BASEBALL
Matsuzaka injured by fan
Daisuke Matsuzaka has dealt with numerous arm injuries during his career as a pitcher in Major League Baseball and Japan, but none quite like this. The Chunichi Dragons said that Matsuzaka is experiencing pain in his right shoulder after an overzealous fan pulled his throwing arm during a fan event at spring training in Okinawa. Matsuzaka was diagnosed with inflammation in his throwing arm as a result of the incident and the Dragons on Tuesday told him not to throw for the time being.
CRICKET
Sri Lanka slow Proteas early
Vishwa Fernando yesterday took three wickets as underdogs Sri Lanka undermined South Africa’s batting at the start of the first Test in Kingsmead, with the hosts 181-7 at tea. Quinton de Kock was unbeaten on 44 at the interval and held the key to the hosts posting a respectable total after they picked five bowlers, leaving room for only six specialist batsmen. Left-arm opening bowler Fernando took 3-49. He and new-ball partner Suranga Lakmal shocked South Africa in the first 40 minutes. Temba Bavuma and captain Faf du Plessis rode out the early storm and gradually started to change the momentum in a 72-run partnership that was ended in the final over before lunch when Du Plessis was caught down the leg-side for 35. Bavuma looked the most assured of the South Africa batsmen, but was run out for 47 off 68 balls, with seven fours, when a straight drive by De Kock ricocheted off Fernando’s boot into the stumps at the bowler’s end.
SOCCER
Fenerbahce defeat Zenit 1-0
Fenerbahce are to take a 1-0 lead to Zenit Saint Petersburg in the UEFA Europa League last 32 after Islam Slimani scored the only goal of the first leg on Tuesday. Slimani struck in the 21st minute after being set up by Victor Moses, who is on loan at the Istanbul-based club from Premier League side Chelsea. Zenit squandered a chance to equalize before halftime when Robert Mak’s penalty-kick was saved by Harun Tekin. The other round-of-32 games are scheduled for today. The Fenerbahce-Zenit match was played early for security reasons to avoid it clashing with Istanbul rivals Galatasaray hosting SL Benfica.
TENNIS
Opelka, Jung advance in NY
Reilly Opelka on Tuesday ousted French fifth seed Adrian Mannarino, a semi-finalist last year, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in the first round of the New York Open. Opelka upset fellow American John Isner at the Australian Open last month. Isner is the No. 1 seed this week in the indoor tournament on Long Island. Sixth seed Sam Querrey, who beat Mannarino in last year’s semi-finals before losing to Kevin Anderson, beat Lloyd Harris of South Africa 7-6 (7/2), 6-2. Brayden Schnur eased past fellow Canadian Jack Mingjie Lin, a Columbia student who earned a wild card into the tournament, 6-1, 6-3. In other first-round matches at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Taiwan’s Jason Jung beat India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-3, 3-6, 6-1; American Ryan Harrison swept Canada’s Peter Polansky 6-3, 6-4; Christopher Eubanks of the US beat Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain 6-4, 7-6 (7/4); and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain ousted Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (8/6), 6-3.
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