SOCCER
Mechelen slump to 10th
Taiwan international Javier Chen’s KV Mechelen dropped to 10th in the Belgian Jupiler League on Saturday after a 2-0 home defeat to KSC Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen. Hamdi Harbaoui opened the scoring for the visitors in the 16th minute, but they were reduced to 10 men in the last minute of the first half when Congolese midfielder Tiko was sent off after receiving his second yellow card. Mechelen failed to find a way past the 10 men, though, and Lokeren made sure of the three points four minutes from time when Laurens De Bock added a second. Chen played the full 90 minutes.
MARATHON
Makau sets new record
Patrick Makau of Kenya broke the world record to win the Berlin Marathon yesterday. Makau pulled away after 27km and finished in two hours, three minutes and 38 seconds. Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, who held the previous record of two hours, three minutes and 59 seconds, pulled up after Makau’s breakaway and seemed on the verge of giving up, but resumed running. For several kilometers, he was second, about two minutes behind Makau, but appeared to have finally given up before the finish. Makau also won last year’s race in driving rain.
GOLF
Norret pulls two clear
Denmark’s Thomas Norret pulled two strokes clear of the field after a solid two-under par-70 in the third round of the Austrian Open in Atzenbrugg on Saturday to set up a shot at his first tour title. Norret’s 54-hole total of nine-under (207) put him ahead of three Britons in Kenneth Ferrie (67), Simon Wakefield (70) and Robert Coles (72) as well as Joost Luiten (72) from the Netherlands. “I will definitely be talking to the mental coach tonight — hopefully we can get me over the line,” the 37-year-old Norret, whose last win came on the Challenge Tour in 2002, told the European Tour Web site. Ferrie is the only past winner on tour in the top five, so 18-time winner Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, who posted a 70 to lie just five back (212), was to be among those hunting down the leaders yesterday.
CYCLING
Bronzini retains world title
Italian Giorgia Bronzini retained her world title when she once again denied Dutchwoman Marianne Vos with a perfectly timed surge in the final stretch in the 140km road race in Rudersdal, Denmark, on Saturday. Bronzini launched her sprint with 150m to go, with Vos unable to catch her on the line as Italy won their fourth women’s title in the last five years. Germany’s Ina-Yoko Teutenberg finished third ahead of Briton Nicole Cooke, who produced her effort too late to repeat her 2008 success. It was Vos’s fifth second-place in succession and her 2006 victory is a distant memory.
BADMINTON
Taiwan wins mixed doubles
Taiwan’s Chen Hung-ling and Cheng Wen-hsing took gold in mixed doubles at the Japan Open in Tokyo yesterday, defeating Joachim Fischer Nielsel and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark 21-19, 16-21, 21-15. However, Cheng and compatriot Chien Yu-chin lost to Chinese pair Bao Yixin and Zhong Qianxin 13-21, 25-23, 21-12 for the women’s doubles title at the Japan Open in Toyko yesterday. Meanwhile, in men’s singles action, Chen Long claimed his second title in two weeks when he shocked world No. 1 Lee Chong Wei to win. The Chinese fourth-seed, fresh from his victory at the China Masters last weekend, dashed the Malaysian’s defense of the title with a 21-8, 10-21, 21-19 victory.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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