OLYMPICS
National Stadium sent off
Japanese sports fans bid an emotional farewell to Tokyo’s National Stadium on Saturday with a lavish ceremony to close the venue before demolition begins in July. The stadium, built to host the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, will be dismantled over 15 months and replaced on the same site with a new US$1.6 billion venue to stage the 2019 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Olympics. A day of spectacular laser shows, fireworks, sports and music brought the curtain down on the 56-year-old stadium, before fans were invited onto the pitch to snap photographs, lift replica trophies and loll around barefoot once the proceedings were over. There were misty eyes among the 36,000-strong crowd as the Olympic flame perched atop the back stand finally went out for good. “I was in my first year at Waseda University when the Olympics came to Tokyo, and my college friend Yoshinori Sakai lit the flame at the stadium,” 69-year-old Tsuyoshi Hirata said on the stadium’s concourse. “When I saw Sakai light the flame, I felt so happy. I felt like Japan had recovered from the war.”
SOCCER
Suarez in World Cup squad
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez, recuperating from knee surgery, figured in Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez’s 23-player World Cup squad announced on Saturday. Suarez required an operation nine days ago to repair damage to the meniscus in his left knee, but is optimistic of recovering in time for the finals in Brazil. The 27-year-old — who is set to clash with several of his Liverpool teammates, including Steven Gerrard, as Uruguay has been drawn with England, Italy and Costa Rica — had the surgery after suffering an injury in training. “Things with Luis will depend on how things go with his knee,” Tabarez said last week. Missing from the list were midfielders Sebastian Eguren and Alejandro Silva, this pair culled from Tabarez’s provisional squad of 25.
BOXING
Soliman takes Sturm’s title
Sam Soliman of Australia won the IBF middleweight title on Saturday with a unanimous decision over Felix Sturm of Germany. A hard-working fighter with an unorthodox style, Soliman was the more active boxer throughout the bout and kept coming at the champion for the entire 12 rounds, never letting up. “He won, clearly,” Sturm said after the fight. “He kept moving, he was hard to hit.” Sturm may have landed the bigger punches, but there were too few of them. Soliman frustrated Sturm with his constant movement and Sturm appeared lost for answers. “I wanted to take the fight to him,” Soliman said. Soliman won with a big margin on all three cards. One judge had him the winner with a score of 117-111, while the other two scored it 118-110. Sturm hit Soliman with a couple of big rights in the ninth round, the only time he seemed to come close to stopping the Australian, but Soliman recovered quickly and stayed true to his relentless style.
SOCCER
Deportivo back in La Liga
Former Champions League semi-finalists Deportivo La Coruna won promotion back to the Spanish La Liga on Saturday after defeating Jaen 1-0 in second-division action on the penultimate day of the season. Defender Carlos Marchena, who won Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup with Spain, was the hero with the only goal of the match at the Riazor Stadium. Deportivo, who won their only Spanish title in 2000 and reached the 2004 Champions League semi-finals, now stand on 69 points and six ahead of the third-placed team, with one match to play.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘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
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
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