TENNIS
Taiwan’s Wu advances
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-fsien and Rosalie van der Hoek of the Netherlands on Wednesday advanced at the Monterrey Open in Mexico. The Taiwanese-Dutch duo overcame Belgium’s Ysaline Bonaventure and Lucia Bronzetti of Italy, winning 7-5, 6-3 to set up a quarter-final match against Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse and Anna Bondar of Hungary.
SOCCER
Arsenal extend lead
Arsenal on Wednesday extended their lead in the Premier League to five points by beating Everton 4-0, with Gabriel Martinelli scoring two of the goals in one of his team’s biggest wins of the season. Bukayo Saka put Arsenal in front with a rising shot into the roof of the net from a tight angle in the 40th minute before a Gabriel Martinelli brace and a goal from Martin Odegaard completed the scoring. Elsewhere, Liverpool beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0.
SOCCER
Man Utd reach quarters
Manchester United moved a step closer to a second trophy this season by advancing to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a 3-1 win over West Ham United. In other games, Burnley beat Fleetwood Town 1-0 in a contest between two second-division sides, while there were two upsets, with fourth-division Grimsby Town beating top-flight Southampton 2-1 and Tottenham Hotspur eliminated in a 1-0 loss to second-tier Sheffield United.
SOCCER
Indonesian game postponed
A rematch of an Indonesian soccer game that ended in one of the sport’s worst stadium stampedes has been postponed due to the risk of further crowd trouble, police said yesterday. The October 2022 derby match in Malang, East Java, between Arema and Persebaya Surabaya saw 135 spectators killed, many crushed as they fled for exits after police fired tear gas into the crowd. Although their next league meeting was due to be played behind closed doors on Sunday, Dirmanto, a spokesman for the East Java police, said it was deemed high risk as the clubs “have a history of rivalry.” Yahya Alkatiri, manager of home side Persebaya, said that the game was due to be held in nearby Gresik, but police permission to host it was denied. “This was a match fraught with risks,” Yahya said, adding that scuffles could happen outside the stadium.
SOCCER
Yves Jean-Bart returns
Former Haitian Football Association president Yves Jean-Bart, whose lifetime ban from the sport over sexual abuse allegations was overturned, on Wednesday said that he is reclaiming his position. Jean-Bart has denied allegations by the FIFA ethics committee, which issued a lifetime ban after finding him guilty in 2020 of sexually abusing female players. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban, ruling there were inconsistencies and inaccuracies in statements of alleged victims. The court also said that information provided by groups such as Human Rights Watch and world players union FIFPRO were not “sufficiently evidentiary.” Jean-Bart also said that he would file a lawsuit over alleged defamation against a journalist who first reported the accusations against him in the Guardian. “He is going on the offensive. Let it be known,” Jean-Bart’s attorney Stanley Gaston said.
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