SOCCER
Ten hurt in fan violence
Ten people were injured and 90 arrested on Wednesday after violent clashes between rival fans during a Copa Sudamericana match between Argentina’s Atletico Independiente and visiting Universidad de Chile in Buenos Aires, club officials and police said. A stun grenade was among the objects hurled by fans as the last-16, second-leg encounter in the regional competition at the Estadio Libertadores de America – Ricardo Enrique Bochini was initially suspended shortly after halftime and eventually abandoned. In shocking and chaotic scenes, one fan of the Chilean visitors jumped from the stands to escape attacking opposing supporters after being cornered. Home supporters beat and stripped some visiting fans of their clothes after storming the away end. The violence had flared at halftime when fans of the Chilean side began throwing stones, sticks, bottles and seats at a section housing home supporters.
Photo: AFP
BASEBALL
Taiwan defeat Philippines
Taiwan last night blanked the Philippines 10-0 in their first game of the Super Round of the U-15 Asian Baseball Championship in Tainan. Taiwan on Wednesday finished second with a 2-1 record behind South Korea in Group A of the opening round. Taiwan on Monday dominated Pakistan 27-0, before Tuesday blanking Thailand 18-0. Their only loss was a 5-3 defeat to South Korea on Sunday. Taiwan are tonight to play Japan. The gold and bronze medal games are to be played tomorrow, with the first and second-place teams advancing to next year’s U-15 Baseball World Cup.
TENNIS
Taiwan’s Chan advances
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and China’s Jiang Xinyu last night after press time were to play China’s Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaxuan in the women’s doubles semi-finals of Tennis in the Land in Cleveland, Ohio. Second seeds Chan and Jiang on Wednesday dominated Americans Anna Bennett and Anna Frey 6-0, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. Chan was matching up with Jiang for the fourth time this year, after the Chinese player won back-to-back titles with Taiwanese partner Wu Fang-hsien in January.
GO
Player retires at 98
Japan’s oldest professional go player on Wednesday retired aged 98, saying that she can no longer handle “six hours without a break.” Kazuko Sugiuchi turned professional in 1948 and won her first title 11 years later, before going on to win the prestigious Women’s Meijin Championship four times in a row. She became Japan’s oldest professional player in April last year, breaking the record previously held by her late husband, Masao Sugiuchi. She is set to be promoted to the rank of ninth dan after retiring, becoming the first woman to reach that level.
MOTORSPORTS
Malaysia to skip F1
Malaysia has no plans to bring back the annual F1 race due to high sponsorship costs and a tight racing calendar, Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sports Hannah Yeoh told parliament yesterday. It previously hosted a leg of the world championship at its Sepang International Circuit from 1999 to 2017. Yeoh said the event would require an annual commitment of about 300 million ringgit (US$71.01 million), more than double the government’s development costs for 20 national sports programs.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
STUMBLE: World No. 2 Coco Gauff confidently won her first set against seventh-seed Italian Jasmine Paolini before being overcome in the second and third sets World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and second-ranked Coco Gauff were sent crashing out of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Friday, while Carlos Alcaraz fought off a fierce challenge from Andrey Rublev to reach the semi-finals. Top seed and defending champion Sabalenka had no answer for Elena Rybakina, falling to the 2022 Wimbledon champion 6-1, 6-4. Reigning French Open champion Gauff had 16 double faults in a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 exit at the hands of seventh-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini. Spain’s second-ranked Alcaraz had his difficulties, but he broke Rublev in the final game of a tense duel to emerge a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 winner
Spanish champions Barcelona opened their Spanish La Liga campaign on Saturday with an island cruise as they played almost an hour against nine men on their way to a 3-0 victory in RCD Mallorca. Barcelona’s second-half stroll did not please coach Hansi Flick. “They’re three important points, but I didn’t like the match,” he told broadcaster Movistar. “After going two goals up and following Mallorca’s two red cards, I think the team only gave 50 percent, and I didn’t like that,” he said. “Playing at 50 or 60 per cent is not possible against nine players.” Two of Barcelona’s Ballon
Manchester City signaled their intent to take back the English Premier League title as Erling Haaland struck twice in a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday to begin their campaign. After four consecutive titles, City finished a distant third last season as Pep Guardiola’s men failed to win any trophy for the first time in eight years. New signings Tijjani Reijnders, who was the star of the show at Molineux, and Rayan Cherki were also on target to give Guardiola hope his side would be back in the title race this season. “We knew he is a top signing
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