■ Taekwondo
Lopez wins gold medal
Steven Lopez of the US took his third world title in Madrid, Spain on Friday, winning the welterweight gold at the World Taekwondo Championships with a 3-2 win over Ali Tajik of Iran. Two-time Olympic champion Lopez took the advantage over Tajik in the second round of the final. Their encounter was delayed by an unsuccessful Spanish protest over the judges awarding Lopez the decisive point in the fourth round of his 3-2 semifinal victory over Rosendo Alonso. In the finweight division, the title went to South Korea's Kim Jin-Hee, who defeated another Iranian, Feizollah Nafjam, 4-1. The women's welterweight gold also went to South Korea. Hwang Kyung-seon beat Gwladys Epangue of France 7-2. Host Spain won its first gold medal of the championships when Belen Asensio beat South Korea's Yu Eun-young 4-1 to take the women's finweight title.
■ Athletics
Record set in decathlon
Austra Skujyte of Lithuania broke the IAAF women's decathlon world record in Columbia, Missouri on Friday in the first North American staging of the fledgling event. Skujyte, a former Kansas State University standout and the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the heptathlon, scored 8,366 points in the two-day event at the University of Missouri's Audrey Walton Combined Events. That broke the previous record of 8,160 points, set by France's Marie Collinville in September. The women's decathlon, which is not yet an Olympic event, includes the 100m dash, discus, pole vault, javelin, 400m dash, 100m hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump and 1,500m.
■ Soccer
MLS may add team
A Major League Soccer team could go to San Antonio, Texas as early as 2006 if several conditions are met under an agreement reached this week between the league and city. The MLS agreed to grant San Antonio a team if an ownership group is secured, 5,000 season tickets are sold by Aug. 17, and plans are completed for construction of a training complex that includes youth soccer fields. "As one of the country's fastest-growing and most diverse cities, MLS is convinced that San Antonio is an ideal home for a Major League Soccer club," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. Garber said the 12-team league is in discussions with several possible ownership groups. As part of the agreement, the city has agreed to provide a stadium. The deal grants the team rights to all ticket sales, and certain sponsorship and stadium signage sales.
■ Rugby
Wilkinson plays match
Jonny Wilkinson took his first step toward proving he should be a late selection for this year's Lions tour, emerging unscathed from his return to rugby with club side the Newcastle Falcons in London on Friday. The injury plagued England fly half was summoned from the Newcastle bench in the 34th minute of the Falcons' 23-22 premiership loss at Northampton. It was Wilkinson's first match since suffering a recurrence of a knee injury a month ago, and he slotted into the side by kicking three penalties and a conversion.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Kite-surfing fabrics, car tires and shortened shoelaces helped Kenyan Sabastian Sawe and Adidas crack the two-hour marathon barrier. When Sawe on Sunday shattered one of athletics’ most elusive barriers in storming to victory at the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 30 seconds, it did not come from just physiology and grit, but from design choices drawn from far beyond the course. Sawe debuted Adidas’ lightest-ever racing shoe, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3. “It starts with the mentality of the athlete, the coach, and the team behind the product, which is: What can we do better? What is the 1 percent
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