TENNIS
Chan exits Birmingham
Taiwanese tennis player Latisha Chan and her Australian doubles partner Samantha Stosur on Saturday crashed out of the women’s doubles semi-finals at the Rothesay Classic Birmingham. The duo — who had earlier advanced on Wednesday after beating Chan’s sister, Chan Hao-ching, and Japan’s Shuko Aoyama — lost to China’s Zhang Shuai and Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-1, 7-5 in 1 hour, 3 minutes. Latisha Chan and Stosur, both formerly ranked No. 1, are today to play China’s Xu Yifan and Yang Zhouxuan in the round-of-16 at the Rothesay International Eastbourne, while Chan Hao-ching and Aoyama are to play Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic and Sania Mirza of India.
GOLF
Yu takes second at Wichita
Taiwan’s Kevin Yu on Saturday shot two eagles to card an eight-under-par 62 and grab second place in the third round of the Wichita Open in Kansas. The 23-year-old Taoyuan native added five birdies to his two eagles on holes two and three to leave him 18-under-par before the final round. That put him one behind leader Norman Xiong of the US. Yu shot a seven-under-par 63 in the second round and a three-under-par 67 in the first. American Kyle Westmoreland was two shots behind in third.
TENNIS
Osaka pulls from Wimbledon
Naomi Osaka on Saturday pulled out of Wimbledon, citing a lingering problem with her left Achilles tendon and marking the second consecutive year she has decided to sit out the grass-court Grand Slam tournament. The four-time major champion and former world No. 1 posted wrote on Twitter that her “Achilles still isn’t right so I’ll see you next time.” She has not played an official match since losing in the first round of the French Open to Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-4 on May 24. Professional tennis tours are not ranking points awarded at Wimbledon in response to the All England Club banning Russian and Belarusian players following the invasion of Ukraine. “I’m not sure why, but I feel like if I play Wimbledon without points, it’s more like an exhibition,” Osaka said last month. “I know this isn’t true, right? But my brain just like feels that way.”
CYCLING
Majka wins game, stage
Stage four of the Tour of Slovenia was on Saturday decided by a game of chance, as Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar finished second behind teammate Rafal Majka following a round of rock, paper, scissors to determine the victor. Pogacar and Majka were in no danger of being caught after surging ahead with 5km left, taking their hands off the handlebars in the final stretch to indulge in a quick game, with Majka’s paper trumping Pogacar’s rock. The UAE Team Emirates duo shared an embrace as Majka crossed the finish line inches ahead of Pogacar, who retained the overall leader’s jersey. “We had a great day. We did the last climb together, then Tadej said I should win the stage,” Majka said. “I’m now also in a good position for second overall. This is all very good before the Tour de France, we try to stay safe and win races.” Pogacar will be looking to win the Tour de France for a third consecutive year next month.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
Shin Oebori coaches the Fukagawa Hawks youth baseball team in Tokyo, and he is very aware how Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani touches his players. “With Ohtani, the kids think everything is possible,” Oebori said, wrapping up practice yesterday on an all-dirt field set alongside a local Buddhist temple, below an elevated highway, and in the shadow of tall apartment blocks in central Tokyo. “Nothing is impossible with him. A dream is not a dream,” Oebori said, stepping out of the fenced practice field that keeps balls from landing on the temple grounds. None of the players hitting sponge-soft baseball has reached
CRICKET Azhar’s 59 leads Stallions Aashir Azhar’s blazing half-century guided the Taipei Stallions to victory over Taipei Super 11 in the Taiwan Premier League’s Group A at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei yesterday. The Stallions were 102-3 and into the 12th over of 20 when Azhar came to the crease. He hit seven sixes and two fours in the 25 deliveries he faced to push his side to 171-5. Gokul Kumar was the star with the ball for Super 11, taking 3-17. In the reply, Deepak Vishnu outscored Azhar with 77 from 50 balls, but nobody else got past 20 as
‘GLOBAL PRESSURE’: LA’s Dave Roberts said that it was difficult to appreciate the ‘pressure on a global scale’ his starter was under ‘pitching for his country’ The Los Angeles Dodgers shelled out US$1 billion for Japanese talent in the off-season and it is paying off in the MLB playoffs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Friday outdueled Yu Darvish in a historic post-season matchup of Japanese-born starters, while the Dodgers got home runs from Kike Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez to beat the San Diego Padres 2-0 and advance to the National League Championship Series. “It’s pretty sweet,” a smiling Freddie Freeman said. Yamamoto allowed two hits over five innings for the win, getting pulled after 63 pitches in a decisive Game 5 between heated NL West rivals who were meeting in a
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