WEIGHTLIFTING
Taiwan’s Yao wins gold
Taiwan won one gold, one silver and one bronze medal at the International Weightlifting Federation’s 2012 Junior World Championships in Guatemala on Thursday. Yao Chi-ling, 19, took gold in the 75kg and over division, plus a silver medal for lifting 106kg in the same category of the snatch event. Chung Yun-ling, 18, took bronze in the same snatch division. Meanwhile, Chang Kang-ming, 20, took sixth place in the men’s 56kg division, which is the best result Taiwan has ever earned in this category in the past seven years at international competitions. At this year’s competition, male Taiwanese athletes competed in the 56kg, 62kg, 69kg and 75kg events, while female weightlifters participated in the 48kg, 53kg, 63kg and 75kg divisions. The championships ran from May 10 to 18 in Antigua City, and attracted 118 female and 154 male athletes from 51 countries.
SOCCER
Platini expects Merkel visit
UEFA president Michel Platini is confident German Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the final of Euro 2012 in Ukraine — if Germany reach the tournament’s showpiece in Kiev on July 1. Together with EU commissioners and several other Western politicians, Merkel has threatened to boycott the month-long tournament, which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland next month, in sympathy with jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. “I’m not worried about the situation,” Platini told CNN in an exclusive interview ahead of yesterday’s Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea in the German city. “The politicians they are in their role and the Ukrainians they are in their role. I’m in my role and that is not to do politics, it’s not to do religion and not to interfere in everything. That means they can say what they want — we continue to organize the Euro [2012]. If Germany is in final of the Euro [2012] I would be sure that Madame Merkel would come to the final.”
MOUNTAINEERING
Woman, 73, climbs Everest
A 73-year-old Japanese woman has climbed Mount Everest, smashing her own record to again become the oldest woman to scale the world’s highest mountain. Ang Tshering of the China Tibet Mountaineering Association says Tamae Watanabe reached Everest’s 8,850m summit from the northern side of the mountain in Tibet yesterday morning with four other team members. Tshering says Watanabe and the other team members are in good condition and are on their way back to the base of the mountain. Watanabe had climbed Everest in 2002 at the age of 63 to become the oldest woman to scale the mountain.
BASEBALL
Manager, umpire get ban
Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel and umpire Bob Davidson were each banned for one game by Major League Baseball (MLB) on Friday following their nose-to-nose shouting match during a game earlier this week. Manuel was ejected in the eighth inning of the Phillies’ 4-3 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday for disputing a call made by Davidson that allowed an opposing player to reach first base safely on a dropped third strike. The Phillies manager left the dugout to argue and came face-to-face with Davidson on the field for a heated argument that lasted about 40 seconds. Manuel was suspended for the on-field incident while Davidson was banned for “repeated violations of the Office of the Commissioner’s standards for situation handling,” MLB said in two separate statements.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Marcus Rashford’s first goals for Aston Villa on Sunday inspired a 3-0 win against Preston North End that sent his side into the FA Cup semi-finals for the first time in 10 years. Rashford struck twice in the second half at Deepdale to end Preston’s stubborn resistance before Jacob Ramsey wrapped up Villa’s long-awaited return to the last four. Villa are to face Crystal Palace — 3-0 winners at Fulham on Saturday — in the semi-finals at Wembley Stadium in London. Revitalized since joining Villa on loan from Manchester United during the January transfer window, Rashford is beginning to show the form that
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