BASKETBALL
Lin craves night market time
Jeremy Lin, the first NBA player of Taiwanese descent, on Monday said that he hopes to spend more time at Taiwan’s night markets — his favorite places in the nation. Visiting Taiwan for the fourth consecutive year as part of an Asian tour, Lin said at a news briefing in Taipei that he had spent only 10 to 15 minutes at the nation’s night markets on his previous trips. “So I hoped that there would be a year when I could stay longer and look around at night markets, which have been my favorite places since my childhood,” said Lin, whose contract with the Los Angeles Lakers expires today.
SOCCER
Guangzhou sign Paulinho
Brazil midfielder Paulinho has signed for Chinese champions Guangzhou Evergrande for 14 million euros (US$15.6 million), the club said, the latest big-money transfer for the cash-rich Chinese Super League. The 26-year-old signed from Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur in his former national team manager Luiz Felipe Scolari’s first deal at the Guangdong outfit after taking over earlier this month. Guangzhou are aiming to clinch a fifth successive league title this year, but sit third in the league behind leaders Beijing Guoan, following a run in which they have won just once in four games.
OLYMPICS
Group issues Boston details
The group trying to bring the 2024 Olympics to Boston has released the most detailed look yet at its bid for the Summer Games. It said its US$4.6 billion plan would create jobs and housing, expand the tax base and leave behind an improved city with a US$210 million surplus. The announcement is designed to answer critics who say the privately funded Boston 2024 has withheld details of the bid to prevent the public from assessing whether the games could be staged without taxpayer money. Bid chairman Steve Pagliuca, a co-owner of the Boston Celtics, said the new plan goes deeper than the proposal that convinced the US Olympic Committee to pick Boston in January over Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.
CRICKET
ICC fines Sri Lanka for pace
Sri Lanka have been fined for maintaining a slow over-rate during the second Test against Pakistan in Colombo, the International Cricket Council (ICC) said yesterday. ICC match referee Chris Broad of England imposed the fines after the hosts were found to be one over short of the target during the Test, which they won by seven wickets on Monday. Skipper Angelo Mathews was fined 20 percent of his undisclosed match fees and the rest of the team 10 percent according to regulations governing Test cricket, the ICC said in a statement. “Mathews pleaded guilty to the offense and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing,” Broad was quoted as saying in the statement.
CRICKET
World Cup surpasses record
The Cricket World Cup generated more than A$1 billion (US$767.6 million) for the economies of host countries Australia and New Zealand when it was held in February and March. An economic impact study released yesterday by the ICC also said the tournament created the equivalent of 8,320 full-time jobs and attracted 145,000 visitors to the countries solely to watch cricket. It said total attendance at tournament matches was 1,016,420, including 93,013 for the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a world record for the largest attendance at a cricket game.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two
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