China and South Korea opened their East Asian Games campaigns yesterday by each earning two gold medals, with the Chinese winning in snooker and cycling and the South Koreans finding success in shooting and English billiards.
In an all-Chinese men’s snooker final, Tian Pengfei beat Yu Delu 4-2, while Ma Liyun crossed first in the women’s BMX cycling finals, finishing in 35.746 seconds.
Ma finished just ahead of Ayaka Miwa of Japan and more than three seconds ahead of Jiang Nannan of China.
PHOTO: AFP
South Korea’s reigning 50m pistol Olympic champion Jin Jong-oh scored 685.8 points in the 10m competition, narrowly beating teammate Lee Dae-myung by 0.4 points. Tomoyuki Matsuda of Japan took bronze with 683.2 points.
Hwang Chul-ho staved off Eric Lee of Hong Kong 3-1 in the men’s English billiards final.
China also advanced in table tennis, moving into the finals of both the men’s and women’s team competitions. Led by Olympic silver medalist Wang Hao, the Chinese men defeated Hong Kong 3-0, setting up a showdown against Japan, who beat South Korea 3-0. The Chinese women swept Taiwan 3-0, earning them a final spot against Hong Kong, who eliminated Japan 3-1.
In men’s singles, Xu Xin upset top-seeded Jun Mizutani of Japan 4-1 to move into the semi-finals along with teammate Zhang Jike, who edged Kaii Yoshida of Japan 4-3.
Host Hong Kong also had an impressive first day, winning two golds. While it is ruled by China, the former British colony fields separate teams in international sports events.
In the men’s BMX final, Steven Wong won gold, crossing the line in 30.181 seconds, just ahead of Masahiro Sampei of Japan. Zhao Zhiyang of China was third, 1.646 seconds behind.
PHOTO: AFP/ASIA TOUR
A Hong Kong squad led by Marco Fu beat Taiwan 3-1 in the men’s snooker team final.
Hong Kong also guaranteed themselves two squash golds by sweeping the men’s and women’s semi-finals without dropping a set. Lau Siu-wai beat Lee Se-hyun of South Korea and Lee Ho-yin beat Shinnosuke Tsukue of Japan. Annie Au and Rebecca Chiu both shut out Japanese opponents.
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned