GOLF
Ko Jin-young wins CP Open
Top-ranked Ko Jin-young won the CP Women’s Open in Ontario on Sunday, firing an eight-under 64 in the final round to pull away from the field. Ko finished the tournament at 26-under 262, five shots better than Broch Larsen and seven better than Brooke Henderson. Of the two Taiwanese in the field, Hsu Wei-ling shot a final-round 75 to finish on 278 for the tournament and claim US$19,806 in prize money, while Chien Pei-yun missed the cut on Friday.
SOCCER
Pochettino defends decision
Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino defended his decision to leave Christian Eriksen out of his starting line-up for Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United. Eriksen, who has a year left on his contract and is reportedly on Real Madrid’s radar, came on after 62 minutes. Pochettino said he did not think the decision to bench him was the key factor in the defeat. “When you lose, the players who don’t play are the best,” Pochettino told a news conference. “With Christian we win and we lose a lot of games. If we won 3-0 ... no one talks about different names.”
SOCCER
Griezmann copies LeBron
Antoine Griezmann copied Lionel Messi to score a goal and then imitated NBA star LeBron James to celebrate it. Griezmann thrived on his Camp Nou debut with Barcelona on Sunday, scoring twice to lead the Catalan club to their first La Liga win of the season with a 5-2 rout of Real Betis Balompie. The newly signed France forward scored his first goal with Barcelona in the first half after Betis had taken an early lead, then took inspiration from Messi to curl in a left-footed shot shortly after halftime. To celebrate his second goal, Griezmann went near the Barcelona fans behind the goal, picked up glitter from someone who appeared to be a staff member and threw it up in the air with his arms spread in the style of James’ chalk toss routine over the years. “I like LeBron’s ritual and I tried to imitate him,” Griezmann said.
SOCCER
Ill Mihajlovic joins team
A cap on his head and wearing a Bologna shirt, manager Sinisa Mihajlovic joined his players for their Serie A opener against Hellas Verona on Sunday, despite undergoing treatment for leukemia. It was a personal victory for the Serb, but the match ended 1-1 with Bologna settling for a point, despite promoted Verona finishing the match with 10 men. Mihajlovic was diagnosed with “acute leukemia” six weeks ago, but the 50-year-old has continued working as Bologna coach. His presence at the game in Verona has come as a surprise as he has been hospitalized in Bologna for the past month undergoing treatment. It had initially been reported he was set to follow the match from a special box in the stands in Verona. However, when the players took the pitch, Mihajlovic came in, without the mask covering his mouth he had been wearing in the afternoon when he left the hospital. “We were shocked, we didn’t expect it, even though he had promised us,” midfielder Andrea Poli told sports broadcaster DAZN. “We are happy that he is here with us, he shows an exceptional courage.”
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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