BOXING
Taylor retains titles with KO
Josh Taylor on Saturday retained his WBA and IBF super lightweight belts after knocking out unbeaten challenger Apinun Khongsong in the first round. Taylor (17-0, 13 KOs) caught the Thai (16-1, 13 KOs) with a left-hand body shot to secure victory after 2 minutes, 41 seconds at York Hall in Bethnal Green, England. Apinun rolled off the canvas and left the arena on a stretcher. The title bout was Taylor’s first fight in 11 months, since winning the WBA title against Regis Prograis. Of his knockout punch, Taylor told BT Sport: “That sank right in. I felt it sinking in straight away... I knew it was a real good shot. I didn’t know it hurt him to that extent until I turned round and saw him lying on the floor.”
SOCCER
Dortmund disappoint coach
Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre was left shaking his head after his team slumped to a shock 2-0 loss at Augsburg on Saturday, with the Bundesliga title hopefuls having as much as 80 percent possession at times, but failing to score. Dortmund were a shadow of the team that cruised past Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-0 in their opener last week with an impressive attacking display. Apart from the opening 25 minutes, which saw some good Dortmund combinations, the Ruhr valley club struggled to find space and lacked accuracy with their final passes. “We still have a lot of work to do,” Favre told reporters. “I am very disappointed. It is difficult to accept this defeat.”
CYCLING
Champ claims double win
Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen on Saturday capped a stellar season by winning the women’s road race world title after claiming time-trial gold in Imola two days earlier. The reigning Olympic champion attacked 40km from the finish line, beating compatriot Annemiek van Vleuten and Italian Elisa Longo Borghini, in a photo-finish 1 minute, 20 seconds behind the winner. The 30-year-old Dutchwoman becomes the first woman to achieve the double in the same year since the French rider Jeannie Longo in 1995. “It’s incredible,” Van der Breggen said. “It was a really hard race, we were fighting from the beginning. The climbs were really tough... In the fourth lap, I felt strong and I just went for it.”
RUGBY UNION
SA teams far from match fit
Top-level rugby on Saturday returned in South Africa with two exhibition games involving the country’s Super Rugby teams following a six-month shutout because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There were no fans for the doubleheader at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, the out-of-practice teams were allowed to use 15 replacements and the games stopped midway through each half for water breaks. Field-side coaching staff wore masks and, in some cases, face shields and medical aprons in a country with more than 669,000 recorded cases of the virus. The Bulls beat the Sharks 49-28 and Springbok captain Siya Kolisi scored a try to help the Stormers beat the Lions 34-21. He lay on the ground grimacing and appeared exhausted after his try at the end of the first half. Some of the teams made substitutions as early as 30 minutes in. During “the lockdown, the training was so tough,” Kolisi said. “Training by yourself is not the same. This is probably the toughest rugby game I’ve ever played.”
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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