ATHLETICS
Sawe takes marathon record
Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe yesterday became the first man to run a marathon in under two hours when he won the London Marathon in 1 hour, 59 minutes, 30 seconds. The 31-year-old, who has never lost a marathon, shattered the world record previously held by the late Kelvin Kiptum who set a time of 2:00:35 at the Chicago Marathon in October 2023. Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia stayed on Sawe’s heels over much of the 42.195km course before fading down the final stretch to take second in his marathon debut with 1:59.41, while Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda took the bronze in 2:02.28. Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia pulled away from Kenyans Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei down the home stretch to cross the finish line in 2:15.41 seconds, beating the record of 2:15.50 she set last year in London.
Photo: EPA
TENNIS
Hsieh advances in Madrid
Seventh seeds Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan and American partner Sofia Kenin on Saturday advanced to the second round of the women’s doubles at the Madrid Open. Hsieh and Kenin defeated Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and Olivia Nicholls of England 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour, 13 minutes on clay court. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Japanese partner Eri Hozumi were eliminated 6-2, 6-4 by No. 6 seeds Cristina Bucsa of Spain and American Nicole Melichar-Martinez. On Thursday, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Hungarian partner Fanny Stollar exited after a first-round 6-2, 6-2 loss to Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and Zeynep Sonmez of Turkey.
BADMINTON
World body changes scoring
Badminton is to move to a 15-point scoring system from January next year after BWF members voted to adopt the new format at the global body’s annual general meeting in Horsens, Denmark. Players would require only 15 points to win a game under the new 3x15 scoring system, with the player who wins two games taking the match. The current 3x21 system, adopted by the BWF in 2006, needs a player to score at least 21 points to win a game. “We are building a sport that speaks to the next generation, while continuing to invest in the long-term future of our players,” BWF president Khunying Patama Leeswadtrakul said.
SURFING
Pittar wins first WSL event
Australian George Pittar yesterday capitalized on a rare mistake from three-time world champion Gabriel Medina in the final to win his first World Surf League (WSL) championship tour event at the Western Australia Margaret River Pro. Veteran Californian Lakey Peterson claimed her second Margaret River title with a win over Brazil’s Luana Silva in the women’s competition, lifting her to equal first in this year’s championship tour rankings. “I can’t even believe it,” said Pittar, who grew up surfing shallow reef breaks in Vanuatu. “Those matchups I had this comp, every heat I felt like: ‘There’s no way [I can win],’ but they just gifted me waves... It’s crazy man. I haven’t won a comp since I was like 15 years old.” Pittar, who was knocked out of the top-tier tour at the same event last year, had a tough run into his first world tour final, facing off against reigning world champion Yago Dora in their quarter-final and Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist Italo Ferreira in a tight semi-final.
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