JUDO
Taiwanese wins in UAE
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Friday bagged his first Grand Slam title by defeating Russian Ramazan Abdulaev in the men’s under-60kg judo final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). With seconds left on the clock, the 24-year-old Yang used a rapid dropping throw to pin his opponent on the mat with an arm choke to score a waza-ari, the second-highest score in judo’s three-tier system. Abdulaev tried to make a quick comeback, but it was not enough before time ran out, allowing the young Taiwanese to clinch gold. Prior to the final, Yang had three previous matches in Abu Dhabi, scoring ippon — the highest score — against each of his opponents, first in the opening round against Ahmed Al Naqbi of the UAE, then Dilshot Khalmatov of Ukraine in their quarter-final and Samuel Hall of the UK in their semi-final. Yang won silver at the Tokyo Olympics. The only other Taiwanese at the UAE event was Lin Chen-hao, who lost her opening and only bout against Belgium’s Ellencs Salens in the women’s under-48kg category.
TABLE TENNIS
Cheng and Lin advance
Taiwanese Olympic medalist Cheng I-ching and compatriot Lin Yun-ju on Friday advanced to the next round of the mixed doubles after beating Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen and Lin Ye 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-6) at the World Table Tennis Championships Finals in Houston, Texas. They face Hong Kong pair Ho Kwan Kit and Lee Ho Ching in the quarter-finals. However, Cheng lost 1-4 (6-11, 13-11, 6-11, 5-11, 2-11) in her singles round-of-16 match against China’s Chen Xingtong. Taiwan’s other mixed doubles pairing, world No. 58 Chen Szu-yu and Chen Chien-an, exited after a round-of-16 loss against China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha. The score was 1-3 (7-11, 6-11, 11-7, 6-11). In the men’s doubles, Chen Chien-an and Chuang Chih-yuan lost 0-3 (4-11, 6-11, 5-11) against world No. 14 South Korean duo Jang Woo-jin and Lim Jong-hoon.
GOLF
Taiwan’s Chan leads
Taiwan’s Chan Shih-chang yesterday was in a share of the lead after the third round of the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship in Thailand. Chan, who was tied for second with a four-under-par 68 in the second round, shot a 68 yesterday to put himself at the top of the board alongside Sihwan Kim of the US. Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana was third, two shots behind the leaders.
? SOCCER
Klopp advises Mane
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp on Friday urged forward Sadio Mane to control his emotions when opponents try to wind him up and “pay them back” with the quality of his play. Klopp said that opposition players often try to antagonize Mane. “It has been a thing for much longer,” Klopp told British media. “Even when it was not obvious to the outside, you can see it in games that they go for him because they want to wind him up.” Klopp said that he has spoken with Mane about how to deal with such situations. “Sadio is now of an age where he is not that emotional anymore, but we all need emotions, obviously, and sometimes we control them better and sometimes less,” he said. “We’ve had these talks... The headline [from our discussions] is: ‘We pay back with football. Whatever we do, we pay them back with football.’”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite