WOODBALL
Friendship tourney planned
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is organizing a game of woodball later this month that will be attended by foreign diplomats, in an effort to promote the Taiwanese-invented game, derived from golf and croquet. The Diplomatic Woodball Friendship Tournament, scheduled for Oct. 31 in Taipei, is aimed at facilitating sports exchanges and promoting the sport, Department of NGO International Affairs Deputy Director-General Shen Wen-chiang said at a news briefing. “We’ve invited foreign diplomats based in Taiwan, members of international chambers of commerce, local politicians and woodball players,” Shen said. The sport, which requires players to hit balls through narrow gates with wooden mallets, was invented by Weng Ming-hui in 1990 when he attempted to reinvent the game of golf in his garden.
SOCCER
Eritrea players seek asylum
Ten players from the Eritrea are seeking asylum in Botswana, the latest in a series of defections by athletes from a nation under investigation by the UN for human-rights violations. The Eritrea national team was in Botswana to play a FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifyier. The players on Wednesday refused to board their plane home and were detained by police. Similar mass defections occurred in Kenya in 2009, Tanzania in 2011 and Uganda in 2012. They were fleeing a nation where slavery-like practices are routine and torture widespread.
SOCCER
Five arrested for fixing
Nepalese police arrested five former and current national team players, including the captain, on Wednesday on charges of match fixing, in another blow to the nation’s embattled soccer association. Captain Sagar Thapa, Sandip Rai, Ritesh Thapa, Bikash Singh Chhetri and Anjan K.C. were arrested on charges of alleged match fixing from 2008, S.S.P. Sarbendra Khanal of the Metropolitan Police Crime Division said. “From preliminary examinations of the players’ accounts, we found connections to known match-fixers in Malaysia and Singapore,” Khanal said. “It seems that these players were involved in a deep network of brokers and fixers in other countries.”
BOXING
Lee Selby retains crown
Welsh fighter Lee Selby retained his International Boxing Federation featherweight crown in Phoenix, Arizona, on Wednesday with a unanimous decision over former three-division champion Fernando Montiel in a 12-round fight. Selby, who improved to 22-1 with eight knockouts, won on all three judges’ scorecards — 119-109, 118-110 and 116-112 — at the Gila River Arena. Montiel, who dropped to 54-4-2 with 39 knockouts, cut Selby over the right eye in the sixth round, but the bigger Selby was able to outbox and outsmart Mexico’s Montiel throughout much of the fight.
TENNIS
Bouchard files lawsuit
Eugenie Bouchard filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the US Tennis Association that alleges the sport’s national governing body was negligent, leaving her to slip and fall in a locker room during the US Open. Bouchard has suffered severe pain and economic loss after the Sept. 4 incident, she said in the federal lawsuit filed in the US District Court in Brooklyn that seeks unspecified monetary damages. The 21-year-old had just played in a mixed doubles match when she returned to the locker room shortly after 10pm. Minutes later, she slipped and fell on the tile floor, slamming her head against the ground.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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