■ BASEBALL
Brewers hire Randolph
Former New York Mets manager Willie Randolph has been hired as a bench coach by the Milwaukee Brewers, the team said on Saturday. Randolph, fired as the Mets manager in June, had been one of three final candidates for the Brewers managerial job that eventually went to Ken Macha. The 54-year-old Randolph played for the Brewers in 1991. After an 18-year Major League career, he served as a New York Yankees base and bench coach for 11 seasons before becoming the Mets manager in 2005.
■HOCKEY
Czechs rally to beat Sweden
The Czech Republic rallied with four goals in the final period to beat Sweden 4-1 on Saturday in the four-nation Karjala Tournament, while defending champion Russia beat Finland 6-2. Forward Alexei Mikhnov scored twice for Russia, with Alexander Radulov, Denis Kulyash, Sergei Zinoviev and Alexei Tereschenko also finding the net. In the other game, Martin Thornberg gave Sweden the lead 15:58 into the second period before the Czechs rallied with four goals in the third. Miroslav Horava and Zbynek Irgl gave the Czechs a 2-1 lead before Vaclav Nedorost made it 3-1 on a power play with five minutes left, and Petr Cajanek put the game away just a minute later. Going into yesterday’s last round, Russia leads on six points, followed by the Czech Republic on four. Finland is third with two points, while Sweden has zero.
■BOXING
‘King Arthur’ still reigns
Arthur Abraham defeated Raul Marquez by technical knockout after six rounds on Saturday to defend his IBF middleweight boxing title for the eighth time and remain undefeated. Abraham landed two rights to Marquez’s right eye in the sixth round and the challenger’s camp called off the fight just before the seventh was due to start. “King Arthur” improved his record to 28-0 with 22 knockouts while Marquez dropped to 41-4-1 with 29 knockouts.
■CYCLING
Boonen fine after accident
Former world champion Tom Boonen on Saturday escaped uninjured after being involved in a car accident en route to the Brussels airport. A Flamish TV station reported that the accident occurred when the 2005 world champion had to evade an oncoming car and ended up crashing into a tree. VTM station reported police as saying that Boonen was uninjured but that the car had been damaged. Boonen, who was banned from participating in this year’s Tour de France after testing positive for cocaine in an out of competition test, has previously been in trouble with police over traffic infringements. He was without fault on Saturday though, VTM said.
■SKATING
Kato sets 500m track record
Joji Kato of Japan set a track record to win Saturday’s 500m race at the season-opening speedskating World Cup meet. Kato timed 34.70 seconds to edge China’s Yu Fengtong, at 35.07. Finland’s Mika Poutala clocked 35.13 for third, while world record-holder Jeremy Wotherspoon of Canada crashed and injured his shoulder. The Netherlands swept the first four places in the men’s 1,500m race, with Sven Kramer winning in 1 minute, 45.69 seconds. Erben Wennemars was second in 1:45.85, followed by Simon Kuipers (1:45.95) and Mark Tuitert (1:46.04). Wang Beixing of China won the women’s 500 ahead of world record-holder Jenny Wolf of Germany. Wang, who was beaten by Wolf in Friday’s 500 race, clocked 37.91 to beat Wolf by 0.03 seconds.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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