TOUCH RUGBY
Taiwan have tough start
Taiwan endured two hidings on the first day of competition at the Touch World Cup in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, losing to the powerful New Zealand and also being hammered by China. Taiwan, making their first appearance at a world cup, lost 19-0 in their first match against the Kiwis and 15-3 to China. Taiwan player Tim Crean — who crossed the line against China along with Liao Shou-chien and Sebastian Town — said a touchdown was a “silver lining on a disappointing result” against their cross-strait rivals. Taiwan sent one team to the week-long event, who are in the Mixed Open grade, meaning they have three males and three female players on the field at a time.
TENNIS
Kvitova defeats Kontaveit
Petra Kvitova on Sunday beat Anett Kontaveit 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) to win the Porsche Grand Prix final in Stuttgart, Germany. Kvitova saved two set points in the second set at 5-4 before going on to dominate the tiebreaker. “I just really had to push myself to play more aggressive and not really give her time to do her job,” Kvitova said.
TENNIS
Thiem wins Barcelona Open
Dominic Thiem capped an impressive week to win the Barcelona Open on Sunday, securing his second title of the year. The fifth-ranked Austrian beat Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0. Thiem did not lose a set all week. “Winning this means a lot to me, because it’s such a traditional and special tournament,” Thiem said. “Only great players have won here. Rafa[el Nadal] has won it 11 times and it means a lot that [Thomas] Muster won it twice. It’s a big moment for me.” Medvedev started well by taking a 3-0 lead with an early break in the first set, but he was never in contention again after Thiem took control of a match that lasted just over an hour.
CRICKET
England remove Hales
Alex Hales will not play in the Cricket World Cup next month after being removed from all of England’s squads for the international season. The England and Wales Cricket Board said that the decision was based on “creating the right environment within the team and ensuring that there are no unnecessary distractions.” Hales has recently been suspended for an undisclosed off-field incident.
SOCCER
Josef Sural dies in crash
Czech international Josef Sural has died of injuries he sustained in a minibus crash while returning with teammates from a match in southern Turkey, his Turkish club Aytemiz Alanyaspor said yesterday. The club’s chairman said that the crash occurred after both the drivers on the bus fell asleep. “Czech player Josef Sural who was seriously injured after an accident involving a private minibus carrying seven of our footballers after an away game at Kayseri could not be saved despite all of the hospital’s efforts,” the club said on Twitter. The six other players were injured, but not seriously in the crash, close to the southern town of Alanya, state news agency Anadolu said. One of the drivers has been taken into custody and Turkish authorities launched an investigation into the accident, Anadolu reported. Sural, who was 28, had also played for Czech sides Brno, Slovan Liberec and Sparta Prague, as well as for his country.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite