BADMINTON
Taiwanese win in Thailand
Taiwanese duo Yang Po-han and Liu Kuang-heng yesterday advanced to the men’s doubles quarter-finals at the Thailand Open in Bangkok. The pair defeated South Korea’s Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju 21-8, 21-19 in just 33 minutes. The No. 24 duo appeared to be on the rebound following an early exit from the Taipei Open, due to injury. In women’s doubles, Hsu Yin-hui and Lin Jhih-yun are set to face compatriots Hsu Ya-ching and Sung Yu-hsuan in the quarter-finals, after dispatching their Thai and Hong Kong opponents respectively. In men’s singles, Taiwan’s world No. 7 shuttler Chou Tien-chen crashed out of the second round, losing 15-21, 21-16, 21-13 to Rasmus Gemke of Denmark.
SOCCER
Two held for blackmailing Son
Two people have been arrested for allegedly blackmailing Tottenham Hotspur and South Korea captain Son Heung-min, police said yesterday. The accused are a woman in her 20s and a man in his 40s, a Korean National Police Agency spokesperson said. The two allegedly tried to extort money from the 32-year-old forward by falsely claiming that the woman was pregnant with Son’s child, Yonhap news agency said. The two “threatened the player by saying they would spread false information,” Son’s agency, Son & Football Ltd, said in a statement, adding that it filed a police complaint for blackmail.
BASKETBALL
US player arrested for drugs
An American player for the Indonesian Basketball League was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle illegal drugs to the country, police said yesterday. The Southeast Asian country has extremely strict drug laws, and convicted smugglers are sometimes executed by firing squad. Jarred Dwayne Shaw, 34, of Dallas, Texas, was arrested on Wednesday last week, after police raided his apartment in Tangerang Regency, just outside the capital, Jakarta, and seized 132 pieces of cannabis candies, Soekarno-Hatta Airport Police Chief Ronald Sipayung said. Tangerang Hawks manager Tikky Suwantikno told reporters that the club had immediately fired Shaw as he has breached his contract, while league chairman Budisatrio Djiwandono said it had banned Shaw from playing for life.
SOCCER
Reddit founder eyes Chelsea
Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian said that he has bought a stake in serial English women’s champions Chelsea. “I’ve bet big on women’s sports before and I’m doing it again,” Ohanian, husband of Serena Williams, wrote on X alongside a news report saying he had bought a 10 percent stake thought to be worth about ￡20 million (US$26.6 million). The 42-year-old entrepreneur, who married tennis legend Williams in 2017, was previously an investor in US women’s soccer club Angel City.
TENNIS
Pope meets Sinner
Jannik Sinner, the top-ranked tennis player, on Wednesday visited Pope Leo XIV, gave him a tennis racket and offered to play, during an off day for Sinner at the Italian Open. Leo, the first American pope, is an avid tennis player. Holding one of his rackets and giving Leo another and a ball, the three-time Grand Slam champion suggested a quick volley, but the pope looked around at the antiques and said: “Better not.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS