GOLF
Anthony Kim wins Adelaide
Anthony Kim yesterday won LIV Golf Adelaide for his first victory in nearly 16 years, capping a remarkable career comeback with a closing nine-under 63 for a three-shot margin. The 40-year-old American stepped away from competitive golf for 12 years amid drug and alcohol struggles, and needed to play a qualifying tournament last month just to get another season on the LIV Tour. “For it to actually happen is pretty insane,” Kim said. “I just want to thank all the people that have supported me.” Playing in shorts in front of a large crowd on a sunny day at The Grange Golf Club, Kim made four straight birdies on Nos. 12-15, holing putts of 17, 11, 14 and 17 feet. Kim finished at 23 under. “I was able to, to produce some good golf today and I knew it was coming,” said Kim, a three-time PGA Tour winner whose best previous LIV finish was a tie for 25th. “Nobody else has to believe in me but me, and, for anybody that’s struggling, you can get through anything.”
Photo: AFP
TENNIS
Taiwan’s Ho hot in Rotterdam
Taiwan’s Ray Ho and German partner Hendrik Jebens on Saturday beat top seeds Mate Pavic of Croatia and Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador 6-3, 1-6, 11-9 to advance to the Rotterdam Open final in the Netherlands. The duo, who advanced through qualifiers to title contention, were last night after press time to play fourth seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori of Italy.
ATHLETICS
Yamanishi sets record
Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi yesterday set a men’s half-marathon race-walk world record, clocking 1 hour, 20 minutes, 34 seconds at the Japanese Half Marathon Race Walking Championships in Kobe. His time bettered the inaugural world record of 1:21:30, approved by the World Athletics Council in December last year, by 54 seconds. Yamanishi, who was celebrating his 30th birthday, pulled away from a leading pack shortly after the 17km mark and reached 20km mark in 1:16:26 — just 16 seconds shy of the 20km race-walk world record he set on the same course last year. With an additional lap now included in the half-marathon race walk distance, the two-time world champion accelerated again over the closing stretch to win comfortably in record time. World Athletics approved inaugural world record standards for the half-marathon and marathon race walking events. The approved inaugural world record standard for the men’s half marathon race walk was set at 1:21:30.
BASKETBALL
7 ejected in college game
Seven players were ejected from Saturday’s game between St John’s University and Providence College after a fracas resulting from a hard foul by Friars forward Duncan Powell on Bryce Hopkins sent the Red Storm star crashing to the ground. St John’s coach Rick Pitino, who led Providence to the 1987 Final Four, was in the middle of it, trying to hold back his players, but several of them entered the fray as it drifted toward the Red Storm bench. “You’re not supposed to come off the bench, but you can’t let your players get beat up,” Pitino said after the 79-69 victory gave the Red Storm its 11th straight win. “You can’t fight. Back when I was the [University of] Kentucky coach we fought almost every SEC [Southeastern Conference] game, and it was not a big deal, but you can’t fight anymore, so toughness has to come between the lines.”
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
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