ATHLETICS
Taiwan bag three golds
Taiwan’s youth team bagged three golds, one silver and one bronze medal at the Asian U18 Athletics Championships, which began in Kuwait on Thursday. Fifteen-year-old Chiang Jing-yuan, pictured, collected Taiwan’s first gold, winning the girls’ discus. In her final throw, Chiang produced a career-best result of 45.42m to win the category. Also clinching gold were 16-year-old Hsieh Yuan-kai, who won the 110m boys’ hurdles with a time of 13.65 seconds, and 16-year-old Huang Chao-hung, who won the boys’ javelin with a stunning 80.40m throw in his fourth attempt, breaking Taiwan’s U18 national record of 80.12m. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Li Po-jui took silver with a 10.73 second-run in the boys’ 100m, while Irene Lai clinched silver in the girls’ 100m hurdles with a time of 14.24 seconds.
Photo: CNA
FOOTBALL
Brady fined for kick
Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Friday was fined US$11,139 by the NFL for kicking at Atlanta defensive tackle Grady Jarrett after being sacked. The punishment came for Brady swinging his right leg up at Jarrett after being brought down on a controversial late-game play in Tampa Bay’s 21-15 victory on Sunday last week, the league said. Jarrett rose after bringing down Brady and celebrated what he thought was a crucial defensive play, stepping over prone Brady in the process. Brady kicked upward at Jarrett, prompting the league to issue him a fine.
SOCCER
Sundowns near CAF record
Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa on Friday trounced La Passe of the Seychelles 8-1, but just missed equaling the record overall winning margin for a CAF Champions League qualifier. Sundowns won the last-32 tie 15-1 on aggregate having beaten the Indian Ocean part-timers 7-0 last weekend in the first leg. Both matches were staged in Pretoria because La Passe lack an international-standard stadium. The record 16-1 margin for a Champions League qualifier was achieved by Sundowns in the 2020 edition when they thrashed another Seychellois club, Cote d’Or, 11-1 at home and 5-0 away.
TENNIS
Swiatek reaches semis
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek on Friday cruised past Coco Gauff of the US to reach the San Diego Open semi-finals, winning 6-0, 6-3 in 65 minutes. Swiatek advanced to the semi-finals, which were to be played after press time last night, against sixth-ranked Jessica Pegula, who defeated 18th-ranked US compatriot Madison Keys 6-4, 7-5. Croatia’s Donna Vekic made the semi-finals by ousting fifth-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-1. Vekic was to play American Danielle Collins, who beat Spain’s Paula Badosa 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
New Taipei Kings guard Jeremy Lin on Friday was named the Taiwan Professional Basketball League’s (TPBL) Player of the Month, the first domestic player to win the award, while the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers are to welcome their third head coach in less than a year. Lin averaged 22 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists over five games in October and last month, helping the Kings to second in the standings with a 4-2 record as of Friday. The Kings last night defeated the Lioneers 96-78 to move level with the top-of-the-table Formosa Dreamers (5-2), while in the night game, the New Taipei
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
TO NO AVAIL: The Denver Nuggets’ Serbian center Nikola Jokic surpassed his 53-point performance in the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix The Washington Wizards withstood a 56-point explosion from Denver star Nikola Jokic to beat the Nuggets 122-113 on Saturday and snap their 16-game NBA losing streak. Jokic, who won his third NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) award last season, posted a career scoring high — surpassing a 53-point performance in game four of the 2023 Western Conference semi-finals against Phoenix and a 50-point regular-season best against Sacramento in 2021. The Serbian big man added 16 rebounds and eight assists, but it was all to no avail as Washington, buoyed by 39 points from Jordan Poole, won for the first time
Taiwan’s Lin Cheng-jing won a bronze medal in the clean and jerk in the women’s under-49 kg division at the 2024 IWF World Weightlifting Championships in Bahrain on Saturday. Lin won her first medal at a World Weightlifting Championships for lifting 107kg in the clean and jerk in her weight class, 2kg more than Rosegie Ramos of the Philippines. However, Ramos won bronze for the combined lift after topping Lin by 5kg in the snatch. Ri Song-gum of North Korea won gold in the division’s combined lift with a total of 213kg, while Xiang Linxiang of China took silver with
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