ATHLETICS
Fraser-Pryce wins title
World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on Friday won the Jamaican women’s 100m title, clocking 10.71 seconds to confirm her spot on the team headed to the Tokyo Olympics next month. Fraser-Pryce, who earlier this month set a world-leading 10.63 seconds, shook off a semi-final loss to double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah with a masterclass of sprinting, getting out to her customary bullet start and holding off a quality field that had six of eight women running under 11 seconds this year. It was Fraser-Pryce’s fourth 100m national title and sixth overall. Shericka Jackson, who had run a personal best 10.77 seconds in the semi-finals, was second with 10.82 seconds and Thompson-Herah third in 10.84 seconds. Tyquendo Tracey was a surprise winner in the men’s final, running a season-best 10.00 seconds to beat Yohan Blake at 10.01 seconds, with Oblique Seville taking third with a personal best 10.04 seconds. Tracey won the national title in 2018. Commonwealth Games champion and World and Olympic finalist Janieve Russell won her third national 400m hurdles championships, running a season’s best 54.07 seconds, fourth-best in the world. Ronda Whyte was second in 54.94 seconds and Leah Nugent was third in 54.98 seconds. Two-time world under-20 champion Jaheel Hyde ran a personal best 48.18 seconds, under his previous 48.52 seconds set in 2017, to win his first national senior title in the men’s 400m hurdles.
RUGBY UNION
Australia to move Test
Australia’s series-opening Test against France is to be shifted out of Sydney due to a COVID-19 lockdown of the nation’s biggest city, Rugby Australia (RA) said yesterday. Authorities in New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, announced a two-week hard lockdown in and around the city. Australia were to play France on July 7 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but are now looking at other options, an RA spokesman said. These include Newcastle and Brisbane, which is to host the third and final Test on July 17, Australian media reported. The second Test is scheduled for Melbourne on July 13. Australia’s major winter sports leagues were also facing disruption. The National Rugby League, which features nine Sydney-based teams, is likely to shift championship matches outside the city over the next two weeks. The Australian Football League moved the Sydney Swans’ match against West Coast Eagles on Sunday next week to Geelong, while the Greater Western Sydney Giants are to remain in Melbourne for a second week in a row to play the Melbourne Demons on Saturday.
BOXING
Joshua-Usyk bout announced
Anthony Joshua is to defend his heavyweight titles against Oleksandr Usyk in London on Sept. 25. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, made the announcement on Friday. Joshua, holder of the WBA, IBF and WBO titles, was to have an all-British showdown with Tyson Fury this summer, but a legal ruling in the US wrecked a proposed unification fight in Saudi Arabia on Aug. 14. An arbitration hearing upheld a claim from fellow heavyweight Deontay Wilder that he was contractually owed a third fight with WBC champion Fury. They are to meet on July 24 in Las Vegas. Usyk is a former cruiserweight world champion from Ukraine who stepped up to heavyweight in 2019. He has an 18-0 (13 KO) record. He has not fought since October last year. Joshua is 24-1 (22 KO) after knocking out Kubrat Pulev in December last year.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
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