■TCHOUKBALL
Teams visit diplomats
Two teams from a senior high school in Taipei County visited Taiwanese diplomats in Rome on Wednesday after taking first and second place at last weekend’s Beach Tchoukball International Festival in Rimini, Italy. Huang Chin-cheng, president of the International Tchoukball Federation based in Kaohsiung County, led the two teams as they called on Taiwanese representative to Italy Yih Jung-tzung and Taiwan’s ambassador to the Holy See, Larry Wang. During the meeting, Yih said sports were an effective form of diplomacy and praised the players as the country’s “goodwill ambassadors.” Wang gave the teams commemorative pins that are used as a symbol of friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican, and talked with the players about diplomatic relations between the two countries. Huang said Taiwan’s wins at the competition — in which more than 100 teams competed — demonstrated the country’s leading edge in the sport.
■SOCCER
Lyon win, grab third place
Olympique Lyonnais took a big step toward Champions League qualification for next season by beating Monaco 3-0 on Wednesday. Goals either side of halftime from Miralem Pjanic and Bafetimbi Gomis, and a late strike by Lisandro Lopez secured a comfortable victory for Claude Puel’s side over the beaten French Cup finalists. Lyon are now third in the table, a point behind second-placed Lille and a point above Auxerre. With the top three qualifying for the Champions League, Lyon can make sure of a place in Europe’s top club competition with victory at home to already-relegated Le Mans tomorrow.
■SOCCER
Pohang knock out Kashima
Reigning champions Pohang Steelers beat Kashima Antlers 1-0 on Wednesday, joining three other South Korean clubs in the Asian Champions League quarter-finals. Mota’s deflected right-foot shot in the 29th minute was enough for Pohang to dispose of the last Japanese team in contention. Eninho scored once in each half, twice giving Jeonbuk Motors the lead at Adelaide United, but the visitors needed a late extra-time goal from Lee Dong-guk to win 3-2. That allowed Jeonbuk to join Pohang in the next round along with other South Korean clubs Seongnam Ilhwa and Suwon Bluewings. Also going through were Zobahan, who beat Mes Kerman 1-0, and Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, 3-0 winners over Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor.
■SOCCER
Teens to train at Barca
China will select 40 teenagers to train at Spanish club Barcelona next month in a major Chinese Football Association (CFA) initiative to develop elite players in Europe. The players, all under 15, will be chosen by Barca scouts at a two-month camp in Hebei Province and then will stay with more than a dozen youth clubs affiliated to the European champions over the next three years. The project is a part of the CFA’s ambition to train up to 500 teenagers overseas.
■ICE HOCKEY
US slump to third loss
Hosts Germany needed two goals from brothers Marcel and Nicolai Goc to seal their qualification to the world championship second round with a 3-1 win over Denmark in Cologne on Wednesday. The US slumped to their third straight group defeat, 3-2 against Finland, to fight for their place in the top division. The losing run by the US left Germany and Finland to progress from Group D along with Denmark. Switzerland beat Canada 4-1 to finish top of Group B, with Canada also advancing in second spot.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946