BADMINTON
Tai falls in quarter-finals
Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday failed to reach the Yonex Japan Open women’s singles after she losing to Michelle Li of Canada. Tai, the world’s top-ranked female badminton player, was defeated by Li 15-21, 21-15 and 20-22 in a match that lasted 60 minutes. In the first game, Tai fell behind early, but managed to bounce back to tie the game 12-12 at point, before sliding to 15-21 at the end. In the second game, Tai took a 17-15 lead and kept up the pressure on Li, the world’s No. 14, to win 21-15. Tai continued to play well in the third game, scoring 4 consecutive points, but Li fought back and eventually defeated her Taiwanese opponent 22-20. It was payback time for Tai, who quashed Li at the All England Open in March, winning in two straight sets 21-12, 21-15 in only 28 minutes. The Yonex Japan Open, a Badminton World Federation World Tour 750 event, ends tomorrow. It has a total purse of US$750,000.
SOCCER
Arsenal stars fight off crooks
Arsenal players Sead Kolasinac and Mesut Ozil on Thursday evening fought off knife-wielding carjackers in a terrifying ordeal in north London that was captured on video and circulated on social media. In the footage, Bosnian defender Kolasinac is seen leaping from the vehicle to confront the masked aggressors, who had pulled up alongside the car on motorbikes in the Golders Green district of the capital. Both attackers appeared to brandish knives at the 26-year-old Kolasinac. “We have been in contact with both players and they are fine,” an Arsenal spokesman said. Police confirmed that they had responded to reports of an attempted robbery. “It was reported that suspects on motorbikes had attempted to rob a man who was driving a car,” a Metropolitan Police Service spokesman told reporters. “The driver, along with his passenger, managed to get away unharmed and traveled to a restaurant in Golders Green, where they were spoken to by officers... There have been no arrests. Enquiries continue.” Kolasinac and German midfielder Ozil are not the first soccer players to be targeted on London’s streets. In 2016, Andy Carroll, a former West Ham United player, was threatened at gunpoint on his way home from training.
SOCCER
Wolves win in Europa return
Wolverhampton Wanderers on Thursday marked their return to European soccer after a 39-year absence with a 2-0 home win over Crusaders of Northern Ireland in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round. Diogo Jota and Ruben Vinagre were on target at Molineux in the first-leg clash. However, it was a nervous evening for the Premier League side, with Vinagre’s goal only coming in injury-time after a mistake by goalkeeper Sean O’Neill. Rangers were also 2-0 winners over bogey team Progres Niederkorn at Ibrox. The part-timers from Luxembourg dished out one of the biggest upsets in Rangers’ history when they dumped Pedro Caixinha’s side out of the same competition two years ago. Joe Aribo and on-loan Liverpool youngster Sheyi Ojo were on the score sheet in a game that saw skipper James Tavernier miss a second-half penalty.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
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