Taiwan’s top-ranked Tai Tzu-ying is to face China’s world No. 2 Chen Yufei in today’s women’s final of the season-ending BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, China.
Tai defeated Nozomi Okuhara 21-15, 21-18 in their semi-final, while Chen beat another Japanese, Akane Yamaguchi, 21-18, 21-9.
“I made some mistakes in my first match that I shouldn’t have, so I tried to reduce my errors today,” said Tai said before her semi-final against Okuhara. “I had a fall yesterday and was a little hurt, but I recovered well for today.”
Photo: AFP
“I have won the Dubai season-ending tournament twice [in 2014 and 2016],” Tai said. “I liked the trophy. I hope I can win here as well, because I like this trophy too.”
In today’s men’s final, Kento Momota of Japan is to face Indonesia’s Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, as the Japanese closes on his 11th title of the season.
World No. 1 Momota has reigned over badminton this year and yesterday defeated Taiwan’s Wang Tzu-wei 21-17, 21-12 in their semi-final.
Momota is enjoying a spectacular season, with the World Championships, Asia Championships and prestigious All England Open among his haul of tournament victories.
The 25-year-old is today’s hot favorite against Ginting after having defeated the Indonesian 10 times in their 14 meetings.
The world No. 8 Ginting sealed his place in the championship match with a 21-15, 21-15 victory over China’s reigning Olympic champion Chen Long.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB