Taiwanese Olympic medalist Cheng I-ching on Thursday beat Amy Wang of the US 4-0 to advance to the round of 16 at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, Texas.
World No. 8 Cheng defeated 18-year-old Wang 11-5, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4 at the George R. Brown Convention Center to set up her next match against China’s Chen Xingtong yesterday.
Cheng, 29, and compatriot Lin Yun-ju, with whom she won bronze at the Tokyo Games, also advanced to the next round of the mixed doubles after beating the Swedish pairing of Truls Moregard and Christina Kallberg 3-0.
Photo: Erik Williams-USA TODAY
The world No. 2 duo downed the Swedes 11-6, 11-8, 12-10, and were yesterday to play Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen and Lin Ye, ranked world No. 68.
Taiwan’s other mixed doubles pairing, world No. 58 Chen Szu-yu and Chen Chien-an, also advanced after beating South Korea’s world No. 14 Jang Woo-jin and Jeon Ji-hee 3-1. Chen Szu-yu and Chen Chien-an were today to play China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.
In men’s doubles, Chen Chien-an and Chuang Chih-yuan downed fellow Taiwanese Feng Yi-hsin and Huang Yan-cheng 3-0. World No. 8 Chen Chien-an and Chuang and were next to play the world No. 14 duo of South Korea’s Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon.
Lin lost his men’s singles match to Lim, who won 4-3. Lim, 24, overcame the 20-year-old world No. 6 Lin 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-5, 6-11, 8-11, 13-11.
Taiwan’s Liu Hsing-yin and Chen Szu-yu were knocked out of the women’s singles after losing to France’s Jia Nan Yuan and Puerto Rico’s Adriana Diaz respectively.
Both of Taiwan’s women’s doubles pairings crashed out of the tournament, with Cheng Hsien-tzu and Liu falling to Luxembourg’s Sarah De Nutte and Xia Lian Ni, while Chen Szu-yu and Li Yu-jhun lost to Japan’s Mima Ito and Hina Hayata.
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was
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The 40-year-old LeBron James on Thursday became the oldest player to score 40 points in an NBA game, putting up a season-high 42 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 120-112 victory over the Golden State Warriors. James passed the record held by Michael Jordan, his idol and the only other NBA player to score 40 after his 40th birthday. “I’m old, that’s my take,” James said when asked about his latest achievement. “I need a glass of wine and some sleep, that’s what I think.” Jordan did it for the Washington Wizards just three days after turning 40 in February 2003. James is 38