BASEBALL
Taiwan win junior series
Taiwan won the Junior League World Series championship in Taylor, Michigan, on Saturday, beating a Texas US baseball team 9-1. The series, which started on Aug. 9, brought together eight teams and Taiwan, who won first place in an international group with five wins and no losses. Texas won first place in the US pool. Taiwan starting pitcher Gu Lin Ruei-yang gave up only four hits and one run during the first six innings. The team is made up of players from Chungshan Junior High School in Greater Taichung. Gu Lin was replaced by Lin Yen-an, who allowed Texas only one hit and no runs. Taiwan had 15 hits during the game and led Texas 6-1 after five innings, later adding another three runs. It was Taiwan’s second championship in a row and 20th since 1972 at the Junior League World Series.
SOCCER
Dortmund thrash Kickers
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were on target on Saturday as Borussia Dortmund beat the SV Stuttgarter Kickers 4-1 in the DFB Pokal. Mkhitaryan opened the scoring in the 30th minute of the first-round tie against their third-tier hosts, with Aubameyang grabbing a brace with 55th and 78th minute goals before new signing Adrian Ramos added the fourth, one minute from time. Dortmund were boosted by the return of Marco Reus, 10 weeks after an ankle injury which ruled him out of the FIFA World Cup, and Neven Subotic, who played his first game in nine months after suffering right-knee ligament damage. Bayer 04 Leverkusen reached the second round on Friday with Stefan Kiessling scoring five times in a 6-0 rout of fifth division Alemania Waldalgesheim. There were also wins for Borussia Moenchengladbach, Hertha BSC, Hannover 96 and Cologne, but VfB Stuttgart and FSV Mainz 05 both suffered early exits.
SWIMMING
Russia win Euro golds
Svetlana Kolesnichenko helped Russia to their first gold medals at the European swimming championship by contributing to wins in both the duet and team free synchronized finals on Saturday. “It is really thrilling to have the chance to win two gold medals on one day. This has never happened to me before,” said Kolesnichenko, who paired up with Daria Korobova to win the duet and then Vlada Chigireva for the team victory. Ukraine’s Lolita Ananasova and Anna Voloshyna took silver in the duet, just beating Spanish pair Ona Carbonell and Paula Klamburg. The positions were repeated in the team final, with Ananasova and Olena Grechykhina claiming silver for Ukraine, while Clara Basiana Canellas and Alba Cabello Rodilla got the bronze for Spain. The Netherlands team of Ferry Weertman, Marcel Schouten and Sharon van Rouwendaal won gold in the open water team 5km swimming event, ahead of Greece and Germany.
GOLF
Sutherland hits rare 59
The US’ Kevin Sutherland became the first player to shoot a 59 on the Champions Tour with a sizzling display of shotmaking in Saturday’s third round of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, New York. He became the first player on the over-50 circuit to break 60, despite a bogey on his final hole, the par-four 18th, where he missed a seven-foot putt that would have earned him a 58. The 50-year-old Sutherland notched one eagle and 12 birdies to go with his closing bogey for a 13-under-par round that gave him the clubhouse lead. Only six players have shot 59 on the PGA Tour, the last by the US’ Jim Furyk during last year’s BMW Championship.
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
GUNNING FOR A WIN: The victory sending Arsenal to the final for the first time in six years was cathartic for a team who had lost their previous four semi-finals Arsenal on Tuesday reached the League Cup final for the first time in eight years as Kai Havertz sealed a 1-0 win against Chelsea in the semi-final second leg. Mikel Arteta’s side had put themselves in pole position in the first leg and Havertz came off the bench to finish the 4-2 aggregate victory in the closing moments at the Emirates Stadium. It was a cathartic triumph for the Gunners, who had lost their previous four semi-finals in last year’s UEFA Champions League and League Cup, the 2022 League Cup and the 2021 UEFA Europa League. In their first final for six years,
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