TENNIS
Chan sisters reach final
Taiwanese sisters Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching on Friday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Dubai Tennis Championships after defeating third seeds Dutch-American duo Demi Schuurs and Desirae Krawczyk in three sets. The Taiwanese duo easily overcame their opponents 6-1 in the first set only to face a setback in the second set as Schuurs and Krawczyk rallied to win 6-4. From there, the Chan sisters took advantage by winning four out of their five first serve points and won the tiebreaker 10-4 to punch their tickets to the final, where they face Russians Veronika Kudermetova and Liudmila Samsonova. The final was to begin at about press time last night. In the women’s singles, top-ranked Iga Swiatek stayed undefeated against Coco Gauff, beating the American teenager 6-4, 6-2 to reach the final, where she was to play Barbora Krejcikova after press time. Krejcikova beat No. 3 Jessica Pegula of the US 6-1, 5-7, 6-0 in Friday’s other semi-final.
TABLE TENNIS
Taiwanese veteran beaten
Veteran Taiwanese paddler Huang Yi-hua on Friday finished second at the WTT Feeder Dusseldorf II in Germany after succumbing to 16-year-old Qin Yuxuan of China in straight games in the women’s singles final. World No. 151 Huang, who is 22 years older than the world No. 134 Qin, received a 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 drubbing in the final, which lasted 39 minutes, 25 seconds at Dusseldorf’s Deutsches Tischtennis-Zentrum. Despite losing the final, Huang rocked the tournament with her shock victory over world No. 40 and top seed Xiaona Shan of Germany in their semi-final. However, Qin’s majestic performance in the final saw her to take early leads and then stretch each game out of Huang’s reach to clinch her first senior title. After the match, Qin said that she had prepared well, which helped her to play smoothly. “Everything was under my control, and I am very happy to win the match. I feel that I have played so many games, and that I am much more mature and much more stable in handling the ball than before,” she said.
RUGBY UNION
Drua edge Moana Pasifika
The Fijian Drua had the last say yesterday in a match that saw 11 tries to edge Moana Pasifika 36-34 on the opening weekend of the Super Rugby Pacific season. The Drua trailed 19-5 in the first half and did not lead in the match until the 77th minute when replacement winger Taniela Rakuro scored the try that gave them a narrow and thrilling win. Moana Pasifika managed a slim advantage in the forward contest, but the match was decided by hard-running outside backs who traded tries in the second half. In Dunedin, the Auckland Blues produced a statement performance to start their campaign with a record 60-20 win at the home of the Otago Highlanders, with the powerful running of winger Mark Telea a high point. In yesterday’s late games, the Wellington Hurricanes beat the Queensland Reds 47-13 and the Western Force edged the Melbourne Rebels 34-27. On Friday, the opening day of the competition, the ACT Brumbies beat the New South Wales Waratahs 31-25 and the Waikato Chiefs rallied from 10-0 down to defeat defending champions the Canterbury Crusaders 31-10.
Taiwan’s participation in the Olympic Games has been a story of politics as much as sports, with the name it has competed under since 1984 — Chinese Taipei — drawing as much attention as its athletes. However, with the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad set to begin in Paris on Friday, the exploits of Taiwan’s athletes past and present who have won 36 medals since the country’s debut in Melbourne in 1956 deserve a nod. Many of Taiwan’s medal winners have gained considerable name recognition, but only two have achieved legendary status — Maysang Kalimud and Chi Cheng, the only medal winners
Shohei Ohtani on Sunday hit a 473-foot (144m) home run as the Los Angeles Dodgers went deep six times in a 9-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox. Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez, Gavin Lux, Austin Barnes and Jason Heyward also connected as Los Angeles swept the three-game series. “Going into the break, we weren’t playing good baseball, and then to come out fresh against a really good ball club and to play the way we did — the offense came to life,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. It was the 25th time the Dodgers launched at least six homers in a game
Canada women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman on Wednesday said she would step away from the team’s opening game against New Zealand at the Paris Olympics in the wake of a drone scandal. New Zealand complained to the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit after it said drones were flown over closed practice sessions earlier in the week. As of press time last night, Canada, the defending Olympic champions, were set to open the Paris Games against New Zealand in Saint-Etienne. In the fallout of the complaint, two staff members — assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi — were sent home, the
Conventional wisdom dictates that the average retirement age for elite female players in the intense and physically demanding sport of badminton is well under 30 years old. Five female shuttlers are set to turn that on its head when they make their fourth Olympic appearances at the Paris Games, a feat never accomplished before. Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying, 30, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, 29, Belgium’s Lianne Tan, 33, and Hong Kong’s Tse Ying Suet and Canada’s Michelle Li, both 32, are to compete for Olympic glory at Porte de La Chapelle Arena from Saturday to Aug. 5. “These achievements get missed because they’re women,” said