■ TABLE TENNIS
Taipei Open canceled
The Taipei Open professional table tennis tournament, which was due to begin next month, has been canceled after organizers said yesterday that they could not find a venue to hold it. The event had been scheduled to take place from June 11 to June 15 at the Taipei Gymnasium, which is owned by the city government. But a refurbishment project that began last month to pave the way for next year’s Deaflympics meant the venue could not be used, said Lin Hai-ching, deputy secretary-general to the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association. Attempts to move the Open to the Taipei Arena were fruitless as the venue had already been booked for another event.
■ GOLF
Wie to play German Open
US teenager Michelle Wie, troubled by a wrist injury for more than a year, will make only her third appearance of the season in this week’s Ladies German Open. It will be the first time the 18-year-old Hawaiian has competed in a full-field Ladies European Tour (LET) event. “They gave me a sponsor’s exemption and I thought, ‘Wow, Munich,’” Wie told the LET’s official Web site on Tuesday. “I have never been there and it’s a great opportunity. I found at the last tournament I was really rusty and I need to play more tournaments.” Wie’s two previous appearances this year were on the LPGA Tour, at the Michelob Ultra Open in Virginia earlier this month and at the Fields Open in Hawaii in February. “I feel a lot healthier and I want to start playing more and playing some good golf,” said Wie, now studying fulltime at Stanford University. “My goal is just to have fun and keep my head on straight and shoot some low scores. I’ve never played in Germany before.”
■ SOCCER
Head of J-League says sorry
The J-League chairman apologized to Kazuki Ganaha yesterday after the Japan international striker won his appeal against a ban for taking a vitamin injection. “We must accept the ruling,” J-League chairman Kenji Onitake said at a press conference in Tokyo. “We caused him a lot of hardship for a year and there are things we need to reflect upon.” On Tuesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a six-match suspension imposed by the J-League in May last year. A CAS panel of three arbitrators ruled an infusion of saline and vitamin B1 given to Ganaha by the doctor at his club Kawasaki Frontale “was a legitimate treatment ... within the meaning of the 2007 World Anti-Doping Agency Code.” Ganaha, who has played six times for Japan, appealed last December. In May last year, the J-League imposed the suspension on Ganaha and fined Kawasaki US$100,000. Ganaha said the vitamin injection was given after he complained of flu-like symptoms.
■ GOLF
Woods set for Open return
Tiger Woods is set to return at next month’s US Open even though his recovery from a knee operation has sorely tested his patience, he said on Tuesday. The 32-year-old had hoped to play in this week’s Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio, an event he has won three times, but decided he was not ready. “The knee is doing better,” said Woods at a media day in Bethesda, Maryland for the AT&T National tournament he hosts. “The rehab is working. I’m just trying to get this thing organized for the Open and I’m right on schedule for that. As far as the rehab [is concerned], it’s basically right on pace. it’s been boring but the leg is starting to gain some strength.”
■ SOCCER
Taiwan give India a scare
Taiwan led twice in their friendly international against India in Chennai on Tuesday but the hosts rallied to earn a 2-2 draw. A fourth minute goal by Chen Po-liang gave the visitors an early lead at the Nehru Stadium but India equalized through midfielder ND Pradeep late in the first half. Andy Chen’s side again took the lead just after the break when Hsieh Meng-hsuan scored but Pradeep again restored parity. The game was the second between the two sides within three days, the first ending in a 0-3 defeat for Taiwan in Goa on Saturday. The matches were part of India’s preparations for the South Asian Football Federation Championship, starting in Maldives and Sri Lanka next week.
■ SOCCER
Fans prefer soccer to sex
Half of all European fans would seemingly prefer to watch important matches than have sex, according to a straw poll sponsored by one of the backers of the upcoming Euro 2008 championships. However, the results from individual countries vary. The largest majority preferring to watch soccer to making love being 72 percent of Spanish supporters to 25 percent of Italy fans, duly holding up their reputation as Latin lovers. The poll also saw 60 percent of the 2,000 supporters polled declare that soccer was like a religion to them.
■ SOCCER
Kahn bows out in Kolkata
Thousands of Indian fans gave a boisterous farewell to retiring German stalwart Oliver Kahn in his last game for Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Tuesday. Around 120,000 fans packed into the Salt Lake stadium to watch Bayern defeat India’s oldest club Mohun Bagan 3-0 in a friendly in the soccer-mad eastern city of Kolkata. Kahn, 38, voted best player of the 2002 World Cup and three times world goalkeeper of the year, was given a standing ovation when he was substituted in the second half. The organizers presented him with a gold trophy studded with 8,640 diamonds at half-time. “Thank you for this great moment in my career,” Kahn told the fans. “It is a very special moment for me to play my last game in Kolkata and thank you very much for this great night.” Kolkata was the last stop in Bayern’s brief post-season Asia tour, which also included a game in Indonesia.
■ TENNIS
Star backs son after arrest
Yannick Noah, who is marking the 25th anniversary of his French Open title, sprang to the defense of his son Joakim on Tuesday after the basketball star was arrested for possession of marijuana. Yannick Noah, the last Frenchman to win the men’s singles at Roland Garros, told his 23-year-old son, who plays for the Chicago Bulls, that the incident was “nothing serious.” “In the newspapers, there’s a lot of talk about my son who is 23 and has a drink with his friends and who is caught with a joint in his pocket,” said Noah senior. “He called me. He said: ‘Dad, I think I’ve blundered.’ I said: ‘Yes, it’s a mistake but it’s not serious. Don’t change. Make me happy, don’t let it happen again.’” Noah was arrested in Gainesville, Florida, on Sunday on charges of marijuana possession and having an open alcohol container. According to Yannick Noah, his son could face a fine. “I told him that I have fooled around for 20 years and I’m still popular because people think I’m a good bloke. So you can do the same thing,” he said. “When you do something well, it’s extraordinary and when you make a blunder, it’s a catastrophe. It’s all part of the game. After all, you are called Joakim Noah.”
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
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