SURFING
Dolphins add to Bryan’s win
Hawaii’s Gabriela Bryan yesterday shared a wave with a pod of dolphins as she won her first world championship tour event over Californian rookie Sawyer Lindblad in pumping surf at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro. Both Bryan and Lindblad had to go deep to avoid the mid-season cut and secure their place for the remainder of this year’s tour. Bryan took a commanding lead with a 7.83 for two powerful turns on her forehand as a handful of dolphins swooped around her. “When I kicked out, I was just wow. That wave was sent to me by someone, the dolphins in it. It was magical,” said Bryan, who scored an even better 8.10 on her second scoring ride. Meanwhile, Margaret River local Jack Robinson out-dueled against Hawaii’s two-time world champion John John Florence in the men’s final, with the event’s two form surfers trading huge carves on the double-overhead walls.
SNOOKER
Brecel succumbs to ‘curse’
World snooker champion Luca Brecel on Saturday became the latest victim of the so-called “Curse of the Crucible” when his title defense ended on the first day of this year’s tournament. David Gilbert, who had to qualify for the championships, reeled off the final four frames to claim a stunning 10-9 win over his Belgian opponent. Brecel becomes the 19th first-time world champion to fail to defend his title at the Crucible Theatre venue in Sheffield. “It was a good year, and now I can look forward to being a non-world champion again,” Brecel said. “I’m quite relieved. I don’t like the attention, when everyone says: ‘Oh, it’s the world champion.’ It’s not my thing.”
TENNIS
Rybakina ousts Swiatek
Elena Rybakina on Saturday ended defending champion Iga Swiatek’s 10-match winning streak in Stuttgart to reach the final of the clay-court tournament. Fourth seed Rybakina came through their semi-final clash 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, stunning the Polish world No. 1 who had captured the past two titles at the German event. Rybakina is to face Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk for the title. Winners of the Stuttgart tournament, sponsored by German automobile company Porsche, receive a car, but Rybakina said the prize would be of little use. “I actually don’t have a driver’s license,” she said.
ATHLETICS
Duplantis breaks own record
Sweden’s Armand “Mondo” Duplantis on Saturday opened his outdoor season in Olympic year in stunning fashion as he bettered his own pole vault world record at the Xiamen Diamond League meeting. Duplantis, the reigning Olympic, two-time world and European champion, fired out a warning to any potential rivals at this summer’s Paris Games by sailing over 6.24m at his first attempt at the Egret Stadium to improve by 1cm his previous best set in Eugene last year. The US-born 24-year-old entered the competition at 5.62m, clearing 5.82m and 6m before setting the new world record — his eighth in the discipline, each by 1cm since first breaking the record in February 2020 in Torun, Poland. “For me to jump a world record I need everything to be in the right place,” said Duplantis, hailing no winds and great energy from the crowd. “Everything added up to what I needed for me to jump high today,” he added.
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