■BADMINTON
Champion past his prime
Indonesia’s former Olympic champion shuttler Taufik Hidayat said he was past his prime after failing to halt Lin Dan and the Chinese juggernaut in the Thomas Cup final in Malaysia over the weekend. China demolished Indonesia 3-0 in Sunday’s final of the biennial men’s team tournament after Olympic and world champion Lin had crushed Taufik 21-7 21-14 in less than an hour. “It is indeed Lin’s era now. If I was still in my golden years, I would be able to overcome him, but I’m past my prime,” the 28-year-old Taufik told yesterday’s Jakarta Post. Taufik, who won the men’s singles at the 2004 Olympics, appealed for his country to do something to produce a new wave of players to replace him. “Now I’m the first singles in my sixth Thomas Cup. There must be something wrong with the young players’ development,” the 2005 world champion told the Jakarta Globe.
■RUGBY UNION
Japan set for World Cup
Japan all but secured their place at next year’s rugby World Cup by thrashing Kazakhstan 101-7 in the Asian Five Nations in Tokyo over the weekend. The Cherry Blossoms just need to avoid an unlikely defeat by more than seven points against Hong Kong next Saturday to win the tournament for the third year in a row and claim Asia’s single automatic ticket for New Zealand. “Keeping our structure as we did for 80 minutes is a hard thing to do, but we did it, even if there were some individual errors. So I am pretty happy,” coach John Kirwan told the Japanese Rugby Union Web site after Saturday’s 15-try victory in Tokyo. Japan, who have yet to lose a match in three editions of the Asian Five Nations, have played at all six previous World Cups and will host the tournament in 2019.
■RUGBY UNION
Hooker scores injury time
South African hooker Schalk Brits scored an injury time try to help send Saracens into their first English Premiership final with a 21-19 win over Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton, England, on Sunday. The try needed the video referee’s approval before Glen Jackson added the conversion. Saracens will face Leicester in the Twickenham final on May 29. Jackson also added the extras to earlier tries by full-back Alex Goode and wing Chris Wyles. Tries in each half by props Soane Tonga’uiha and Brian Mujati, together with three penalties from Stephen Myler, looked to have done enough for Northampton. Five penalties from Toby Flood booted defending champions Leicester into a sixth-successive final after a 15-6 win over Bath at Welford Road. The scores were tied at 6-6 at half-time after Olly Barkley and Flood had kicked two penalties apiece, but the Tigers took a stranglehold on the game after the interval and Flood added three further penalties.
■SOCCER
South Africa beat Thailand
South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was satisfied after seeing his side equal their best international result with a 4-0 drubbing of Thailand in Nelspruit, South Africa, on Sunday. A three-goal first half blitz and a late strike from substitute Bernard Parker gave this year’s World Cup hosts a perfect start to final preparations for the June 11 to July 11 tournament. Midfielder Siphiwe Tshabalala gave Bafana Bafana (The Boys) a 22nd-minute lead and striker Katlego Mphela lived up to pre-match promises that he would end a goal drought by scoring twice within four minutes.
■ATHLETICS
Gay breaks 200m record
US sprinter Tyson Gay shattered the 44-year-old world record for the straight line 200m in Manchester, England, on Sunday. Gay, the world 100m silver medalist, clocked 19.41 seconds at the Great City Games in Manchester city center, beating Tommie Smith’s cinder-track record set in 1966 by 0.09 seconds. On a cool night and facing a slight headwind everything went perfectly for the 27-year-old Gay who saw off the challenge of Kim Collins and Paul Hession. Gay now looks forward to his Diamond League campaign where he will face Olympic and world champion, and 100m and 200m world record holder, Usain Bolt in at least three meetings. The American is convinced he can prevent his Jamaican rival blazing another trail of victories.
■SOCCER
Advocaat to be Russia coach
Dutchman Dick Advocaat has agreed to become Russia’s new national coach, Russian Football Union head Sergei Fursenko was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying yesterday. Last month, Advocaat resigned as Belgium coach after just six months in the job and will replace compatriot Guus Hiddink in a country where he enjoyed success at club level with Zenit St Petersburg. When he stepped down from the Belgium job, Advocaat was quoted in the Dutch media as saying: “Russian soccer is of a higher level than Belgian soccer. It matches the level I am used to working at.” Advocaat led Zenit to a league title, domestic cup victory and a UEFA Cup triumph in his three-year spell at the club and has been linked with the national post since Hiddink announced in February he would step down when his contract expired in June. Russia failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup finals after losing a two-legged playoff to Slovenia.
■SOCCER
Corinthians beat Gremio
Corinthians handed Gremio their first home defeat in 18 months when they beat them 2-1 in the Brazilian championship in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Gremio’s city rivals Internacional gave themselves a boost ahead of their visit to Libertadores Cup holders Estudiantes in La Plata in the quarter-finals on Thursday when they came back from two goals down to win 3-2 away to Goias. Corinthians, looking to win the championship after their Libertadores Cup hopes in their centenary year were dashed by Flamengo, went ahead at the Olimpico in Porto Alegre after five minutes with a header by midfielder Ralf from a Dentinho corner. Striker Souza, playing in place of Ronaldo, scored the second 20 minutes into the second half when he netted after a poor clearance by central defender Bruno Collaco.
■BOXING
Katsidis beats Mitchell
Australia’s Michael Katsidis produced a devastating third-round stoppage of British challenger Kevin Mitchell on Saturday to retain his WBO interim lightweight world title. Katsidis had too much firepower for the previously unbeaten Mitchell, who was roared on by 15,000 fellow east Londoners at the home of soccer club West Ham United. The Australian, who claimed the vacant title by beating Graham Earl on his last visit to Britain, oozed confidence from the moment he climbed into the ring, sporting a gladiator’s helmet and set about his opponent with real venom. Mitchell remained composed behind his jab despite the onslaught from his compact 29-year-old rival, but was backpedalling throughout and it seemed only a matter of time before the marauding Katsidis caught up with him.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
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