Toyota’s Sami Pajari led Rally Paraguay after a tough opening Friday that saw the lead change hands four times as world championship contenders hit trouble.
The Finn ended the day 11.9 seconds clear of Hyundai’s Hayden Paddon with Toyota’s championship leader Elfyn Evans 56.3 seconds adrift over the red gravel roads around Encarnacion.
Paddon had led at midday after taking the lead from Toyota’s Oliver Solberg on stage three but the New Zealander then suffered a front-right tire delamination that gave the advantage to Welshman Evans, whose right-rear then disintegrated with Pajari taking over at the front.
Photo: EPA
Pajari is chasing his third win in a row after victories in Estonia and Finland.
Toyota’s Japanese driver Takamoto Katsuta rolled on the day’s opening stage while Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville retired with damaged left rear suspension and Toyota’s reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier ended his day on stage three with suspension failure after hitting a bank as the rough roads took their toll.
All were expected to restart the next day.
“It’s been a dramatic day for almost everybody, with very few who haven’t had their fair share of trouble already,” Evans said. “It has been challenging for the tires and we had to manage some issues through both long stages and unfortunately lost quite a bit of time. Others have fared even worse than us so the overall position isn’t bad, and the rain might bring a very different set of challenges for tomorrow.”
Paraguay is appearing on the world championship calendar for the second time. Evans leads Pajari by 30 points in the standings with Katsuta 41 off the lead.
Alex Lanier yesterday became the first singles badminton player from France to clinch the BWF World Championships title, moments after France took gold in the mixed doubles, after Taiwan won bronze medals in the men’s singles and doubles the previous day. Taiwanese badminton stars Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan fell in the men’s doubles semi-finals to a Chinese duo, giving them a bronze medal, matching Taiwan’s best-ever result in the event. Lee and Yang, ranked 17th in the world and the only unseeded pair in the men’s doubles semi-finals, lost 21-18, 21-14 to world No. 3 Chinese pair Liang Weikeng
Taiwanese badminton veteran Chou Tien-chen rose two places to No. 4 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) men’s singles world rankings released yesterday following his bronze-medal finish at a tournament in India last week. The 36-year-old Chou advanced to the semi-finals of the BWF World Championships in New Delhi, where he lost to Japan’s Kodai Naraoka, earning a bronze medal and 10,500 ranking points. After the points were added to total ranking points, Chou climbed to No. 4 with 86,580 points. The reshuffle also saw former world No. 1 Shi Yuqi of China drop to No. 6 after being eliminated in the
Serena Williams getting back on the court at the US Open after a four-year absence and Carlos Alcaraz returning to competitive tennis after being out the past four months with injury brought cheers and nostalgia to the Grand Slam tournament. The celebration was short-lived. After winning their debut playing together, Williams and Alcaraz on Tuesday got knocked out in the mixed doubles quarter-finals by Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 5-4 (4), 4-1. Cobolli before the match called their opponents “the queen of tennis and the king of now.” The star-studded duo with a combined eight US Open singles championships certainly
Detroit Tigers infielder Lee Hao-yu on Saturday hit his seventh home run of the MLB season, moving him within two of the single-season records for homers by a Taiwanese MLB player. The blast came in the top of the fifth inning of the Tigers’ away game against the Kansas City Royals, cutting the Royals’ lead to 2-1. Lee’s homer off Royals starter Michael Wacha was the longest of his MLB career at 446 feet (136m). Lee’s seventh homer moved him closer to the single-season record of nine homers held by former MLB infielder Yu Chang, who reached the mark while
RSS