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.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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