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.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
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