TENNIS
Hsieh advances in Madrid
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles semi-finals at the Madrid Open, in their return to the court after a power outage on Monday forced the delay of numerous matches. Third seeds Hsieh and Ostapenko beat Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia and Germany’s Laura Siegemund 7-5, 6-3 in their quarter-final. The Taiwanese-Lativian duo are next to play the winners of Romania’s Sorana Cirstea and Anna Kalinskaya of Russia against Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic and Denmark’s Clara Tauson, which was to be played after press time last night.
SOCCER
Li Tie loses bribery appeal
Former English Premier League midfielder Li Tie has lost his appeal against a 20-year prison sentence for bribery, a Chinese court said yesterday. A lower court jailed the former China coach in December last year, snaring one of the country’s best-known soccer figures in a sweeping government crackdown on corruption in sports. The Hubei Provincial Higher People’s Court said in a statement that it had rejected Li’s appeal and ruled to uphold his original jail term. He was found guilty of a string of offenses relating to giving and receiving bribes. The 47-year-old represented his country nearly 100 times and moved to Everton in 2002. After retiring from playing, he served as national team coach from January 2020 to December 2021.
ICE HOCKEY
No charges after on-ice death
A man arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following the death of the Nottingham Panthers’ Adam Johnson has been told he would not face any charges, British prosecutors said on Tuesday. Johnson, a 33-year-old Canadian, died shortly after his neck had been sliced in a collision with Sheffield Steelers defenseman Matt Petgrave during an Elite Ice Hockey League game on Oct. 28, 2023. A man was arrested two weeks later and although South Yorkshire Police did not publicly identify him, Petgrave himself said in a crowdfunding appeal for legal fees that he was the subject of a police investigation. On Tuesday, the Crown Prosecution Service announced it would not bring criminal charges against the man arrested following what it described as “a shocking and deeply upsetting incident.”
BASKETBALL
Doncic pays to restore mural
Luka Doncic has stepped up to pay the entire expected cost of restoring a vandalized mural depicting Kobe and Gigi Bryant in downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Lakers’ new guard on Tuesday donated US$5,000 to cover the entire goal of a GoFundMe page created by artist Louie Palsino. He wants to restore the mural, titled Mambas Forever, at 14th and Main streets. “It was always important to give back to the community,” Doncic said after practice at the Lakers’ training complex. “They gave me so much, so I just want to give back.” The Slovenian superstar joined the Lakers less than three months ago in a blockbuster trade with the Dallas Mavericks. Kobe Bryant spent his entire 20-year career with the Lakers, winning five championships and becoming the top scorer in franchise history. After Kobe and Gigi Bryant died in a helicopter crash in January 2020, hundreds of murals and public art projects honoring them sprung up around southern California.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
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
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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