agency said.
CRICKET
Debutant makes 76
Shakib Al Hasan and Mahmudullah extended a good start by Shadman Islam on debut to lead Bangladesh to a solid 259-5 against the West Indies on the first day of the second Test yesterday. With the pitch expected to deteriorate, the total already looked daunting for the West Indies, given their vulnerability against quality spin. Shadman made a patient 76 as opener, then captain Shakib held the innings together and established Bangladesh’s dominance in an unbroken 69-run stand with Mahmudullah over the day’s final 23 overs. Shakib was 55 not out and Mahmudullah 31 not out. Shakib opted to bat first as Bangladesh played without a frontline pacer for the first time. On a pitch that had little to offer for the fast bowlers, the West Indies spinners bowled 63 overs. Off-spinner Roston Chase had Soumya Sarkar caught by Shai Hope at slip for 19 to end a 42-run opening partnership. Shadman and Mominul Haque looked untroubled until Haque was out to a loose delivery by fast bowler Kemar Roach on the stroke of lunch. Haque made 29. Shadman then received support from Mohammad Mithun in a 64-run stand before they were both out to leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo.
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