ATHLETICS
Teen bolts to finish line
Teenager Letsile Tebogo on Tuesday attracted comparisons to Usain Bolt after showboating his way to the Under-20 100m world title in a record time with a scorching run in Colombia. The 19-year-old Botswanan clocked 9.91 seconds to improve the junior world record of 9.94 seconds he set in the heats of the senior World Athletics Championships last month, but clearly could have gone even faster. Tebogo made a blistering start at Cali’s Pascual Guerrero Stadium and coasted through the final 20m, turning to gesticulate at silver medallist Bouwahjgie Nkrumie with a huge smile on his face as he cruised to the line. The early celebrations were a deliberate echo of Bolt’s when the Jamaican great won the first of his eight Olympic sprint gold medals in a world record time of 9.69 seconds at the 2008 Beijing Games. “If somebody took it as disrespect, I’m really sorry,” Tebogo told the World Athletics Web site. “[It was so] everybody watching at home can enjoy the race — to remind them a little bit about what Usain Bolt did back in the day. He’s my idol — the person I look up to.”
TENNIS
Raducanu a Slytherin fan
Emma Raducanu may be undecided on who her next permanent coach should be, but the British teen has no uncertainty when it comes to selecting which house she identifies with at the mythical Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. House Slytherin is one of the four houses at Hogwarts in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. “I’d be in Slytherin, for sure,” Raducanu said on Tuesday, after her 6-4, 6-2 win over qualifier Louisa Chirico at the Citi Open. “I just think that, they haven’t got a great rep, but I just think they are really, hmm, cool. But they have like super — they’re pretty, in a way, brutal, but — I don’t know. They have got a, just mysterious sort of side to them, and I like that.”
SOCCER
Four nations, one World Cup
Four South American countries on Tuesday launched an unprecedented joint bid to host the centenary 2030 FIFA World Cup in the hopes of bringing the global showpiece back to its first home. “We are in this iconic place where history began,” said Alejandro Dominguez, president of South American soccer’s governing body CONMEBOL, from the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo where the first World Cup final was held in 1930. Uruguay won that, beating Argentina 4-2, but now the neighbors have joined together — alongside Paraguay and Chile — to bid for the right to host the global showpiece under the “Juntos 2030” (Together 2030) slogan. “This is not the project of a government, but the dream of a whole continent,” Dominguez said.
SOCCER
England women crash site
An unprecedented demand for tickets to watch the England women’s team play against the US at Wembley on Oct. 7 led to the Football Association’s Web site crashing on Tuesday and fans being held in lines online of more than 45,000 people. The FA announced at 2pm that England, the newly crowned UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 champions, were in line to host the US, the FIFA World Cup holders, prompting a surge to buy tickets. Supporters able to access the Web site were given an estimated wait time of more than an hour.
Taiwanese infielder Chang Yu on Saturday made his major league pitching debut when he was pulled off third base in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the Tampa Bay Rays’ bullpen in their 9-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Chang’s chance to take the mound came as the Tigers’ scoring was already out of hand for the Rays. Detroit mounted a rare offensive outburst, leading Rays manager Kevin Cash to preserve his pitchers by allowing Chang to throw an inning. He retired Willi Castro on what the scoreboard called a 40mph curveball, but Detroit’s Jonathan Schoop hit the next pitch for
Taiwan yesterday outlasted the Dominican Republic 9-5 in a rain-soaked slugfest in Tainan to take home the bronze medal in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup. Taiwan, who won the previous edition of the tournament in 2019, were eliminated from gold medal contention on Friday with a loss to the US, and needed a comeback win over South Korea a day later to reach yesterday’s third-place playoff. The US and Venezuela were playing for gold in a game that started at 7:45pm. The US were leading 7-2 at the bottom of the fifth inning as of press time last night. In what was
Tuesday night was another home run, another pitching win, another spot in the history books — just another night for Shohei Ohtani. The two-way sensation from Japan withstood another injury scare and pitched six scoreless innings to go with his team-leading 25th home run, reaching yet another monumental milestone as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1. Ohtani joined Babe Ruth (1918) as the only players in major league history to have at least 10 home runs and 10 wins in the same season. The Angels said that two players from the Negro Leagues also did it: Bullet Rogan of the
A tearful Naomi Osaka on Tuesday retired injured and US Open champion Emma Raducanu fell at the first hurdle as the top women’s players continued their preparations for Flushing Meadows at the Canadian Open in Toronto. News of the pending retirement of Serena Williams overshadowed proceedings at the tune-up for the year’s final Grand Slam, but there were no shortage of first-round upsets for fans to enjoy, including one by local Bianca Andreescu. Twice US Open champion Osaka, in only her second tournament back from an Achilles injury, battled on gamely before retiring while trailing Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (7/4), 3-0. “I felt my
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