BASEBALL
Jeter vote shy of unanimous
Known for two decades as No. 2, Derek Jeter is now linked to the number one — as in, who was the lone Hall of Fame voter who did not put a check mark next to his name? Jeter on Tuesday came within one vote of being a unanimous pick, falling just shy of the standard set when long-time New York Yankees teammate Mariano Rivera became the first unanimous selection last year. Larry Walker also earned baseball’s highest honor in his last chance on the ballot. For now, the identity and motivation of the nonconformist remains a mystery. The long-time shortstop and captain of the Yankees, Jeter appeared on 396 of 397 ballots cast by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. His 99.7 percent moved above Ken Griffey Jr (99.3 percent) for the second-highest share. Walker got 304 votes, six more than the 75 percent needed and up from 54.6 percent last year. Jeter and Walker are to be inducted on July 26 at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, along with catcher Ted Simmons and former players’ association head Marvin Miller, who were voted in last month by the hall’s Modern Era Committee.
CRICKET
Mathews hits new Test high
Angelo Mathews yesterday struck his highest Test score with an unbeaten 176 as Sri Lanka built a sizeable lead over Zimbabwe on the fourth day of the series opener in Harare. Former skipper Mathews eclipsed his previous Test best of 160 against England in 2014 with a marathon knock spanning 427 balls, featuring 15 fours and two sixes. Sri Lanka reached tea on 466-6 to take a 108-run lead over Zimbabwe’s first-innings total of 358. The 32-year-old brought up his 10th Test century, his first since December 2018, with a single tucked toward square-leg off Kyle Jarvis in the morning session. He received considerable support from Dhananjaya de Silva, who made 63 before he was caught at mid-on after mistiming a lofted drive off Victor Nyauchi. Regis Chakabva put down a difficult chance offered by Mathews shortly after he reached his century, the Zimbabwe wicketkeeper unable to hold an edge off left-arm spinner Ainsley Ndlovu. Niroshan Dickwella, who was dropped by Craig Ervine on 45, added 63 before he fell LBW to Sikandar Raza just before tea to break a partnership worth 136 runs.
SOCCER
Sevilla overpower Levante
Sevilla on Tuesday defeated Levante UD 3-1 to reach the Copa del Rey round of 16. Fernando Reges gave Sevilla the lead before Oscar Duarte equalized for Levante in the first half. Lucas Ocampos and Oliver Torres then sealed the win for the hosts with second-half goals. It was one of two matchups between first-division clubs in this round, along with Real Sociedad versus RCD Espanyol yesterday. The Copa del Rey is being played with single-elimination games this season, except in the semi-finals. Sevilla were coming off a loss at Real Madrid in La Liga, where they are in fourth place. Levante, who lost to Deportivo Alaves last weekend, are 12th. Relegation-threatened RCD Mallorca were eliminated by second-division Real Zaragoza after a 3-1 away loss, while CA Osasuna got past third-division Recreativo de Huelva with a 3-2 win after extra time. Osasuna trailed 2-0 before rallying in the second half and scoring the winner in injury-time.
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