SOCCER
Mbappe down on return
France captain Kylian Mbappe on Thursday said that he is now the fourth-choice forward at Real Madrid after manager Alvaro Arbeloa left him out of the starting line-up for their 2-0 win over Real Oviedo in La Liga. The Frenchman, who missed Sunday’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelona and was booed by his own fans on his return from a hamstring injury, came off the bench in the 68th minute after Arbeloa opted to play Vinicius Jr and Gonzalo Garcia in attack. Mbappe told reporters that fitness was not an issue. “I’m 100 percent fine. I haven’t played because for the coach I’ve been the fourth striker in the squad behind [Franco] Mastantuono, Vini and Gonzalo,” he said. “I was ready to start, it’s his decision and it always has to be respected. I have no problem at all with Arbeloa. You have to accept the coach’s philosophy and I have to do better to play ahead of Vini, Gonzalo and Mastantuono.” Mbappe has faced criticism from fans for traveling to Sardinia while recovering from his injury, although he said the club had authorized the trip. Arbeloa said there was no way he could start Mbappe after he missed the Barcelona match, but would start Real’s next match against Sevilla tomorrow. Elsewhere on Thursday, Girona moved out of the drop zone after a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad, while Rayo Vallecano, sitting in 11th place, drew 1-1 against 13th-placed Valencia.
Photo: AFP
SOCCER
Mitoma misses out
Injured Premier League winger Kaoru Mitoma yesterday was left out of Japan’s FIFA World Cup squad when coach Hajime Moriyasu named his 26 players for the tournament starting next month in North America. Captain and Liverpool defensive midfielder Wataru Endo and veteran fullback Yuto Nagatomo were included. The 28-year-old Mitoma sustained a hamstring injury during Brighton & Hove Albion’s 3-0 win over Wolverhampton wanderers in the Premier League last weekend. “The medical team assessed that it would be difficult for him to get back to fitness during the tournament,” Moriyasu said. Japan are on a five-match winning streak heading into their final pre-World Cup friendly against Iceland in Tokyo on May 31. The streak started in October last year with a 3-2 win over Brazil in Tokyo, which was the last time Japan conceded a goal.
BASEBALL
Stuck ball scores HR
Austin Overn, who plays for the Tampa Bay Rays’ Double-A affiliate, on Wednesday hit a home run that rolled into the outfield grass and needed to be dug out of the turf. The Montgomery Biscuits outfielder sent a pitch down the right field line in the seventh inning of their 11-3 loss to the Biloxi Shuckers. Right fielder Damon Keith chased the ball, went into an awkward slide to keep it from rolling to the wall and his body pushed it into the grass of Montgomery’s Riverwalk Stadium. Keith, who was injured on the play, but stayed in the game, fell to the ground and could not pull the embedded ball out of the grass while Overn scored with ease for his second homer of the game. After Overn scored, an umpire and representatives from both teams went to right field to examine the ball. Biloxi first baseman Blake Burke was finally able to pull the mud-covered ball out of the grass, putting an end to a wacky sequence.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
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