A strong second-half performance from unfancied Levante UD saw them maintain their push for a place in the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Granada on Saturday.
At the other end of La Liga, Real Racing Club de Santander were relegated following a 3-0 defeat to Real Sociedad.
Levante, who are more accustomed to fighting relegation battles, have shown that their promising start to the campaign was no fluke.
Arouna Kone had the first chance of the game for Levante shortly before halftime with a shot which was well saved by goalkeeper Julio Cesar, but after the break the Ivory Coast striker did make the breakthrough.
Granada grabbed an equalizer with their first moment of real danger as Odion Ighalo swept the ball home after 66 minutes.
Levante quickly restored their lead through Xavi Torres and then Valdo Lopes made sure of the win seven minutes from the end.
Antoine Griezmann hit a brace and Imanol Agirretxe got the other goal as Sociedad condemned Racing to the second division after a desperate run which has seen them fail to win since mid-January.
Above them, Sporting de Gijon are still showing plenty of fight with a 3-0 victory away to RCD Espanyol, their third in four games, but Javier Clemente’s side still have a lot of work to do if they are to stay up.
Adrian Colunga, Oscar Trejo and Mate Bilic scored the second-half goals for Sporting, who are four points adrift of Villarreal, who drew 1-1 with CA Osasuna.
Villarreal have responded well to the arrival of coach Miguel Angel Lotina and they extended their unbeaten run to four games with Bruno Soriano putting them ahead before the break, before Raul Garcia equalized midway through the second half.
Elsewhere, RCD Mallorca ran out 3-1 winners in the mid-table scrap with Getafe.
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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