TENNIS
Chan Chin-wei eliminated
Taiwan’s Chan Chin-wei crashed out of the doubles at the WTA Bol Open in Croatia on Friday. After a first-round bye, her first match at the tournament with partner Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic was a quarter-final against Romanian duo Andreea Mitu and Patricia Maria Tig, which they lost 6-3, 6-3. In the singles quarter-finals, Ana Konjuh defeated Tereza Mrdeza 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to earn a semi against Mandy Minella, who beat New Zealan’s Marina Erakovic 6-4, 6-4. In the second semi-final, Nao Hibino — who beat Stefanie Voegele 6-2, 6-2 — was to play Polona Hercog, who defeated Kristina Kucova 6-4, 6-1.
MOTOR RACING
Luis Salom dies after crash
Moto2 rider Luis Salom died on Friday after crashing during practice for the Catalunya Grand Prix. He was 24. The death of the Spanish rider was announced at a news conference a few hours after the incident at a fast turn on the Barcelona track. “He underwent surgery, but despite the best efforts of the trauma team, he passed away,” said Giancarlo di Filippo, a medical director for the International Motorcycling Federation. Race directors said the weekend races would go on “as agreed with Salom’s family, the riders, teams and the safety commission,” but on an alternate track layout. The crash happened at turn 12, a fast right-hander in the final sector of the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit. The turn is not used in Formula One, where cars have to go through a chicane to slow down before entering the front straight. Officials said the F1 layout would be used for all three bike races this weekend. MotoGP medical director Angel Charte said Salom was in cardiac arrest when doctors arrived at the scene. He was intubated and submitted to cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 18 minutes. Treatment continued for 40 minutes during an ambulance transfer, but he deteriorated. At the hospital, doctors performed exploratory surgery, but he was declared dead about 45 minutes after arriving.
SOCCER
Barcelona fined over flags
La Liga champions Barcelona on Friday said they were fined 150,000 euros (US$170,000) by UEFA after separatist flags were flown at the Camp Nou during Champions League games last season. In a statement, the club said that it would do everything to overturn a punishment it described as “totally unjust and ... opposed to the exercise of the freedom of expression.” Of the fine, 50,000 euros will be suspended if there is no repeat offense in the next two years. The Catalan estelada has in recent years become a symbol of the independence movement within Catalonia.
SWIMMING
Phelps wins one, loses one
Michael Phelps won one and lost one on Friday in a tuneup meet in Austin, Texas, where he was competing with an eye on this month’s US Olympic trials and a berth at the Rio de Janeiro Games. Joseph Schooling, a 20-year-old from Singapore who swims for the University of Texas in Austin, clocked 51.58 seconds to edge 18-time Olympic gold medalist Phelps (51.65 seconds) in the 100m butterfly — an event in which Phelps holds the world record. Schooling admitted it “felt great” to get his first win over Phelps, but added that the US great was still in hard training before the US trials and not in peak racing form as he will be in Omaha this month and Rio de Janeiro in August. Phelps was swimming in his second final of the night, having won the 100m freestyle in 49.49 seconds, with Jack Conger second.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book