TABLE TENNIS
Taiwanese legend withdraws
Taiwanese legend Chuang Chih-yuan has withdrawn from the world rankings of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), although he can still participate in other international tournaments. As of Tuesday, Chuang’s name had been removed from the ITTF world rankings list, where he was last ranked 44th. Taiwan’s governing body said that Chuang submitted to the ITTF an application to withdraw from the list last week. “We double-checked his intentions before we sent the letter to the ITTF,” said Yeh Kuo-chin, the national body’s secretary-general. Yeh did not rule out the 43-year-old participating in international tournaments, as he is still sponsored by the Sports Administration’s Golden Plan. “He probably does not plan to compete in as many tournaments as he did. Now that he has no world ranking, he will be unseeded if he competes in a tournament,” Yeh said. Chuang has said that he would focus more on training young talent. Chuang has participated in all six Summer Olympics since the Athens Games in 2004, with his best performance being a fourth-place finish in the men’s singles at the 2012 London Olympics. In August last year, after Taiwan’s men’s team lost to Japan in the quarter-finals, Chuang announced that the Paris Olympics would be his last. Over the past five months, the only international tournament he has competed in was the WTT Champions Macau in September, at which he lost in the first round.
Photo: CNA
GOLF
OWGR adds Taiwan tour
The Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) on Tuesday said that it would include the PGA Tour of Taiwan in its system effective on Week 1 this year. The body — which administers and publishes weekly rankings based on the relative performances of male golfers at “Eligible Golf Tours” worldwide — said that it would also use a new points distribution curve for tournaments with “Low Field Ratings” to award a larger percentage of rankings points to the top finishers. Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion and a golf broadcast analyst, is to take over as chair of the body on April 10, its board said.
Photo: AFP
SOCCER
Paolo Guerrero retires
Peru’s record goalscorer Paolo Guerrero on Tuesday announced his retirement from international soccer at the age of 41. “The national team needs new people, new faces. What people are asking for are new players, so let’s give the youngsters a chance,” Guerrero told reporters. Guerrero made his national team debut against Bolivia in October 2004. He is Peru’s all-time leading scorer with 40 goals in 125 appearances. The former Bayern Munich, Hamburg SV and Corinthians striker’s final game for Peru was a 1-0 loss to Argentina in November in FIFA World Cup qualifying. Guerrero, who plays for Alianza Lima in his homeland, participated at six Copa America tournaments as well as the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
Inter’s defense of their Italian Serie A title was hit with a setback on Sunday as they lost 1-0 at home to AS Roma, while Scott McTominay netted a brace as SSC Napoli beat Torino 2-0 to go top of the table. No fixtures were played on Friday or Saturday because of the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome, meaning the full round of Serie A matches took place on Sunday and yesterday. Matias Soule’s first-half strike for Roma knocked Inter off top spot earlier in the day before new Napoli opened up a three-point buffer with victory in Sunday’s
FOCUS: ‘We came out here with a goal in mind ... to keep our foot on their throat and on their neck, and continue to play 48 minutes of basketball,’ Donovan Mitchell said The Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday thrashed the Miami Heat to cruise into the next round of the NBA playoffs as the Golden State Warriors battled past the Houston Rockets 109-106 to move to the brink of a series victory. After pounding Miami 124-87 in game three on Saturday, No.1 Eastern Conference seeds Cleveland once again piled on the misery for their outclassed opponents with a crushing 138-83 victory to complete a 4-0 series win. The 55-point drubbing was the largest series-clinching victory in NBA playoff history and sets up a series against either the Indiana Pacers or Milwaukee Bucks in
Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa yesterday set a women’s only world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 50 seconds as she won the London Marathon, while Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe put a star-studded men’s field to the sword. For 28-year-old Assefa it was ample compensation for finishing runner-up in London and the Paris Olympics last year — especially as bitter Dutch rival, the Ethiopia-born Sifan Hassan, finished third. Assefa dropped Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei as the race, played out in blazing sunshine and with thousands lining the route, entered its business end. She came home almost three minutes clear of the Kenyan. Hassan, who beat her in
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