BASEBALL
Lions, Monkeys to face off
The CPBL is to open its post-season on Saturday when the Uni-President Lions begin a best-of-five series against the Rakuten Monkeys at home in Tainan. The Lions are to start with a 1-0 lead in the opening round of the five-team league’s playoffs, a perk they received for winning the first half of the season. They also have the advantage of playing all of the series’ games at home except for the second game, to be staged in Taoyuan on Sunday. The Monkeys earned their playoff berth on Sunday by outlasting two-time defending champions the CTBC Brothers 11-9. The Wei Chuan Dragons advanced automatically to the Taiwan Series because they had a better full-season record than the Lions. The winner of the Lions-Monkeys series would face the Dragons in the best-of-seven Taiwan Series, which starts on Saturday next week.
BASKETBALL
US player attacked in Poland
An American player with a professional Polish women’s club was beaten and left with a head injury last week with a suspect later detained, officials and reports in Polish media said on Sunday. Mikayla Cowling, who plays for VBW Arka Gdynia, was attacked late on Wednesday in a music club in Gdansk, said the RMF FM broadcaster, which also quoted the club as saying the “brutal beating” left her with a fractured eye socket, among other injuries. “I am outraged that such a shameful situation has occurred. Violence and aggression are unacceptable and must be opposed,” Gdynia Mayor Wojciech Szczurek wrote on Sunday on X, formerly known as Twitter. The attack happened after a EuroCup women’s match where Gdynia defeated Swiss rivals the BCF Elfic Fribourg, 77-47. Cowling scored 7 points. Gdynia president Boguslaw Witkowski said in an interview with the Polish Press Agency that the player was attacked near the women’s restroom by a security guard. The state-run agency also quoted a police spokesperson who said the suspect, a 48-year-old man, was arrested on Friday.
CRICKET
Australia’s Healy bit by dog
Australia acting captain and wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy was rushed into surgery at the weekend after injuring her right index finger trying to separate her dogs as they were fighting. Healy was a late withdrawal from the Sydney Sixers ahead of their 42-run defeat to the Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League on Sunday. The Sixers said Healy had hand surgery after a “domestic accident at home,” but her Australia teammate Phoebe Litchfield later revealed the injury was due to a dog attack. Healy yesterday said she sustained an injury after putting her hand between her two Staffordshire bull terriers. “The positive sign out of it is there was no bone or tendon damage, or a rupture,” she told reporters in a videoconference. “I think there was an artery involved which probably made it look more like a crime scene than it needed to be. It was quite gory.” Healy, who is now in doubt for the rest of the season, is to meet with surgeons on Thursday. “When I pulled my finger out initially, I thought I was in strife, but it’s all gone smoothly at the moment,” she said.
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
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
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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