BADMINTON
Taiwanese pair make final
Taiwanese made one final at the Vietnam Open after the men’s doubles pair of He Zhi-wei and Huang Jui-hsuan advanced with a walkover in yesterday’s semi-finals in Ho Chi Minh City. Japanese pair Takumi Nomura and Yuichi Shimogami were unable to play yesterday, handing He and Huang free passage into today’s final against Raymond Indra and Patra Harapan Rindorindo of Indonesia, who beat Cui Hechen and Peng Jianqin of China 24-22, 21-16 at the US$100,000 event. In the women’s doubles, Lee Chih-chen and Lin Yen-yu lost 21-16, 21-18 against Tidapron Kleebyeesun and Nattamon Laisuan of Thailand, while in the women’s singles, Vietnam’s Thuy Linh Nguyen beat Lin Hsiang-ti 21-13, 22-20. At the Hong Kong Open, the final Taiwanese were eliminated. Chiu Hsiang-chieh and Wang Chi-lin were the last Taiwanese remaining at the Hong Kong Coliseum, but were beaten in their men’s doubles semi-final 21-23, 21-15, 21-16 by South Korean duo Kang Min-hyuk and Seo Seung-jae. Chiu and Wang advanced on Friday with a 23-21, 21-17 win over Chinese pair Huang Di and Zhou Haodong.
TABLE TENNIS
Taiwan’s Kao loses
Taiwan’s Kao Cheng-jui yesterday was eliminated in the men’s singles at the World Table Tennis Champions Macau, losing to Qiu Dang of Germany 4-2 (8-11, 16-14, 12-10, 11-6, 6-11, 11-3). Kao reached the semis with a 3-2 (4-11, 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7) win against Truls Moregard of Sweden. Lin Yun-ju exited on Friday, beaten in the quarter-finals 3-0 (11-7, 11-7, 11-9) by Lin Shidong of China. In the women’s singles on Friday, Taiwan’s Cheng I-ching was eliminated in the quarters by China’s Wang Manyu, who won 3-1 (8-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7).
BASEBALL
Taiwan finish with loss
Taiwan yesterday lost to Britain 2-1, both teams’ final game at the WBSC Under-23 Baseball World Cup in Shaoxing, China. Britain went ahead in the top of the second inning after Taiwan left three men on base in the bottom of the first. They doubled their lead in the fourth inning and held Taiwan scoreless until the seventh and final inning. Right fielder Huang Bo-rui hit a double and pinch hitter Wang Shun-ho singled to right center to bring Huang home with two out, but second baseman Zheng Jun-wei hit a fly-ball that was caught to end it. On Friday, Taiwan beat Australia 4-3. Taiwan finished fifth in the Placement Round with a 2-3 record. Nicaragua (5-0) were first, followed by Venezuela (3-2), South Korea (3-2) and the Netherlands (2-3). South Africa (0-5) were last. The teams from the Super Round are to play the bronze-medal game and the world championship final today.
CRICKET
England level series
Liam Livingstone and Jacob Bethell on Friday shared 90 runs to lead England to a T20 series-tying win over Australia at Sophia Gardens. The series is to be decided today at Old Trafford. Set 194 to win, England slipped to 79-3 when Phil Salt walked into an apparent trap laid by fellow captain Travis Head, but Livingstone and Bethell broke the back of the chase. Bethell’s dismissal disrupted England, but Livingstone carried them to the brink of victory with a superb 87 off 47.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
RSS