TENNIS
Spain to face Poland
Roberto Bautista Agut yesterday swept past Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic to steer Spain into the ATP Cup semi-finals, where they are to meet Poland after world No. 9 Hubert Hurkacz overwhelmed Argentina’s in-form Diego Schwartzman. After Chile beat Norway earlier in the day, Spain only needed one win in their final Group A tie against 2020 champions Serbia to progress, and that came from the consistent Pablo Carreno Busta. The world No. 20 toppled Filip Krajinovic 6-3, 6-4 for his third consecutive win of the season, before Bautista Agut, ranked one place above his teammate, rubbed salt in Serbia’s wounds by cruising past Lajovic 6-1, 6-4. “I’m very happy to have won the match in two sets, the humidity was tough, but we need these matches coming from Europe and the winter,” Bautista Agut said. “I haven’t played three matches in a row for three or four months and it’s really good to start the season with rhythm.”
RALLY
France opens terror probe
The French national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office on Tuesday launched an investigation into a vehicle explosion last week ahead of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia that left French driver Philippe Boutron seriously injured. The office would investigate an “attempted murder in relation to a terrorist enterprise” following the explosion on Thursday last week in Jeddah, where teams gathered to prepare for Saturday’s New Year’s Day start. Boutron was driving an assistance vehicle when the explosion happened under a pedal on the driver’s side. He was among five drivers in the vehicle. Boutron had a successful operation on his leg on Saturday, race director David Castera said. Boutron’s team, SodiCars Racing, said on Tuesday that he was repatriated on Monday to a military hospital Paris, where he was put into an artificial coma “to ease his suffering.”
SOCCER
Serbian buys out Saints
Southampton have been taken over by Serbian businessman Dragan Solak’s Sport Republic investment firm, the English Premier League club announced on Tuesday. Sport Republic, which specializes in sport and entertainment investments, paid a reported £100 million (US$135.43 million) for the 80 percent shareholding in the south coast side previously owned by Gao Jisheng. The club itself did not disclose the financial elements of the acquisition. While the Chinese businessman, who purchased his stake in 2017, is bowing out, Katharina Liebherr, who inherited the club from her late father Markus in 2010 when they were in EFL League One, has retained her 20 percent share in the Saints.
SOCCER
Newcastle target Trippier
Newcastle United have agreed a fee of £12 million with Atletico Madrid to sign England international fullback Kieran Trippier, multiple media reports said on Tuesday. It would be Newcastle’s first signing since they were taken over by Saudi Arabian owners, who have been expected to flex their financial muscle in this month’s transfer window. The 31-year-old must still undergo a medical examination, before reuniting with manager Eddie Howe, who signed the rightback from Manchester City for Burnley in January 2012.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier