GOLF
Jang wins in playoff
Jang Ha-na birdied the third playoff hole yesterday to beat Danielle Kang of the US at the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship. Both players parred the par-four 18th twice in the playoff before moving to the 10th hole at the LPGA Busan International course, where Jang’s three clinched it. Kang, who birdied eight of her first 13 holes for a 64, and Jang, 65, finished with 19-under 269 totals. Jang had an eagle and three birdies on the back nine, including on the par-four 17th, which moved her into a tie for the lead. Amy Yang had a 67 and was three strokes behind in third. Charley Hull finished with a 69 and was at eight-under, 11 strokes behind. Nelly Korda shot 71 and finished five-under, while Brooke Henderson had a 74 and finished at three-under. Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling finished in a share of 71st, 24 shots off the pace. The LPGA Tour’s Asian swing moves to Taiwan this week, followed by a fourth stop in Japan.
GOLF
Woods’ wait extended
Tiger Woods led Hideki Matsuyama by three strokes with seven holes to play to stand on the verge of golfing history when the final round of the weather-delayed Zozo Championship in Japan was suspended due to bad light yesterday. Victory for Woods today would see the 15-time major champion add another chapter to his astonishing career by equaling US legend Sam Snead’s all-time mark of 82 PGA Tour wins. Woods, who was 17-under par, shook hands for the night with playing partners Gary Woodland and Keegan Bradley in the descending darkness after parring the 11th hole in his fourth round. However, the US Masters champion is taking nothing for granted and said he will need to hit the ground running today. “Starting off on the 12th hole is not easy. It’s one of the hardest par fours on the whole golf course, it’s 490 yards,” Woods told reporters. “It’s going to be cool tomorrow morning, so the hole’s going to play really long, so it’s important that I get off to a good start. It’s a hard pin tomorrow over in the top right. I’ve got to do my job starting out.” Matsuyama, in the group immediately ahead, had clung doggedly to the coat-tails of Woods throughout yesterday’s third and fourth rounds, delayed because of Friday’s washout at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club. He moved to 14-under par, three behind Woods with six to play when the round resumes at 7:30am. Taiwan’s C.T. Pan had three holes to play today, but was well off the pace at two-over for the tournament and in a share of 57th.
CRICKET
Warner dominates with ton
Opener David Warner thumped a maiden Twenty20 international century as Australia began their home summer with a 134-run thrashing of Sri Lanka at Adelaide Oval yesterday. Warner’s unbeaten 100 off 56 deliveries helped Australia to a total of 233-2 on a sunny afternoon, before Australia’s bowlers tore through Sri Lanka to leave the tourists limping to 99-9 in reply in the first of a three-game series. Captain Aaron Finch shrugged off an injury doubt to blast 64 before being caught slogging, while Glenn Maxwell hammered 62 from 28 balls. Spinner Adam Zampa finished with 3-14 to be the pick of the bowlers, with fast bowlers.
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