China's Cheng Fei took gold on vault and Britain's Elizabeth Tweedle won on the uneven bars at the gymnastics World Cup Final in Brazil on Saturday.
Cheng, coming off her second consecutive World Championships title in October in Denmark, scored 15.600 points to beat home crowd favorite Lais Souza of Brazil, who had 15.112. Russia's Elena Zamolodchikova, a former world and Olympic champion in the event, was third with 14.875.
Cheng had a first-place finish on vault at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, earlier this month. She also won the floor exercise at that event.
Tweedle, who became the first British woman to win a world title, scored 16.300 on the uneven bars to edge China's Li Ya, who had 16.225. Ukraine's Dariya Zgoba was third with 15.150.
"I'm very happy with this result, especially being the last event of a very good year for me," Tweedle said.
Russia's Liudmila Ezhova, a silver medalist in the event at the 2002 World Championships, failed to finish her series and ended last.
Brazil's Diego Hypolito won the men's floor exercise, finishing first in the event for the second consecutive time. He had won the World Cup final in 2004 in England.
Hypolito scored 16.050, ahead of Canadians Kyle Shewfelt (15.650) and Brandon O'Neill (15.625). World champion Marian Dragulescu of Romania skipped the event.
"This is perfect, I'm glad I could do it in front of these great fans," Hypolito said.
Another South American to win gold was Venezuelas's Regulo Carmona, who scored 16.300 on rings to beat Ukraine's Olexander Vorobyov (16.250) and Italy's Matteo Angioletti (16.000).
"This is really special, to win it here in Brazil, near home," Carmona said.
China's Xiao Qin won the pommel horse competition with 16.100, beating Hungary's Krisztian Berki (16.025) and countryman Teng Haibin (15.975).
Xiao had won his second straight world title on pommel horse in October in Denmark, and also won the World Cup title in 2004.
The US declined its invitations for the event in Sao Paulo, saying its athletes were recovering from injuries and not in competition shape. The Romanians and some of the Chinese men did not travel to Brazil either.
The World Cup final is one of the sport's most prestigious international competitions.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more