BADMINTON
Trio make semi-finals
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, Chou Tien-chen and Wang Tzu-wei kept their hopes of winning at the Korea Open alive, advancing to the semi-finals in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday. World No. 1 Tai won 24-22, 22-20 against Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in their women’s singles quarter-final and faces world No. 6 Ratchanok Intanon for a spot in the final. Chou, who is seeded third in the tournament, beat Shesar Hiren Rhustavito of Indonesia 21-18, 21-9 in the men’s singles. The two started aggressively, remaining neck and neck until 8-8, when Chou seized the initiative by taking the next three points. The Taiwanese widened the gap with a separate five-point run and remained in front to close out the first game. In the second game, Chou gained the upper hand early and gave his opponent no chance to rally, losing only nine points before finishing the match in 39 minutes. In his semi-final, Chou faces Wang, who defeated Jonatan Christie of Indonesia 21-10, 15-21, 21-13.
GOLF
Hur Mi-jung leads Indy
Hur Mi-jung shot a nine-under 63 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Indy Women in Tech Championship. Hur had a bogey-free round at the Brickyard Crossing course in Indiana, the layout that features four holes inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. “I was trying to keep on being present,” Hur said. “That’s the key to play good today... If you think about the future, mess up everything. It’s really hard to do it, but that’s my goal for the whole year.” England’s Bronte Law was two strokes back alongside Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Japan’s Sakura Yokomine. Taiwan’s Chien Pei-yun was in a share of 23rd after a three-under-par round of 69, while Hsu Wei-ling was below the projected cut with a 73.
SOCCER
Belotti brace guides Torino
Torino Skipper Andrea Belotti’s quick-fire second-half double, including a sensational overhead-kick in front of goal, sealed a 2-1 comeback win in Serie A over AC Milan on Thursday. Polish striker Krzysztof Piatek had put Milan ahead from the spot after 18 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico. However, in four-minute spell, Belotti sealed all three points for Walter Mazzarri’s side. “We didn’t want to lose a third in a row,” Belotti said.
SOCCER
FIFA mulls Iran trip
FIFA is weighing sending a delegation to Tehran to make sure female fans are admitted to the World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Cambodia on Oct. 10. Former France World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff told reporters on Thursday that he would be part of any delegation. “Iran is a hot topic and I am organizing myself to be there on October 10,” Djorkaeff said. It was his first interview since his appointment a week ago as chief executive officer of the FIFA Foundation, whose objectives include making soccer more accessible to women in the Middle East. The presence of a delegation is important “to show that FIFA intervened there with conviction,” he said. On Sunday, Gianni Infantino, president of the governing body of world soccer, said he had been “assured” by Iran that women could attend the match. Iranian women have been banned from stadiums since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
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