TABLE TENNIS
China, Singapore post wins
China and defending champions Singapore both opened their bids to claim the women’s title at the world team table tennis championships with solid wins on Sunday. China’s singles world champion Ding Ning started her team’s 3-0 rout of Belarus by beating Veronika Pavlovich in consecutive games in a ruthless 3-0 display in the Group A match. Li Xiaoxia then overcame Viktoria Pavlovich and Guo Yue completed the Chinese cleansweep by accounting for Alena Dubkova. Singapore also got off to a winning start with a 3-0 win over Turkey in Group B. Taiwan slipped to a 3-2 defeat at the hands of North Korea, while the Netherlands enjoyed a 3-0 win over Sweden to go second in the group behind Singapore. In Group C, both hosts Germany and Japan enjoyed wins as Germany beat France 3-0, then Spain 3-1 later on Sunday night, while Japan backed up their opening 3-1 win over Spain with a win over Serbia by the same margin. Hong Kong, South Korea and Austria picked up wins over the Czech Republic, Croatia and Russia respectively in Group D.
SOCCER
Fan killed in pre-game fight
A fan was shot to death and three were hospitalized in a serious condition after a fight between rival supporter groups in Brazil on Sunday. Andre Alves, 21, was killed with a shot to the head in a confrontation that involved nearly 500 fans before a match between rival clubs Corinthians and Palmeiras. One of the three fans in serious condition was shot in the hip and had to undergo surgery. Three people were treated and released. Witnesses told media Alves was among a group of Palmeiras fans who got ambushed by Corinthians supporters in the city’s north side. The fans fought with iron bars, pieces of wood and rocks. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to stop the fight on Sunday morning. Four people were detained.
SOCCER
Ajax beats PSV Eindhoven
Second-half goals from Ismail Aissati and Siem de Jong earned Ajax a 2-0 win over PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch league on Sunday to keep the pressure on leaders AZ Alkmaar with seven matches remaining. Almaar stayed top on 56 points, one point ahead of Ajax, after beating mid-table RKC Waalwijk 1-0 with Johann Gudmundsson scoring the winner four minutes into the second half. Aissati opened the scoring for Ajax after 56 minutes with a brilliant long-range drive into the corner. Six minutes later, he was fouled by Marcelo, resulting in a penalty that was converted by De Jong to wrap up their seventh straight win.
RUGBY UNION
Slade out with broken leg
All Blacks flyhalf Colin Slade will be sidelined for the rest of the year after breaking his leg in the Otago Highlanders’ first Super Rugby defeat of the season at the ACT Brumbies on the weekend. The luckless Slade, who has won 10 New Zealand caps as understudy to Dan Carter, had an operation on his injured left leg in Canberra on Sunday and will play no further part in the season. Slade missed much of the last Super Rugby season when he broke his jaw twice and when Carter was ruled out of the World Cup in October last year, a groin strain of his own prevented the 24-year-old from making the most of his opportunity. With his back-up Liam Sopoaga also out for a lengthy period, Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph faces a desperate scramble to find another flyhalf before their match against the Melbourne Rebels on Friday.
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
US skier Mikaela Shiffrin said she sustained an abrasion on her left hip and that something “stabbed” her when she crashed during her second run of an Audi FIS Ski World Cup giant slalom race on Saturday, doing a flip and sliding into the protective fencing. Shiffrin stayed down on the edge of the course for quite some time as the ski patrol attended to her. She was taken off the hill on a sled and waved to the cheering crowd before going to a clinic for evaluation. “Not really too much cause for concern at this point, I just
CLASH OF MANAGERS: Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler and Russell Martin of Southampton accused each other of disrespect, while both were booked Southampton on Friday were denied a priceless victory by a controversial decision as they drew with hosts Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 in the Premier League. Kaoru Mitoma spectacularly headed Brighton into a first-half lead and Flynn Downes hammered home an equalizer an hour in. Minutes later teammate Cameron Archer converted a cross from Saints substitute Ryan Fraser. A video assistant referee check of more than four minutes eventually decided that Archer was onside, but then penalized Adam Armstrong, who was offside, but did not touch the ball, for interfering with goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. “I find it hard to accept,” Southampton manager Russell Martin
Mary McGee, a female racing pioneer and subject profiled in an Oscar-contending documentary, Motorcycle Mary, has died, her family said. She was 87. “McGee’s unparalleled achievements in off-road racing and motorcycle racing have inspired generations of athletes that followed in her footsteps,” her family said in a statement. The family said McGee died of complications from a stroke at her home in Gardnerville, Nevada, on Wednesday, the day before the release of the short documentary Motorcycle Mary, on ESPN’s YouTube channel. Seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton was an executive producer on the film, which became available globally on Thursday. Its premiere
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