Taiwanese table tennis ace Lin Yun-ju on Wednesday handily downed Sweden’s Jon Persson 4-0 to advance to the round-of-32 at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, Texas.
World No. 6 Lin, who had a bye to automatically advance to the second round, defeated the 35-year-old Swede 11-5, 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 at the George R. Brown Convention Center. Lin was yesterday to play South Korea’s Lim Jong-hoon.
Compatriot and fellow Olympic veteran Chuang Chih-yuan crashed out after losing to Sweden’s Truls Moregard. Moregard, who is more than half Chuang’s age at 19, downed the 40-year-old world No. 25 4-3 in a competitive seven games of 10-12, 12-10, 11-5, 11-7, 3-11, 3-11, 11-8.
Photo: AP
In the women’s singles, world No. 8 Cheng I-ching beat England’s Tin-Tin Ho 4-0 to advance to the round-of-32, where Cheng was yesterday to play Amy Wang of the US.
Taiwan’s Liu Hsing-yin and Chen Szu-yu also advanced after beating world No. 33 Elizabeta Samara 4-0 and Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching 4-3 respectively.
Cheng Hsien-tzu and Li Yu-jhun crashed out after losing to Ukraine’s Margaryta Pesotska and Singapore’s Feng Tianwei respectively.
Photo: Erik Williams-USA TODAY
In the men’s doubles, Feng Yi-hsin and Huang Yan-cheng were yesterday to play fellow Taiwanese Chen Chien-an and Chuang Chih-yuan after Feng and Huang beat Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez and Brian Afanador 3-0.
The world No. 8 duo of Chen Chien-an and Chuang earned a bye through the first round.
In the women’s doubles, the world No. 39 pairing of Cheng Hsien-tzu and Liu along with the duo of Chen Szu-yu and Li both earned a bye to advance to yesterday’s round, when they were to play Luxembourg’s Sarah De Nutte and Xia Lian Ni, and Japan’s Mima Ito and Hina Hayata respectively.
In the mixed doubles, the world No. 2 Taiwanese duo of Cheng I-ching and Lin, who won Taiwan a silver medal at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, were yesterday to play the Swedish pairing of Moregard and Christina Kallberg.
The world No. 58 Taiwanese duo of Chen Szu-yu and Chen Chien-an, who on Tuesday devastated Thailand’s Suthasini Sawettabut and Padasak Tanviriyavechakul 3-0, were yesterday to face off against South Korea’s world No. 14 pairing of Jang Woo-jin and Jeon Ji-hee.
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
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The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
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