■ BADMINTON
Lin Dan knocked out
China's world badminton champion Lin Dan lost to Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei in the semi-finals of the Japan Open Super Series yesterday. He went down 21-19, 21-15 to the Malyasian, who also beat Lin the last time they met in the Sudirman Cup in Glasgow in June. Lin recovered from that setback to retain his world title in Kuala Lumpur last month when Lee failed to fulfil the huge expectations of his home support and lost in the third round. His opponent in the final will be Olympic champion Taufik Hidayat who defeated Indonesian compatriot Simon Santoso 21-14, 21-16.
■ SOCCER
Petrovic gets China job
China has appointed former Yugoslav international Vladimir Petrovic as its new coach on a one-year contract, state media reported. The 52-year-old, who coached Chinese Super League club Dalian Shide to the league title in 2005, will be in charge until Sept. 30 next year when China completes its third round of Asian qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Petrovic replaces Zhu Guanghu, who was sacked last month following the national team's humiliating first-round exit from the Asian Cup in July. Petrovic will be under the "guidance" of Ratomir Dujkovic, who is coach of the Olympic team and who recommended his former Belgrade Red Star teammate to the China Football Association, Xinhua news agency said.
■ SOCCER
Petric brace lifts Dortmund
Mladen Petric's two goals lifted Borussia Dortmund to a 3-0 victory over Werder Bremen on Friday and moved them within a point of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich. Injury-plagued Bremen, who face Real Madrid next week in their European Champions League opener, fell apart after Petric scored unmarked in 22nd minute. Diego Klimowicz added another in the 29th minute and Petric followed with another three minutes later for Dortmund, who climbed to second in the standings.
■ FORMULA ONE
Raikkonen takes pole
Kimi Raikkonen took pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix yesterday, edging Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa and the two McLaren drivers. Behind the red Ferrari cars, world champion Fernando Alonso just got third place ahead of overall leader Lewis Hamilton, setting up a close race today. After the Formula One spying scandal involving McLaren took center stage for two days, racing took over again yesterday.
■ MOTOR RACING
Racer files for protection
The Australian-born drag racer whose car plowed into a parade crowd in Tennessee, killing six and injuring dozens more, has filed for bankruptcy protection, records show. Troy Critchley filed for "Chapter 7" bankruptcy protection last Friday and claimed as creditors a dozen pending lawsuits totaling around US$100 million. More than 30 lawsuits are related to the June 16 accident, when Critchley's race car crashed into a crowd at a "Cars for Kids" charity event. Attorneys for the families say the bankruptcy filing could make it harder to pursue their civil claims against Critchley, some of which are seeking as much as US$20 million. "The accident has devastated him emotionally and ruined him financially," said attorney William Reid, who represents Critchley but is not his bankruptcy attorney.
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
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