England shattered China 54-0 despite turning up with the wrong studs as fellow favorites New Zealand and South Africa also got off to convincing starts at the Hong Kong Sevens yesterday.
Monsoon conditions took England, four-time winners, by surprise, forcing a last-ditch scramble, with longer, wet-weather studs arriving by courier just 30 minutes before the start.
“It’s not particularly professional of the boys. I gave them an earful for not bringing the appropriate footwear,” said coach Ben Ryan, adding team officials had to call shops and sponsors for the equipment. “It was a distraction we could have done without. One guy had to run about two miles to get a set.”
Despite the poor preparations and difficult conditions, England were dynamite as they capitalized on a hat full of errors by China.
Dan Caprice scored a second-half hat-trick and Kevin Barrett and Josua Drauniniu got two each as England set about erasing the pain of their quarter-final loss in this month’s World Cup.
“We were ruthless,” Ryan said. “That’s what I asked the boys to be and that’s what they were.”
Defending champions New Zealand also made light of “atrocious” conditions in their 59-0 workout against minnows Sri Lanka.
Lote Raikabula starred with three tries and Wellington Hurricanes flier Victor Vito got two as New Zealand go in search of their first title this season.
“It’s quite atrocious out there. It’s really slippery,” coach Gordon Tietjens said. “Your concentration level’s got to be right up there.”
South Africa, joint series leaders along with England after wins in Dubai and George, later beat South Korea 29-7.
Kenya came from behind to beat West Indies and Fiji, 11-time victors in Hong Kong, thrashed Taiwan 33-0. Argentina, currently fourth in the series, strolled past the hosts 28-0.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS