SOCCER
Almeria edges Celta Vigo 1-0
A first-half goal by Tomer Hemed gave UD Almeria a 1-0 win over RC Celta Vigo in Vigo, Spain, on Friday for their third win this season in the Spanish league. The Israel forward raced toward goal to tap in the ball after a cross by teammate Edgar Mendez bounced off Celta defender Andreu Fontas’ chest and landed just in front of him in the 17th minute. Celta missed a chance to equalize in the 72nd when Fabian Orellana was tripped from behind in the penalty area, but Manuel “Nolito” Agudo failed to convert when his shot was saved by Almeria goalkeeper Julian Cuesta. Almeria rise above the relegation zone on 13 points after 16 rounds, while Celta are eighth on 20. Real Madrid lead with 39 points, with Barcelona second on 35.
SOCCER
Lens beat Nice 2-0
Racing Club de Lens beat mid-table OGC Nice 2-0 on Friday to secure a vital win their relegation battle and move provisionally out of the relegation zone. Both sides entered the game having won only one of their previous five games, but Lens was more threatening. Shortly after Nice hit the crossbar, Lens scored in the 38th minute when 19-year-old Wylan Cyprien beat goalkeeper Simon Pouplin with a slightly deflected shot following a cross from fellow midfielder Lalaina Nomenjanahary. Veteran striker Adamo Coulibaly ensured the win in the 86th, beating two defenders before side-footing the ball confidently past Pouplin. Lens, who are provisionally up to 16th spot ahead of this weekend’s matches, heads into the winter break with 19 points — one place above Evian, which has 19 points despite playing two games less.
BOXING
Khan donating golden shorts
British boxer Amir Khan plans to donate a ￡30,000 (US$47,000) pair of shorts to help rebuild the Pakistan army-run school where 148 people were killed by the Taliban. Khan, who is of Pakistani heritage, wore the flamboyant shorts, including a waistband made from 24-carat gold threading, when he successfully defended his WBC welterweight title against Devon Alexander in Las Vegas last weekend. The 28-year-old became a father in May when his daughter Lamysa was born and he was keen to do something to help following the tragic events in Peshawar, which saw 132 children plus several members of staff killed in the attack. “I can only imagine what those parents are going through,” Khan told BBC Radio 5 live. “We are very lucky in England, we have good security and I will be able to send my little girl to school and know she will be fine, but in Pakistan you cannot do that. They send the kids outside the house and do not know if they are going to come back. It’s very sad to know that. I’m going to be donating them [the shorts] towards what happened in Pakistan. I want to rebuild the school and strengthen the security over there.”
KICKBOXING
Ex-NBA center loses debut
Former NBA center Darko Milicic, a 2.13m Serb who spent 10 years with various teams after being the second overall pick in the 2003 draft behind LeBron James, has lost his first kickboxing fight. The 29-year-old Milicic sustained a bloody cut on his left leg in the first round of an exhibition match on Thursday night against Serbian fighter Radovan Radojcic. The World Kickboxing Association bout had to be stopped in the second round on doctor’s orders. “The next time, it will be better,” Milicic said. “I’m invincible.”
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
Taiwan on Wednesday finished with 15 medals at the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Hong Kong, taking home four gold, five silver and six bronze medals across the age group divisions. Taiwan ranked third on the medal table after South Korea with 17 golds and the US with eight golds at the five-day competition. “Your athletes have proven themselves as the best in the world,” World Taekwondo president Choue Chung-won said at the closing ceremony of the martial art contest that was attended by a record 1,727 athletes from around the world. On the first day of the competition at the Hong Kong
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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