BADMINTON
Lee loses Korea Open final
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao yesterday clinched a silver medal after losing to his Chinese opponent in the men’s singles final at the Korea Open. Lee, who was unseeded in the Seoul tournament, lost 16-21, 22-20, 18-21 to China’s Lu Guangzu in a hard-fought match that lasted 68 minutes. World No. 30 Lee has not beaten world No. 13 Lu in their five matches against each other. Sunday’s win was Lu’s first title on the world tour in six years.
PARALYMPICS
Archer first pregnant winner
British archer Jodie Grinham became the first pregnant Paralympics athlete to win a medal when she took bronze in women’s individual compound, the Paralympics’ social media accounts said on Saturday. Seven months pregnant, 31-year-old Grinham held her nerves to beat Tokyo Paralympics gold medalist and friend Phoebe Paterson Pine by a razor-thin 142-141 scoreline in Friday’s bronze medal matchup. “Baby hasn’t stopped kicking,” Grinham said. “It’s almost like baby’s going, what’s going on? It’s really loud, mommy what are you doing? But it’s been a lovely reminder of the support bubble I have in my belly.” She aims to win a second medal when she competes in the mixed team compound quarter-finals today along with Nathan McQueen.
FOOTBALL
49ers rookie shot
Rookie receiver Ricky Pearsall, this year’s first round draft pick for the San Francisco 49ers, was on Saturday shot during an attempted robbery, the team said. “San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ricky Pearsall was the victim of an attempted robbery and shooting this afternoon,” the team said. Pearsall was shot in the chest and is in serious but stable condition, the team added. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the shooting took place in Union Square, a city landmark. “SFPD [San Francisco Police Department] was on scene immediately and an arrest of the shooter was made. My thoughts are with Ricky and his family at this time,” she wrote on X. The wide receiver, who played college football at Arizona State University and then Florida State University, was taken with the 31st pick in the draft by the 49ers. Police identified the shooting suspect as a 17-year-old male.
MOTORSPORTS
Teen takes title without wins
Italian teenager Leonardo Fornaroli yesterday clinched the Formula 3 championship at Monza after a campaign in which he did not win a single race. In a curtain-raiser for the Formula One Grand Prix later in the day, the 19-year-old overtook Australian Christian Mansell on the final corner of the 10-race season to grab third place and snatch the title. That maneuver gave Fornaroli five extra points. He edged Gabriele Mini, who was second in the race and the season standings, by two points, to become the first Italian to take the F3 title. Fornaroli’s French teammate at Trident, Sami Meguetounif, won the race. Fornaroli was second entering the penultimate lap but both Mini and Mansell overtook. “Not my race actually I have to say because I did plenty of mistakes,” Fornaroli said. “We managed to recover at the end in the last corner to get third place and the championship as well. It’s been a great season, even without a win, we managed to win the title.”
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
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures
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