TABLE TENNIS
Taiwanese pair make final
Taiwan’s Cheng I-ching and Li Yu-jhun yesterday advanced to the final at the WTT Star Contender Bangkok, beating Japanese pair Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki 3-2 (11-6, 10-12, 9-11, 11-6, 11-5). They face Chinese pair Chen Xingtong and Kuai Man in the final at the Huamark Indoor Stadium. Cheng and Li, the world No. 6 women’s pair, have achieved outstanding results this year, winning at the Amman Challenge in February and taking second at the Goa Star Challenge last month.
Photo: Taipei Times, courtesy of the WTT
BASKETBALL
Wang Nan-kuei dies
Retired Taiwanese basketball player Wang Nan-kuei died in a car crash on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) early yesterday, the National Highway Police Bureau said. He was 39. Wang’s sedan crashed into a heavy truck at about 1:30am near the 106.4km mark southbound between the Toufen and Touwu interchanges in Hsinchu’s Xiangshan District. The truck had earlier collided with a light truck, with both trucks stopping on the roadway, police said. The freeway section is unlit and the driver of the heavy truck did not place a warning triangle on the road following the first collision, police said. The driver and a passenger in the light truck sustained minor injuries, police said. Wang played in the Super Basketball League from 2007 to 2014. He won the league’s All-Star three-point contest in 2013.
BASEBALL
Yu Chang injured
Taiwan’s sole active MLB player, Yu Chang, is expected to miss six weeks due to a left wrist fracture that requires surgery. The Boston Red Sox utility infielder was pulled from Monday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles following a swing and a miss against a Bryan Baker slider at the top of the seventh inning. The Red Sox on Tuesday placed Chang on the 10-day injured list due to a left hamate fracture. In a social media post on Wednesday, Chang said the injury was “the last thing an athlete wants,” adding that he was scheduled to undergo wrist surgery yesterday. Chang said he was “very touched” by the concern and encouragement he had received, adding that he “can’t wait to challenge Green Monster again.”
SOCCER
“Pele” made an adjective
The word “pele” on Wednesday was added to the more than 167,000 words in the Michaelis Portuguese dictionary printed in Brazil, denoting something or someone extraordinary — the sense in which it is already employed informally in Brazil. “The expression already used to refer to someone who is the best at what they do has been eternalized on the pages of the dictionary,” the Pele Foundation wrote on Instagram. Under the new entry, the word is defined as “exceptional, incomparable, unique” — qualities associated with Pele, who was known as “The King.” He died in December last year at the age of 82.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
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