BADMINTON
Tai advances to semis
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced into the semi-finals of the All England Open after defeating Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the women’s singles. Top seed and world No. 1 Tai beat the Japanese fifth seed 21-10, 21-11 in 35 minutes at Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England. On Thursday, Chou Tien-chen advanced to the quarter-finals of the men’s singles by rallying from a game down to tame Daren Liew of Malaysia 18-21, 21-13, 21-9. Fourth seed and world No. 4 Chou was due to face seventh seed and world No. 8 Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the quarter-finals later yesterday. Founded in 1899, the All England Open is the world’s oldest badminton tournament. Tai claimed the women’s singles title in 2017, 2018 and 2020.
BASKETBALL
Scharer joins the DEA
Philippine-American guard Avery Scharer is to play for New Taipei CTBC DEA in Taiwan’s T1 League, the club said on Thursday. The 35-year-old, who is undergoing mandatory quarantine, is joining the DEA as an Asian import player, the club said in a statement. Scharer’s prolific play with teams in the ASEAN Basketball League and the Thailand Basketball League has made headlines. His performance in 2020 with the Khon Kaen Raptors in Thailand, when he averaged 28.2 points, 11.2 assists, 8.2 rebounds and five steals per game, was particularly noteworthy. DEA head coach Lee Yi-hua said Scharer can do everything on a basketball court and is an experienced controller of the ball, which should give the DEA a real boost. “Our team was up and down in the first half of the season, and ball control was one of the sticking points,” Lee said. The DEA are second in the T1 League standings with a 13-7 record.
CRICKET
England post huge total
Matthew Fisher on Thursday claimed a wicket with his second ball in Test cricket, but the West Indies rallied to be 71-1 after England extended their first innings to a mammoth 507-9 declared on the second day of the second Test in Barbados. Ben Stokes cast aside his poor form in blazing his way to 120 and stealing the spotlight on the second day from his captain Joe Root, whose efficient 153 was the cornerstone of the tourists’ formidable total on an ideal batting surface. It was all England for the first two sessions of play after resuming in the strong overnight position of 244-3. It seemed the momentum would take them through the top order of the West Indies batting after tea when Fisher, operating with the new ball, had John Campbell caught behind. For the 24-year-old Yorkshireman it was a dream start as he only knew of his selection for the match minutes before the first ball on Wednesday. However, West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite (28 not out) and Shamarh Brooks (31 not out) negotiated more than 25 overs to set the stage for the third day, when they would be seeking to return the favor to the tourists, who had put concerted pressure on the home bowlers. Leading that effort was Stokes, who appeared emotional on reaching three figures, the first time since the death of his father, and he put the moment into context. “In a team sport you never like to think of things in a selfish way, but the hundred I’ve got, with all that had gone on for the past 18 months to two years, is one of the more memorable ones. It’s a very special feeling,” he said.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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