BADMINTON
Lu and Yang exit Singapore
Taiwan’s Lu Ching-yao and Yang Po-han on Friday crashed out of the men’s doubles quarter-finals in Singapore Open, after losing to Indonesia’s Sabar Karyaman Gutama and Moh Reza Pahlevi Isfahani. The Indonesian duo swiftly defeated the Taiwanese 21-16, 21-17 in just 32 minutes. The Taiwanese world No. 24 are to have a chance at redemption at the Taipei Open, which starts on Tuesday.
RUGBY UNION
Samoa win Nations Cup
Replacement hooker Seilala Lam yesterday scored two tries including the match-winner in the 70th minute as Samoa rallied to beat Fiji 23-20 to win the Pacific Nations Cup for the first time in eight years. On an eventful final day of the four-nation tournament, Australia A first beat Tonga 39-22 to briefly move atop the table, but Samoa rallied from 17-3 down at halftime to overcome Fiji with Lam’s two second-half tries to win the trophy for the third time. Samoa came into the final round unbeaten on two wins, with 10 points and ahead of Australia A on seven points and Fiji on five.
OLYMPICS
Jim Thorpe wins reinstated
Jim Thorpe has been reinstated as the sole winner of the 1912 Olympic pentathlon and decathlon in Stockholm — nearly 110 years after being stripped of those gold medals for contraventions of strict amateurism rules of the time. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Friday announced the change on the 110th anniversary of Thorpe winning the decathlon and later being proclaimed by King Gustav V of Sweden as “the greatest athlete in the world.” Thorpe, a Native American, returned to a ticker-tape parade in New York, but months later it was discovered he had been paid to play minor league baseball over two summers, an infringement of the Olympic amateurism rules. He was stripped of his gold medals in what was described as the first major international sports scandal. To some, Thorpe remains the greatest all-around athlete ever. He was voted as The Associated Press’ Athlete of the Half Century in a poll in 1950. In 1982 — 29 years after his death — the IOC gave duplicate gold medals to his family, but did not reinstate his Olympic records, nor his status as the sole gold medalist of the two events.
BASEBALL
MLB to pay out US$185m
The MLB on Friday agreed to pay minor leaguers US$185 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging contraventions of US minimum wage laws, a case that progressed through the courts for eight years without reaching a trial. An early estimate is that perhaps 23,000 players could share the money with an average payment of US$5,000 to US$5,500, according to a filing by Brian Kriegler, the players’ damages expert. “This settlement is a monumental step for minor league players toward a fair and just compensation system,” Garrett Broshuis, the players’ lead lawyer and a former minor league pitcher, said in a statement. “I’ve seen first-hand the financial struggle players face while earning poverty-level wages — or no wages at all — in pursuit of their major league dream.” If approved, US$120,197,300 will be split among the players, US$55.5 million will go the players’ lawyers and up to US$5.5 million will cover reimbursement costs of the suit.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
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