TENNIS
Taiwanese makes final
Taiwan’s Liang En-shuo and Eudice Chong of Hong Kong yesterday ousted Taiwanese duo Cho I-hsuan and Cho Yi-tsen in the women’s doubles semi-finals at the Philippine Open. The Taiwanese-Hong Kong pair won 6-3, 6-3 at the US$115,000 hard-court tournament at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila to earn a place in today’s final against US duo Quinn Gleason and Sabrina Santamaria, who defeated Taiwan’s Li Yu-yun and Sara Saito of Japan 6-2, 6-3. The Cho sisters earlier yesterday defeated Ma Yexin of China and Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew 6-3, 6-4 in their quarter-final.
Photo: AFP
SOCCER
Senegal coach banned
Senegal coach Pape Thiaw on Wednesday was banned for five games and fined US$100,000, while Senegal and Morocco players also received suspensions following a walk-off during a chaotic Africa Cup of Nations final. The sanctions by the Confederation of African Football included fines totaling US$615,000 for the Senegalese soccer federation and US$315,000 for the Morocco federation for unsporting and improper conduct by their players, coaching staff and supporters, among other offenses. The African showpiece match on Friday last week was marred by Senegal players walking off, led by Thiaw, in protest against a late penalty awarded to hosts Morocco. The game restarted after a delay, Morocco missed the penalty, and Senegal won the African title 1-0 after extra-time.
Photo: AP
SOCCER
Chinese body bans 73
The Chinese Football Association (CFA) yesterday issued lifetime bans to 73 people, including former national team head coach Li Tie, and punished 13 top professional clubs for match-fixing and corruption. A CFA statement did not specify when the most recently announced match-fixing took place or how it worked. The punishments were made after a “systematic review” and were needed “to enforce industry discipline, purify the football environment and maintain fair competition,” the CFA wrote on social media. Li, a former Everton player who led the national team from 2019 to 2021, is already serving a 20-year prison sentence for bribery, after being sentenced in December 2024. He is now banned from all soccer activities for life, alongside 72 others, the CFA said.
FORMULA 1
Williams ready for Bahrain
Williams would be ready to test in Bahrain next month after taking the “incredibly painful” decision to miss this week’s shakedown in Barcelona, team boss James Vowles said on Wednesday. The former champions are the only absentees from the five days of running at the Circuit de Catalunya that started on Monday. “I’m pleased to say that we’ve passed all necessary tests and we’re ready to run in Bahrain, and we’ll carry out a promotional filming day ahead of it,” Vowles said in a video call. “We’re also carrying out a VTT [virtual test track] as a physical car testing rig ... we’ve been running that pretty much in tandem to Barcelona.”
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
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