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.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
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