GOLF
Aussie Hend regains lead
Australia’s Scott Hend is well-placed to earn his fourth Asian Tour victory after carding a two-under-par 70 to regain the lead after the third round of the US$600,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters yesterday. Hend finished the round five under, one shot ahead of overnight leader Sam Cyr of the US. Hend led after the first round at the Taiwan Golf and Country club in Tamsui, New Taipei City. Mohammad Siddikur of Bangladesh finished yesterday third, two shots behind Cyr, while the top-placed Taiwanese player was Lu Wen-teh who was tied for 10th on four over.
EAST ASIAN GAMES
Swimmer to star for China
Double Olympic Champion Ye Shiwen will be China’s star name at the East Asian Games, which begin today with a “frugal but splendid” opening ceremony, Chinese state media said. More than 2,400 athletes from nine countries are set to take part in the multi-sport event in the city of Tianjin, competing in 24 different sports, Xinhua news agency said. Some 1,500 performers will take part in the opening ceremony, which will be a “frugal but splendid” occasion, Xinhua reported, in an apparent nod toward China’s crackdown on big-spending and corruption. Ye has had an indifferent year after she stunned the world at the 2012 London Olympics, taking gold in both the 200m and 400m individual medley events. However, she failed to win a single medal at the World Championships in Barcelona in late July. A number of stars will be absent, including swimmer Sun Yang, who won five medals at China’s National Games last month, and Lin Dan, the multi-medal winning star of Chinese men’s badminton. The teams taking part in the event come from China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao, and Guam.
RUGBY UNION
Brive lock has cancer
Brive lock forward Olivier Caisso has been diagnosed with cancer and will start a course of chemotherapy in the coming days, the French Top 14 team revealed on Friday. Caisso, 27, who has been at Brive since 2011, has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the club said. “Olivier will undergo a scan next week to evaluate the duration of chemotherapy required,” a club statement said. “We are thinking of Olivier and his family and we have underlined our support of him in his battle against the illness.”
FIGURE SKATING
Asada wows home fans
Japan’s former world champion Mao Asada staged a convincing start to the Olympic season, landing the tricky triple axel to score a personal best at a home event yesterday. Asada earned 135.16 points at the Japan Open, an invitational team competition in free skating, with Joannie Rochette of Canada second on 123.99 and US national champion Ashley Wagner third on 119.77 in the women’s section. Javier Fernandez of Spain nailed three quadruple jumps to top the men’s table on 176.91 points, followed by Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka on 158.42 and American Jeremy Abbott on 157.70. Japan won the event with a total of 544.85 points. North America were second on 528.89 and Europe were third on 477.84. Asada opened her routine by landing her trademark 3.5 revolution triple axel jump, followed by a triple-double combination. She dazzled with four more triples, one in a combination with two doubles, and hit a maximum level-four in four spins and one step sequence. Her score shaved 0.79 off her former free-skate personal best of 134.37 points, set when she finished third at the world championships in March.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
AGING WELL: Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, 22, was sent packing after being dispatched by world No. 97, Laura Siegemund, the second-oldest player in the draw at 36 Novak Djokovic yesterday created a slice of Grand Slam history on his way into the Australian Open third round, but last year’s women’s finalist Zheng Qinwen was knocked out in the biggest shock so far. Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, in-form Coco Gauff, two-time Melbourne winner Naomi Osaka and a rampant Carlos Alcaraz were all victors on a rainy day four. Play was suspended on the outside courts for a couple of hours in the early evening because of the wet weather. That led to the rescheduling of a women’s doubles match between wild-cards Tsao Chia-yi of Taiwan and Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and 11th
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