BASEBALL
Taiwan defeat South Korea
Taiwan defeated South Korea 3-2 in the final of the Little League Baseball Asia-Pacific Tournament in China yesterday, winning a place in the World Series in the US. The team from Tung Yuan Elementary School in Taipei were neck and neck with the South Koreans for most of the game and fell one point behind until the bottom of the sixth inning, when they scored two runs to take the lead. The team maintained the lead until the end of the game, securing a berth in the World Series, which is due to be held from Aug. 20 to Aug. 30 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan beat Guam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines to advance to the final against South Korea.
SOCCER
Spain lift Under-19 title
Spain were crowned UEFA Under-19 champions for the seventh time on Sunday after beating Russia 2-0 in the final played in the Greek town of Katerini. The teams had already met in the group stage, with Russia winning 3-1, but Spain gained their revenge with a clinical performance to take the title for the third time in the past five tournaments. Borja Mayoral put Spain ahead with a 39th-minute header and they doubled their lead in the 78th minute when substitute Matias Nahuel went one-on-one with goalkeeper Anton Mitryushkin.
TENNIS
Larsson wins Swedish Open
Seventh seed Johanna Larsson won her first WTA Tour title on Sunday by defeating defending champion Mona Barthel 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) at the Swedish Open in Bastad. The 26-year-old Larsson overpowered the fourth-seeded German in the first set and then led the second-set tiebreaker 5-0, before winning 7-2. Larsson took 1 hour, 41 minutes to beat Barthel, the tournament favorite after top seed Serena Williams withdrew with a right-elbow injury. In three previous meetings, Barthel had beaten Larsson in straight sets. “Absolutely fantastic,” Larsson said. “I was incredibly charged up today.” Larsson has reached the final in Bastad twice before, losing to Polona Hercog of Slovenia in 2011 and Williams in 2013. Before Larsson the last Swede to win the tournament was Catharina Lindqvist in 1986.
TENNIS
Schmiedlova lifts the title
Seventh seed Anna Karolina Schmiedlova beat top seed Sara Errani of Italy 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 in searing heat on the clay to win the Bucharest Open final on Sunday. The 20-year-old Slovakian took 2 hours, 7 minutes to overcome a tired Errani, who was recovering from a grueling semi-final on the hottest weekend of the year in Bucharest. The match started late afternoon, but even at the end it was still more than 36?C. Trailing 4-3 in the second set, former French open finalist Errani mounted a strong challenge to Schmiedlova’s serve. Schmiedlova finally clinched the game and immediately broke Errani to take the set and match.
RUGBY UNION
Injured Giteau to miss Test
Wallabies back Matt Giteau is to miss the weekend’s Rugby Championship Test in Argentina with a sternum injury picked up against South Africa, the Australian Rugby Union said yesterday. Chest scans cleared Toulon-based Giteau of any serious damage after Saturday’s game against the Springboks, but team officials said they have opted to rest the 32-year-old for the next stage of the tournament. The exclusion of Giteau from the 31-man squad makes way for the return of ACT Brumbies playmaker Christian Leali’ifano.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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