BADMINTON
Taiwan lose to Malaysia
Tai Tzu-ying yesterday won Taiwan’s only victory in their 4-1 defeat to Malaysia in their Group C tie of the Sudirman Cup Finals. The world No. 3 star dominated Goh Jin Wei in the women’s singles 21-8, 21-10. In the opening match of their final group tie, Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin won just one game of their mixed doubles showdown with Chen Tang Jie and Toh Ee Wei, losing 17-21, 21-19, 21-17. That set the tone for the rest of the day, with Chou Tien-chen losing 21-14, 21-23 to world No. 8 Lee Zii Jia in the second match. In men’s doubles, Lu Ching-yao and Yang Po-han lost straight games 21-8, 23-21 to Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, while Hsu Ya-ching and Teng Chun-hsun eked out a win in their 21-15, 19-21, 21-15 defeat to Pearly Tan and Thinaah Muralitharan in the women’s doubles.
RUGBY UNION
Kit switched for color blind
Saracens and Sale Sharks are to wear their away jerseys in the Premiership Rugby final this month to avoid a clash that would have posed a problem for color blind fans, the league said yesterday. Saracens traditionally would have worn their black home jerseys as top seeds, while Sale play in red-maroon, but Colour Blind Awareness said that fans with a vision deficiency would not be able to tell them apart. Saracens would now play in their white away jerseys, while Sale play in maroon after the league were told that one in 12 men and one in 200 women are color blind. “It is important that the accessibility needs of these groups are recognized to enable all fans of the sport to have a positive viewing experience that isn’t limited by avoidable color clashes,” Colour Blind Awareness CEO Kathryn Albany-Ward said.
ATHLETICS
Kenyan runner suspended
Kenyan distance runner Rhonex Kipruto, who won a bronze medal in the 10,000m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, has been suspended for suspected doping, the Athletics Integrity Unit said yesterday. Kipruto has been notified of a charge relating to irregularities in his athlete biological passport, it said. The biological passport can detect possible irregularities in blood values assessed over time without an athlete testing positive for a banned substance. Kipruto was 19 when he finished third in the 10,000m in Doha. Months later, he set a record for a 10km road race in Valencia, Spain, and placed ninth in the 10,000m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
CYCLING
Virus knocks out more riders
The Giro d’Italia yesterday lost six more cyclists, four of them from former race leader Remco Evenepoel’s team, owing to positive COVID-19 tests taking the total of withdrawals due to the virus to 15 since the race began on May 6. Race favorite Evenepoel withdrew late on Sunday due to a positive test and despite the race organizers implementing stricter rules on Monday, COVID-19 continued to affect the peloton. “Soudal Quick-Step is disappointed to announce that four more riders from its Giro d’Italia squad have tested positive for COVID-19 and will leave the race,” read a team statement. “Following the positive test of Remco Evenepoel on Sunday, a further round of tests were made on the riders and staff that remained in Italy, with Jan Hirt, Josef Cerny, Louis Vervaeke and Matteo Cattaneo unfortunately unable to continue.”
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
New Zealand yesterday reached 231-9 at stumps on a first day of the first Test against the West Indies shortened by rain after Justin Greaves triggered a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand tumbled from 94-1 to 148-6 on a bowler-friendly wicket after Williamson was dismissed for 52, his 38th Test half-century. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith arrested the slide with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. Smith eventually fell for 23 and Bracewell for 47. After Matt Henry went for 8, Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were both on 4 when bad light stopped play after 70
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
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