BADMINTON
Chou bags bronze in Ningbo
Taiwan’s top male shuttler, Chou Tien-chen, on Saturday secured his second Badminton Asia Championships bronze medal after a straight-game loss to China’s world No. 2 Shi Yuqi in the men’s singles semi-finals in Ningbo. World No. 6 Chou fell to Shi 21-9, 21-13 in 44 minutes, marking his 15th loss in 20 career meetings with the Chinese player. Despite the loss, the 36-year-old became the first Taiwanese male player to win two bronze medals at the tournament, after previously winning in 2019.
Photo: AFP
ATHLETICS
Crippa wins Paris Marathon
Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa yesterday won the Paris Marathon, while Ethiopia’s Shure Demise claimed victory in the women’s category in a new course record. The Ethiopian-born Crippa, 29, clocked a personal best of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 16 seconds for the win in the French capital. Bayelign Teshager of Ethiopia finished second, just five seconds off Crippa, with Kenya’s Sila Kiptoo rounding off the podium (2:05:26). In the women’s race, 30-year-old Demise smashed the course record by more than a minute. She won in 2:18:33 ahead of compatriot Misgane Alemayehu (2:19:06) and Kenya’s Magdalyne Masai (2:19:18).
TOUCH
Taiwan prepares for Mudgee
Taiwan’s Touch teams are gearing up for the Asia-Pacific Open in Mudgee, Australia, from Thursday next week to April 26. Taiwan are to compete in the Men’s Open and Women’s Open divisions at the Glen Willow Regional Sports Complex, joining more than 500 players from 13 nations at the inaugural tournament. In the Men’s Open, Taiwan are in Pool A alongside Australia, the Cook Islands, Singapore and Sri Lanka — their first opponents on the opening day. The first stage of the Women’s Open is an eight-team round-robin, with Taiwan to face Samoa in Round 1. Matches on Field 1 — including two games involving Taiwan’s teams — are to be live streamed on the Federation of International Touch’s YouTube channel.
SOCCER
Union Berlin make history
Bundesliga’s Union Berlin yesterday named Marie-Louise Eta as manager, making her the first female top-flight coach of a men’s team in a major European league, after Steffen Baumgart was sacked. The 34-year-old, who was the first female assistant coach in the Bundesliga, would take over for the remainder of the season. Baumgart was sacked after the club’s form flatlined in the second-half of the season, with Saturday’s 3-1 defeat by last-placed Heidenheim the final straw.
ICE HOCKEY
Avs coach takes puck to face
Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar was on Saturday night taken to a hospital after being hit with a puck on his right cheek during a 3-2 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. A team spokesperson said Bednar was fully alert and conscious and went to the hospital for a computed tomography scan and further evaluation. Bednar was standing behind the Colorado bench when a puck flew off of the stick of the Knights’ Keegan Kolesar, over the boards and hit Bednar in the third period. He bent over holding the side of his head and was helped to the locker room by a trainer. “It’s certainly a little unnerving. It’s scary when the pucks are flying in there,” assistant coach Nolan Pratt said after the game.
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
Kite-surfing fabrics, car tires and shortened shoelaces helped Kenyan Sabastian Sawe and Adidas crack the two-hour marathon barrier. When Sawe on Sunday shattered one of athletics’ most elusive barriers in storming to victory at the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 30 seconds, it did not come from just physiology and grit, but from design choices drawn from far beyond the course. Sawe debuted Adidas’ lightest-ever racing shoe, the Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3. “It starts with the mentality of the athlete, the coach, and the team behind the product, which is: What can we do better? What is the 1 percent
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