GOLF
Grayson Murray dies at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died on Saturday, a day after withdrawing from the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, the PGA said in a statement. American Murray, who was 30, won his most recent title at this year’s Sony Open and had pulled out of the Charles Schwab tournament during the second round citing an illness. Murray, who picked up his first title on the PGA Tour in 2017, reached a career-high 46th in the world rankings after his Sony Open win. “We were devastated to learn — and are heartbroken to share — that PGA Tour player Grayson Murray passed away this morning. I am at a loss for words,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. The PGA did not disclose a cause of death.
RUGBY UNION
Otago advance to quarters
Otago Highlanders yesterday cemented a place in the Super Rugby quarter-finals with a 39-3 thumping of Fijian Drua, leaving four teams to fight for the last playoff berth. The home side ran in five unanswered tries in Dunedin, New Zealand, to notch their biggest win of the season and leave Drua among the sides battling for survival in next weekend’s final round of matches. Drua, who have lost all seven of their away matches this season, remain eighth. Victory over the seventh-placed Melbourne Rebels in Lautoka on Saturday would guarantee them a quarter-final spot.
ATHLETICS
Chebet breaks 10k record
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet on Saturday broke the women’s 10,000m world record with a victory in 28 minutes, 54.14 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meet in Eugene, Oregon. The 24-year-old, a two-time world championships medalist at 5,000m and a cross-country world champion, broke the record of 29:01.03 set by Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey in Hengelo on June 8, 2021. Chebet’s victory in a race designated as Kenya’s Olympic qualifier established her as a favorite for gold at the Paris Games in August.
TENNIS
Ruud wins third Geneva title
Casper Ruud on Saturday downed Novak Djokovic’s conqueror Tomas Machac to win a third Geneva Open title and head into the French Open with a trophy in his racket bag. The world No. 7 Norwegian beat 44th-ranked Czech Machac 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour, 47 minutes. Second seed Ruud won the Geneva title in 2021 and 2022. Ruud was the runner-up in the last two French Opens, and a third Geneva title gives the 25-year-old a timely boost as he makes the journey to Paris. Nobody has won more matches on the ATP tour this year than Ruud.
SOCCER
Leverkusen win German Cup
Granit Xhaka on Saturday scored the only goal as a 10-man Bayer 04 Leverkusen beat Kaiserslautern 1-0 to lift the German Cup in Berlin and give the club the league-cup double. Crowned Bundesliga champions last month, Leverkusen were made to fight hard against their second-division opponents, playing with a man down after Odilon Kossounou’s second yellow late in the first half. Leverkusen bounced back from Wednesday’s Europa League final loss to Atalanta BC — which ended both their season-long unbeaten run at 51 games and their hopes of a treble.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans
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