■BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Favorites make semis
Top-ranked Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the US beat Eric Koreng and David Klemperer 21-13, 25-23 yesterday in a men’s quarter-final match after the Germans were contentiously penalized a point for delay of game in the second set. The Germans had just lost the first set without much of a struggle and blown a 6-2 lead in the second when out came the red card. Koreng was booked for delay of game — a one-point penalty — after arguing a call that allowed the Americans to tie the second set. That gave Dalhausser and Rogers a 9-8 lead before they went on to win the set by two points and earn a spot in the final four. The Americans will play tomorrow against surprise semi-finalists Georgia, who beat the fifth-seeded Netherlands in straight sets. After winning 21-19, 21-19, Jorge Terceiro leapt over the fence surrounding the court and bounded through the stands to the top of the stadium, where he stood under the Georgian flag with his arms raised above his head like Rocky on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
■SYNCHRO SWIMMING
Russians perform flawlessly
The Russian synchronized swimming duo of Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova performed flawlessly in the opening session and led the duet technical routine. The Russians recorded a score of 49.334. Gemma Mengual and Andrea Fuentes of Spain stood second with 48.250 and Saho Harada and Emiko Suzuki of Japan were third with 48.250. Identical twins Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen of China stood fourth with 48.084 points, a slight disappointment after placing second in the qualifying tournament. US pair Christina Jones and Andrea Nott placed fifth with 47.750. The duet free routine preliminary round is scheduled for today, with the top 12 ranked pairs advancing to tommorow’s final.
■FIELD HOCKEY
Defending champs march on
Defending champions Germany joined the Netherlands in the semi-finals of the Olympic women’s competition with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Japan yesterday. Janine Beermann scored the winner five minutes into the second half when she deflected a free hit from Maike Stoeckel over the head of Japanese goalkeeper Ikuko Okamura into the goal. Germany finished their pool B engagements with four wins from five matches. The US team was eliminated from medal contention yesterday after a scoreless draw with Great Britain. The Americans had 11 penalty corners, but never converted. Seven of those came in the first half, including one with time expired. Britain had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but failed to convert on a penalty corner. Britain (2-1-2) still have an outside chance of medaling. The Americans (1-1-3), ranked 11th in the world, finished fourth out of six teams in Pool B.
■EQUESTRIAN
US wins team jumping
The US won the gold medal in the equestrian team jumping yesterday. Canada took the silver and Norway the bronze. The US team of Mclain Ward, Laura Kraut, Will Simpson and Beezie Madden and their Canadian counterparts, Jill Henselwood, Eric Lamaze, Ian Miller and Mac Cone, were forced into a dramatic jump off to decide the winner after both teams finished their rounds even on 20 points. Norway’s bronze medal was assured after the team scored 27 penalty points. Switzerland finished fourth and the Netherlands came fifth.
Aaliyah Edwards on Monday pulled off the stunner of the opening round of the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament, beating top-seeded Breanna Stewart 12-0. The tournament to be played over three days featured 23 of the WNBA’s 36 players. A few had other commitments and a couple others were out with injuries. Stewart got the ball first against Edwards and missed a contested layup. Edwards then hit a three-pointer from the corner and a jumper from the elbow to go up 5-0. The player who scores keeps the basketball. Edwards hit two layups and a three-pointer to seal the win. Stewart, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player,
The Philippines curling team has been rocking it in Harbin, claiming the tropical nation’s first Asian Winter Games medal yesterday with a victory in the men’s final against South Korea. The team of Marc Pfister, Alan Frei, Christian Haller, Enrico Pfister and alternate Benjo Delarmente took gold with a 5-3 win at Harbin Pingfang Curling Arena. The Philippines Olympic Committee was quick to celebrate with a post on Instagram to mark the historic gold. “This is the first-ever medal for the Philippines at the Asian Winter Games, and the highest achievement for a Southeast Asian athlete in the Games’ history! What an incredible
Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju and Kao Cheng-jui were defeated by their Chinese counterparts 3-0 on Saturday in the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Singapore Smash. Lin and Kao received their silver medals after being defeated by third-seeded duo Lin Shidong and Wang Chuqin of China 2-11, 4-11, 11-13. The Taiwan pair were left playing catch-up early in the match after the Chinese duo proved unstoppable in the first and second game. Although Lin and Kao picked up their pace in the third game and at one point took a 10-8 lead, they were crucially unable to take
Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien on Tuesday dumped compatriot and second seed Hsieh Su-wei out of the women’s doubles at the Qatar Open to set up another potential Taiwanese showdown, while world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka suffered a shock defeat in the second round. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu, who earlier this year won the ASB Classic in Auckland and the Hobart International, defeated Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 10-5 in 1 hour, 29 minutes on Grandstand Court 3 at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. Wu and Jiang on Sunday advanced to the round-of-16 with a 7-6 (7/7),