TENNIS
Taiwan edges Thailand
Taiwan edged Thailand 2-1 in the third-place playoff at the Asia/Oceania Group I Fed Cup tournament in Shenzhen, China, yesterday. Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei beat Varatchaya Wongteanchai 7-5, 6-3, while Chang Kai-chen defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-3, 6-4. In the doubles match, Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung took the first set of their match against Noppawan Lertcheewakarn and Nungnadda Wannasuk, but then dropped the next two, losing 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-5. In the promotional playoff, China easily saw off Kazakhstan 2-0, while in the relegation playoff, Uzbekistan downed Indonesia 3-0.
GOLF
Desert winds limit play
The Qatar Masters was reduced to a 54-hole tournament after 70kph desert winds allowed only three hours of play in Friday’s second round. Play was scheduled to resume at 8:45am yesterday, with organizers hoping to complete the second round by the end of the day and stage the third round today. American John Daly leads on five-under-par through 18 holes, one ahead of Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (through 25), Australian Jason Day (24) and South Korea’s K.J. Choi (18). Fernandez-Castano, 31, started the day in a tie for the lead with the 45-year-old Daly, but bogeyed two of the seven holes he was able to play to drop back to four-under. World No. 3 Lee Westwood, the highest-ranked competitor in the 132-man field, was one-over-par through 24 holes.
BOXING
Injured Philippine boxer dies
An undefeated Philippine boxer has died after sustaining head injuries during a fight and falling into a coma, a hospital official said yesterday. Flyweight Karlo Maquinto, 21, died in hospital on Friday, said Chester Tan, a surgeon at Manila’s Far Eastern University Hospital. The right-hander, fighting only his ninth bout as a professional boxer, was taken to hospital on Jan. 28 after rallying from two early knockdowns to salvage a majority draw against fellow Filipino Mark Joseph Costa. Maquinto, 8-0-1 with six wins by knockout, collapsed after the four-round bout in northern Manila. Rhoby Orata, another member of the hospital medical staff, told ABS-CBN television in an interview that Maquinto was diagnosed with brain swelling, with a blood clot also detected at the right side of his brain. “From the start, Karlo’s prognosis was not good,” Orata added.
SOCCER
Beckham gets red card
David Beckham was shown the red card and ordered out of a park while watching a children’s match, he said in an interview that was scheduled to be screened yesterday. The former England captain was sent off after protesting a decision to send off one of the youngsters, he told ITV television. The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder, 36, who was waiting for a match his nine-year-old son, Romeo, was due to play in, had to go and stand outside the park gate until the game was over. “I was watching the kids play the other day, it was the game just before they were playing,” he said. “It was the younger kids of Romeo’s club, and they’re playing in the game and there was a penalty given. He sent the kid off. And I was like: ‘Come on, he’s seven years old, referee, you can’t send him off.’ And he looked at me and was like: ‘Yes, I can.’ And I was like: ‘OK, well, you can’t, he’s seven years old.’ And he came over and gave me a red card. He told me to get out of the park. For real. The gate was only 20 yards away and I waited and went back in when my son’s game was on.”
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when