KARATE
Taiwan wins two bronze
Taiwan’s Gu Shiau-shuang and Wu Chun-wei on Tuesday won bronze medals at the Asian Karate Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Gu, a member of the Bunun community in Nantou County, overcame Iran’s Sara Bahmanyar 8-4 to win her third straight bronze at the championships after winning in Amman in 2018 and in Tashkent in 2019. The 24-year-old also won gold in the event at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Gu’s coach, Deng Shih-yu, attributed her victory to her thorough execution of their strategy. Gu maintains a distance that limits the effectiveness of her opponent’s attacks, Deng added. Wu won bronze in the men’s under-84kg category. Taiwan’s Chao Jou failed to secure a medal in the women’s under-68kg event after losing to her Vietnamese opponent 2-1 in the bronze-medal match. About 500 athletes from 23 Asian countries competed at the four-day competition, which ended yesterday.
SWIMMING
German sets 1,500m record
Germany’s Florian Wellbrock on Tuesday set a short course world record in the men’s 1,500m freestyle at the world championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Wellbrock, who won gold in the 10km open water event at the Tokyo Olympics, clocked 14 minutes, 6.88 seconds to edge out Gregorio Paltrinieri’s time of 14:08.065. “Since I’ve always preferred long course, earlier this year I did not think of breaking the world record here as, honestly, I had ridiculous times in short course,” Wellbrock said. “I think my personal best was almost identical with my long course top time. Then, I had a really good race in Kazan [at the European short course championships], where I clocked 14:09.88 and from that point I knew anything was possible here.”
SOCCER
‘Cathedral’ stadium unveiled
Inter and AC Milan on Tuesday revealed what their new shared home could look like after announcing a project designed by Populous, who drew up the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Named “The Cathedral,” the new stadium is to be located in the same San Siro district of Milan as their current ground, officially called the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. Milan and Inter said in a statement that the new stadium design is inspired by the world famous Duomo and Vittorio Emmanuele Galleries. They did not reveal the capacity of the proposed stadium, but designs from Populous show a ground with fans close to the pitch. Media reports said that the stadium would have no more than 65,000 seats, a significant reduction on the current San Siro, and that matches should be played there from 2027.
RUGBY UNION
Leauma dies in Amsterdam
The Spanish Rugby Federation on Tuesday said that lock Kawa Leauma has died after an accident in the Netherlands. He was 32 years old. New Zealand-born Leauma had been hospitalized since he “suffered an accident that caused severe head trauma” on Saturday, the federation said, without further details. Unconfirmed media reports said that Leauma was involved in a fall from a building in Amsterdam. Leauma, who played for Spanish side Ampo Ordizia, was in the Netherlands for Spain’s match against the Netherlands.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
TIGHT FINISH: Napoli only needed to do the same as or better than Inter, who won their game against Como 2-0 on the same day, leaving Napoli with a one-point lead The two players who Antonio Conte wanted more than any others secured Napoli their second Serie A title in three years on Friday. Scott McTominay scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick before halftime and Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with a solo goal after the break in the decisive 2-0 home win over Cagliari. Conte became the first coach to win the Italian championship with three different teams. “Everyone contributed to this — but the coach most of all,” Napoli captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. “Napoli needed him to get back on top. He’s phenomenal.” Comparing it to his three Serie A titles won
The journey of Taiwan’s badminton mixed doubles duo Ye Hong-wei and Nicole Chan at the Malaysia Masters in Kuala Lumpur came to an end in the semi-finals yesterday after they suffered a 2-0 loss to China’s Feng Yanzhe and Huang Dongping. Ye, 25, and Chan, 20, teamed up last year and are currently ranked No. 23 in the world. The Taiwanese shuttlers took on China’s second seeds in the mixed doubles event, but proved no match for Feng and Huang, losing the match 10-21, 7-21. In the first half of the first game, the pairings were neck and neck at 6-7 until Ye
SSC Napoli coach Antonio Conte has dragged the team back from disaster and restored them to the top of Italian Serie A, but his future at the Scudetto winners is in doubt even after a triumphant season. The fiery 55-year-old has exceeded preseason expectations and bolstered his reputation as a serial winner by guiding Napoli to their fourth Scudetto, and second in three seasons. However, he might well be on his way in the summer after just one season at the helm as his charged relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis has simmered throughout the campaign. Conte has said
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