BADMINTON
Lee wins Kaohsiung Masters
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao yesterday defeated Malaysia’s Cheam June Wei to win the men’s singles final at the Victor Kaohsiung Masters. World No. 31 Lee beat Cheam 21-15, 21-12 in 33 minutes, extending the Taiwanese’s win record over the Malaysian to 4-2 since they first faced off at the Malaysia International Youth U-19 in 2015. In the women’s singles final, world No. 29 Taiwanese Hsu Wen-chi survived compatriot and world No. 30 Pai Yu-po 22-20, 21-18. In the men’s doubles final, Taiwan’s Chang Ko-chi and Chen Xin-yuan took 58 minutes to overcome fellow Taiwanese Chen Zhi-ray and Lin Yu-chieh 19-21, 21-16, 22-20. In the women’s doubles final, the Taiwanese duo of Sung Shuo-yun and Yu Chien-hui lost 21-14, 21-18 to the Indonesian pairing of Jesita Putri Miantoro and Febi Setianingrum, while in the mixed doubles finals, Taiwan’s Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang fell 21-18, 21-13 to Thailand’s Ruttanapak Oupthong and Jhenicha Sudjaipraparat.
TRACK AND FIELD
Richardson wins 100m
Sha’Carri Richardson on Saturday earned her Olympic redemption, winning the 100m final at the US trials to punch her ticket to Paris. The world champion wrested the lead midway through the race and accelerated through the final meters to finish in a world-leading 10.71 seconds, with Melissa Jefferson taking second in 10.8 and Twanisha Terry third in 10.89. The fan favorite saw her Tokyo Olympic dream shattered with a positive cannabis test three years ago, but was able to shake off the bitter memories as she took in the wild cheers from the adoring crowd in Eugene, Oregon. “I feel honored. I feel everything, every chapter I’ve been through in my life ... prepared me for this moment,” she said in a televised interview after the race.
CRICKET
Australia fall to Afghanistan
Gulbadin Naib on Saturday was Afghanistan’s man with the golden arm, bowling his team to a surprise 21-run victory over previously unbeaten Australia in their Group One Super Eight encounter in the T20 World Cup at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Set a target of 149, Glenn Maxwell (59 off 41 balls, six fours, three sixes) had the Test and One-Day champions on course until he became Gulbadin’s third wicket in the 15th over, opening the door to a result that keeps the duel for semi-final spots alive going into the final two fixtures in the group today. In Antigua and Barbuda, leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav took three key wickets while Hardik Pandya blasted an undefeated half-century as India moved to the brink of the semi-finals with a 50-run rout of Bangladesh.
MOTORSPORTS
Norris grabs pole despite fire
Lando Norris’ Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday started with a fire and ended with a flourish as the McLaren Formula One driver secured the team’s first pole position in three years. Fire engines rushed into the paddock as smoke billowed out of McLaren’s multistory hospitality unit at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Team boss Zak Brown said a team member had been released from the hospital after precautionary checks and everyone else was in good shape. “Happy to report that everyone is fine, other than our motorhome,” the American told Sky Sports television. Some media reports said the fire was possibly electrical in origin.
South Korean giants T1, led by “Faker,” won their fifth League of Legends (LoL) world championship crown in London on Saturday, beating China’s Bilibili Gaming (BLG) in a thrilling final. The teams were locked at 2-2 at a packed O2 arena, but T1 clinched game five to make it back-to-back titles after nearly four hours of tense action. China’s BLG started strongly, taking the first game before T1 struck back to level. The Chinese team pulled ahead again at 2-1 only for their opponents to hit back again and go on to take the decider. Faker, who won the Most
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgian partner Elise Mertens on Monday notched up their first win in the doubles group stage of the WTA Finals in Riyadh to keep their semi-final hopes alive, while Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova were aiming to record their first victory after press time last night. Third seeds Hsieh and Mertens came back from a disheartening opening-day loss to Australia’s Ellen Perez and Nicole Melichar-Martinez to defeat top seeds Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, the women’s doubles world No. 3 and 4 respectively. The 6-1, 6-3 victory at King Saud University Indoor Arena
Amber Glenn overcame a fall and her own doubts to win a maiden Grand Prix figure skating title on Saturday at the Grand Prix de France. The American skater had the lead from Friday’s short program. That and the support of the crowd got her through a tough free skate in which she fell on a triple flip and put a hand onto the ice to steady herself on two other jumps. “I didn’t feel that great out there today, but I really tried, and the audience really got me through that last half when I was doubting myself,” Glenn
After pushing for months to get a shot at Colby Covington, Ireland’s Ian Machado Garry is getting to headline the UFC’s final card for this year. However, it will not be against Covington. The promotion on Friday announced that Machado Garry, the No. 7-ranked welterweight, would face ninth-ranked Joaquin Buckley at UFC Fight Night in Tampa, Florida, on Dec. 14. Machado Garry, 26, is undefeated through 15 matches, the most recent coming on June 29 when he beat Michael Page via unanimous decision. Last month, Machado Garry said in an Instagram post that in September he was offered a fight with Covington — the