■BASKETBALL
Wizards acquire Yi Jianlian
The Washington Wizards have acquired Chinese forward Yi Jianlian from the New Jersey Nets in exchange for Quinton Ross, the teams said on Tuesday. New Jersey will also give the Wizards “cash considerations” in the deal for the 2.13m Yi, who averaged career highs of 12 points, and seven rebounds last season. “This trade is a good opportunity to add a skilled seven-footer with significant NBA experience who was the sixth overall pick in the draft just three years ago,” Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld said. “Yi fits in very well with our ongoing plan of building towards the future with a core of young, talented players.” Yi was originally selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft and traded to New Jersey prior to the 2008-2009 season.
■HOCKEY
Canadiens trade Kostitsyn
The Montreal Canadiens traded forward Sergei Kostitsyn to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, ending the Belarusian’s rocky tenure with the team. Montreal, who also sent future considerations to the Predators, will receive forward Dustin Boyd, goaltender Dan Ellis and future considerations in exchange for Kostitsyn, whose older brother Andrei plays for the Canadiens. Boyd collected five points in 18 games last season for Nashville, while Ellis had a 15-13 record with a 2.69 goals-against average in a back-up role to Pekka Rinne. He was suspended in October by Montreal when he failed to report to the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League after being demoted. He later asked for a trade. Kostitsyn was also told by the Canadiens that he was not welcome at one of the team’s morning skates because of his work habits.
■GOLF
Scotland qualifies for Open
Eleven years after becoming the youngest player to secure a spot through qualifying for the British Open at age 16, Zane Scotland has earned a place in this year’s edition at St Andrews next month. Scotland finished second on Tuesday in one of four qualifying competitions played over two rounds on Scottish courses. Scotland, an Englishman from the Challenge Tour, carded 66 and 71 to finish behind Laurie Canter, who had 69 and 67. Denmark’s Mark Haastrup was third to take the final qualifying place on the Fairmont St Andrews course. The nine places at the other courses went to Colm Moriarty, Tom Whitehouse, Jamie Abbott, Tyrrell Hatton, Phillip Archer, Simon Edwards, Paul Streeter, Gary Clark and Steven Tiley.
■SOFTBALL
Taiwan to play China
Taiwan was to play China yesterday in the world softball championship playoffs in Caracas. The US finished group play unbeaten after defeating the Czech Republic 9-0 on Tuesday at the world softball championships. The victory gives the US, which has won the championship six straight times, the top spot in Group B. Japan went 7-0 in Group A after its 10-0 win over South Africa. In other results on Tuesday, Australia downed Botswana 10-0, Britain edged Argentina 2-1, New Zealand blanked the Dominican Republic 3-0, Taiwan beat Cuba 1-0, Venezuela defeated China 5-2 and Canada downed the Netherlands 6-1. The group round wrapped up on Tuesday, setting the pairings for yesterday’s playoffs, which besides Taiwan vs China would see: Japan vs Venezuela; the US vs.Canada; and Australia vs Netherlands. Playoffs are also set for today with the final scheduled for tomorrow. The US and Japan are favored to reach the final
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
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