SOCCER
United buys Stiles’ medals
The World Cup medal won by England’s Nobby Stiles in 1966 was bought for ￡188,200 (US$298,000) by his former club Manchester United on Wednesday. The fee is the highest yet for a World Cup medal, surpassing the ￡165,000 paid five years ago for another 1966 winners’ medal owned by Alan Ball. United also put in a winning bid of ￡49,402 for a European Cup winners’ medal which Stiles won with the club in 1968. He played for United from 1960 to 1971. “We’re delighted to have acquired these items, which possess tremendous historical significance for Manchester United and English football, and look forward to proudly displaying them in our museum,” United said in a statement. The 68-year-old Stiles raised a total of ￡424,438 for his family from 45 lots at the auction in Edinburgh. “If you had walked in to my dad’s house you would never have known what he had done,” Stiles’ son John told the BBC. “The shirts were in the loft and the medals were in the bank. Nobody ever saw them.”
CRICKET
Black Caps played ‘like dicks’
New Zealand coach Mark Greatbatch yesterday gave a damning verdict of his players’ performance against Bangladesh earlier this month, saying the Black Caps “played like dicks” and must redeem themselves in India. New Zealand capitulated 0-4 in a one-day series against unfancied Bangladesh, a result the local media has described as a low point in the team’s history. “When you play badly like that you’ve got to front up,” Greatbatch told radio station Livesport from India, where New Zealand will next week begin a tour that includes three Tests and five one-day internationals. “It’s very devastating. We played like dicks really and I suppose there’s one positive thing, we’ve got a chance next week to actually put it right,” he said. Greatbatch was similarly blunt in his assessment of the team’s top order batsmen. “I think some aren’t good enough, I think some think they are better than they are,” he said.
GOLF
Woods keen to give back
Tiger Woods says he’s looking forward to giving something back to Thailand when he makes a quick visit to his mother’s home country for the first time in 10 years to play a one-day skins tournament next month. The Nov. 8 event is part of celebrations to mark King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 60th year on the Thai throne. “The Thai people never fail to impress me with their warm and genuine hospitality. This is indeed a good opportunity to give something back to them,” Woods said. Paul Casey of England, Camilo Villegas of Colombia and Thailand’s top player, Thongchai Jaidee, will also compete for total prize money of US$300,000. All players have agreed to donate their prize money to charity projects overseen by the king, organizers said. The players will wear pink golf shirts, a sign of respect for the king that symbolizes wishes for good health.
SOCCER
Successor to Paul is French
The successor to the game-guessing Paul the Octopus is French, although it remains to be seen if he will have the same forecasting talents as his famous English-born predecessor. Paul gained global fame by correctly calling all seven of Germany’s World Cup games and predicting Spain’s victory in July over the Netherlands. He was found dead in his tank at the Oberhausen aquarium on Tuesday. Aquarium spokeswoman Tanja Munzig says the new octopus, also to be called Paul, was born near the French city of Montpellier and will be presented to the public next week.
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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