BOXING
Agbeko looses to Mares
Mexico’s Abner Mares won the International Boxing Federation bantamweight title and remained unbeaten as a professional with a majority decision over Joseph Agbeko in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday. Mares knocked Agbeko down in the 11th round with an apparent low blow before going on to win the fight on two of the three judges scorecards in the bantamweight tournament final. Two judges scored the bout 115-111 for Mares, while the other scored the 118-pound bout 113-113. Mares was the aggressor from the outset, landing a left hook in the opening round that knocked Agbeko through the ropes. However, Agbeko battled back and had a strong fourth round, using his jab effectively and at one point staggering Mares with a right hand. The Ghana-born Agbeko falls to 28-3 with 22 knockouts, while Mares is now 22-0 with one draw and 13 knockouts. Mares lived up to his billing and was a 2-1 favorite for the fight, which took place at The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Photo: Reuters
SAILING
Oracle Racing wins race
Jimmy Spithill of San Francisco’s Oracle Racing has won the inaugural America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) regatta with a two-race sweep of Dean Barker and Emirates Team New Zealand in Cascais, Portuhgal, on Saturday. There were four lead changes during the two races in the first stop of the series. Sweden’s Artemis Racing was third, Team Korea fourth and Oracle Racing’s other crew, skippered by four-time America’s Cup winner Russell Coutts, was fifth. Rounding out the field in the fleet of 14m catamarans were Team Energy, Green Comm Racing, Aleph and China Team. A winner-takes-all fleet race involving all nine teams was scheduled for yesterday for ranking points that will carry forward through the ACWS. The next stop is Plymouth, England, next month.
ATHLETICS
Liam Adams wins Bondi race
Australian cross country runner Liam Adams won Sydney’s famous city run to Bondi Beach yesterday, sprinting to the finish to outpace race favorite Michael Shelley. Adams, 24, said he never expected to win his first City2Surf, a 14km run that features the steep “Heartbreak Hill” and attracts serious athletes among its huge field, which this year swelled to a record 85,000. However, Adams beat fellow Australian Shelley, who won the race in 2009 and was runner-up last year, with a sprint to the finish on the final 400m to complete the course in just over 41 minutes. Martin Dent finished third. “I never thought I was going to win it,” Adams said of the race, which was this year unusually affected by wet weather. “He’s [Shelley] won it before and he knows how to win this race. I thought he was going to drop me many times during that race.” Jessica Trengove, 23, was the first woman across the line, in just over 47 minutes, while Emily Brichacek was the second and Claire Geraghty the third.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS