■ BOXING
Aussie takes flyweight title
Australian Vic Darchinyan captured the International Boxing Federation’s super flyweight title by dethroning Dmitry Kirilov on Saturday at Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Southpaw Darchinyan (30-1-1, 24 KOs) floored the Russian with just over a minute gone in the fifth round to end the fight. The Aussie dominated from the outset, knocking Kirilov down twice in the final round. Kirilov drops to 29-3 with one draw and nine knockouts. It was the second defence of the title although he is still looking for his first victory as champion.
■ CYCLING
Valverde wins classic race
Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, riding for Caisse d’Epargne, won the San Sebastian classic race in Spain’s northern Basque region on Saturday in a pre-Olympic tune-up. Valverde, 28, is one of the favorites for the men’s road race honors at the Beijing Games which finishes near the Great Wall on Aug. 9, when he will be hoping to live up to his childhood nickname of “El Imbatido” (the unbeaten one). At the Games, Valverde will challenge Italy’s formidable reigning champion Paolo Bettini for gold and Saturday was an indication he is on form as he came through in a sprint finish to outlast Alexandr Kolobnev (CSC) and Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) after the 239km contest.
■ RALLYING
Loeb triumphs in Finland
French four-time world champion Sebastien Loeb, driving a Citroen C4, won the Rally of Finland on Saturday, the ninth of the 15-event World Rally Championship. The four-time world champion finished nine seconds ahead of Finland’s Mikko Hirvonen in a Ford Focus, with Australia’s Chris Atkinson finishing third three minutes off the pace in a Subaru Impreza. Loeb’s cause was helped when homeboy Hirvonen stalled on the 20th special stage after suffering a handbrake problem, gifting the Frenchman a precious advantage. The problem was all the more jarring for the flying Finn as he had managed to claw back 3.3 seconds in the previous special.
■ YACHT RACING
Brits rescued near Australia
Two Britons half way through a world yacht race were rescued off the far north coast of Queensland, Australia, yesterday after their yacht hit a reef, local media reported. The two men were not injured. The pair set off distress beacons after their yacht started sinking early yesterday and were rescued about three hours later by helicopter after being spotted by another aircraft. Peter Turner, thanked the rescuers, whom he said were quick to arrive. The rally started in the Caribbean in January, sailed through the Panama Canal, down to Ecuador and the Galapagos and across the south Pacific to Fiji.
■ BOXING
Clottey clobbers Zab Judah
Ghana’s Joshua Clottey won the vacant International Boxing Federation title by stopping Zab Judah in the ninth round at the Palms Casino and Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday. Clottey won his fifth-straight fight, capturing the vacant title which was previously held by Antonio Margarito. Referee Robert Byrd halted the fight at 1:22 of the ninth round with Judah bleeding heavily from a cut over his right eye. The match was stopped and turned over to the judges’ scorecards. Two judges scored the bout, 86-85, while the other judge had it, 87-84, in favor of Clottey. Clottey lost in his only previous title bout to Margarito in December 2006.
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
Former Formosa Dreamers player Ilkan Karaman was killed in a traffic accident in Datca, Turkey, Turkish media reported yesterday. He was 34. The former Turkish national team player was reportedly hit by a car, the driver of which was allegedly drunk, while he was standing on a sidewalk, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported. Karaman and his friends were on their way to the beach town of Dalaman to go scuba diving when they stopped at a gas station to buy gasoline, it reported. Karaman was hit by the car while waiting on a sidewalk as his friends were buying gasoline, it
ANKLE PROBLEM: Taiwan’s Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin had a disappointing end to their tournament after an injury forced them out of their mixed doubles semi-final Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying on Friday was knocked out in the women’s singles quarter-finals at her last Taipei Open. The world No. 3 lost 21-18, 16-21, 22-24 to Putri Kusuma Wardani of Indonesia in a match that stretched 68 minutes at the Taipei Arena. Despite her higher ranking, Tai said she was not too sad about the loss, given her struggle with a lingering knee injury. “Wins and losses are just part of the game. Actually, I think I’m going to lose every single match considering my condition now,” said the five-time champion of the Super 300 event, who has announced plans