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.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
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