TENNIS
Spain takes top 2 rankings
No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No. 2 Rafael Nadal are the first countrymen to top the ATP rankings in 22 years. The two players from Spain are also the first men from somewhere other than the US to sit at one-two since the tour introduced computerized rankings in 1973. Alcaraz, 19, rose to the top spot by winning the US Open last month, becoming the youngest man ever to be No. 1. Nadal rose from No. 3 to No. 2 on Monday, swapping places with US Open runner-up Casper Ruud. Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras were the last two compatriots to hold the top spots in August 2000. “Proud to share this historic moment with @RafaelNadal, the best player of all-time,” Alcaraz wrote on Twitter in Spanish.
BASEBALL
Albert Pujols tops Babe Ruth
Move over, Babe Ruth, Prince Albert is the new No. 2 on a big baseball list. Albert Pujols on Monday night hit his 703rd home run, breaking a tie with Ruth for second place in career RBIs. The 42-year-old slugger connected for the St Louis Cardinals off Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Mitch Keller, pulling a two-run shot into the left field stands to snap a scoreless tie in the sixth inning. It was Pujols’ 35th home run at PNC Park, his most at any visiting ballpark. The drive pushed Pujols’ total to 2,216 RBIs, surpassing Ruth on the all-time chart. Hank Aaron holds the record with 2,297. “Passing Babe Ruth is a big deal,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said after his team’s 3-2 loss. “Seeing him hit a home run in that situation was fun to watch. You feel pretty good about where you’re at whenever he swings, and his home runs have been very meaningful.” Pujols plans to retire after the season.
SOCCER
Ukraine plans World Cup bid
Ukraine is set to join Spain and Portugal in their bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the Times reported on Monday. Ukraine would host one of the groups in the tournament under the plan which is understood to have been sanctioned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the governments of Spain and Portugal, the Times said. The new partnership is due to be announced by the Spainish and Portuguese soccer chiefs during a news conference at UEFA’s headquarters today, the report added. Meanwhile, several major French cities including Lille, Strasbourg and Bordeaux said they would not organize fan zones or put up giant outdoor screens to show this year’s Qatar World Cup soccer matches in protest against the loss of immigrant workers’ lives during construction of the stadia in Qatar and the energy that would be wasted to cool the sports arenas.
SOCCER
Indonesia probe begins
An Indonesian police chief and nine elite officers were on Monday removed from their posts and 18 others were being investigated for responsibility in the firing of tear gas inside a soccer stadium that set off a stampede, killing 131 people including dozens of children in one of the deadliest disasters in soccer history. Witnesses say the crush in the city of Malang started when officers fired tear gas into packed stands to quell a pitch invasion. The death toll jumped again yesterday, with local health official Wiyanto Wijoyo saying that six more victims had succumbed to their injuries.
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