BASEBALL
Pirates blank Dodgers
Andrew McCutchen and Bryan Reynolds on Wednesday night homered off last-minute spot starter Emmett Sheehan, taking the mound of Shohei Ohtani, as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-0. Although Ohtani skipped his scheduled start to deal with an illness, he remained in the lineup, grabbing two of Los Angeles’ five hits. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the hope is Ohtani can return to the mound this weekend in Baltimore. Five Pirate pitchers combined for the club’s major-league leading 17th shutout of the season. Mike Burrows (2-4) got the win with three innings in relief of starter Braxton Ashcraft. Dennis Santana finished off a perfect ninth by striking out Ohtani for his 13th save.
Photo: AFP
TENNIS
Taiwan’s Liang advances
Taiwan’s Liang En-shuo and partner Eudice Chong of Hong Kong yesterday eased into the women’s doubles semi-finals of the Changsha Open in China, defeating Kazakhstan’s Zhibek Kulambayeva and South Korea’s Park So-hyun 6-2, 6-4. Liang and Chong, seeded fourth in the WTA 125 tournament, are to play Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and China’s Zheng Wushuang in today’s semi-final on clay. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Li Yu-yun and China’s Yao Xinxin were after press time last night to play third seeds Maria Lourdes Carle of Argentina and Veronika Erjavec of Slovenia. Top seeds Cho I-hsuan and Cho Yi-tsen of Taiwan, who in June together won the women’s doubles titles at ITF Caserta in Italy and the ITF Internationaux de Tennis de Blois, crashed out in China in the opening round, losing 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 10-8 to Plipuech and Zheng. In the women’s singles, British-Taiwanese player Joanna Garland, the No. 2 seed, crashed out of the women’s quarter-finals, losing 6-4, 6-2 to Russia’s Ekaterina Reyngold.
SOCCER
FIFA adopts dynamic pricing
Ticket prices for next year’s FIFA World Cup would range initially from US$60 for group-stage matches to US$6,730 for the final, but could change as soccer’s top event adopts dynamic pricing for the first time. The prices are up from a range of US$25 to US$475 for the 1994 tournament in the US and for the US dollar equivalent of US$69 to US$1,607 when ticket details were announced for the 2022 tournament in Qatar. “I think the message is ‘Get your tickets early,’” World Cup chief operating officer Heimo Schirgi said.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Lockyer eyes Broncos
Australian rugby league great Darren Lockyer yesterday said he wants to buy a controlling stake in the embattled London Broncos, inspired by Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds’ exploits at soccer club Wrexham. Former Australia captain Lockyer is part of a consortium that is keen to restore the Broncos — struggling in the second-tier League Championship — as a Super League force. “We’re off to London tomorrow,” the 48-year-old told the Australian newspaper. Lockyer said he hopes to replicate the success of Reynolds and fellow movie star Rob McElhenney, who paid ￡2 million (US$2.7 million) in 2021 for Wrexham. They have since become the first club from the top five divisions of English soccer to secure three consecutive promotions, growing into a powerhouse business.
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Brentford striker Yoane Wissa says he wants to leave the English Premier League club and that it is “unduly standing in my way.” A day before the end of soccer’s summer transfer period, Wissa posted a lengthy statement on social media yesterday criticizing Brentford for rejecting an apparent offer from another Premier League club despite his willingness to switch between the teams. Wissa, a reported target for Newcastle, is yet to play for Brentford this season and had already removed any association with the club from his Instagram account. Yesterday, the 28-year-old DR Congo international took it a step further on the social
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