TENNIS
Taiwanese exit in UK
Taiwanese sisters Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching on Wednesday crashed out of the women’s doubles at the Rothesay Open Nottingham. The Chans exited in the round-of-16, beaten 6-3, 6-4 by British duo Heather Watson and Harriet Dart at the Nottingham Tennis Centre. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Wang Xinyu of China consolidated their No. 7 ranking for the WTA Finals with their victory in Paris this week. Hsieh and Wang have 2,060 points for the Oct. 31 to Nov. 7 tournament, 61 adrift of Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands and the US’ Desirae Krawczyk (2,121) in sixth. Eight pairs are to play at the finals in Shenzhen, China.
SOCCER
Women’s TV deal inked
FIFA agreed to a major European broadcasting rights deal with five key countries to show the Women’s World Cup, resolving a standoff with just over a month to go until the competition begins. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and FIFA extended their media rights partnership to broadcast the event on EBU’s free-to-air TV network across 34 European territories, including Britain, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, FIFA said in a statement on Wednesday. It was a major breakthrough and ended the threat of a blackout for TV viewers in Europe when the competition starts in Australia and New Zealand. “As part of this agreement, the EBU has committed to working towards broadcasting at least one hour of weekly content dedicated to women’s football on its own digital platform and broadcaster network,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in the statement.
SOCCER
Golfers eye Leeds stake
Rickie Fowler said that he and fellow American golfers Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are looking to invest in Leeds United after 49ers Enterprises agreed on a takeover of the English soccer club. Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani agreed to sell his stake to the investment arm of the San Francisco 49ers NFL franchise after they were relegated from the English Premier League. “There is the group that’s moving forward with being involved with Leeds. Myself, J.T. and Jordan potentially will be a part of it,” Fowler told Sky Sports. “It will be fun if we get to be a part of it. If not, we will continue to root for Leeds. I feel like it’s [soccer] continuing to get bigger in the [United] States, but still since I haven’t been to a game I don’t have the true appreciation until I’ve actually been able to go and be there and feel that energy.”
RUGBY UNION
SANZAAR clarifies schedule
The governing body of southern hemisphere rugby, SANZAAR, has apologized for any confusion about the prospect of the Rugby Championship moving from its traditional August-to-October window to earlier in the year. Reports earlier this year said that SANZAAR was considering the shift to a March-to-April window at the behest of South Africa and Argentina, whose players now mostly play club and provincial rugby in European competitions. However, SANZAAR said in a statement it “can reiterate that until 2026, the existing mini-tour match schedule is locked in. Furthermore, The Rugby Championship window will not change from 2026 with the national unions working on competition models for the August-September.”
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with