SWIMMING
Taiwan wins open water gold
Taiwan’s Teng Yu-wen on Saturday won gold in the women’s 10km race at the Asian Open Water Swimming Championships in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, while compatriot Cho Cheng-chi clinched silver in the men’s 10km event. Teng swam 2 hours, 7 minutes, 27 seconds to win the team’s first open water gold and the first Taiwanese woman to win in the event. She earlier finished fourth in the women’s 5km on the first day of the championships. Cho, who won silver in 2017 and 2019, was leading after 5km, but was edged out by Japan’s Taishin Minamide in the last 400m to lose by 0.3 seconds. Cho also won bronze in the men’s 5km event.
RUGBY
NZ win Rugby Championship
A relieved Ian Foster yesterday said he was satisfied after his All Blacks side took “a very different journey” to retain their Rugby Championship crown by winning their last three matches following a stuttering start to the campaign. New Zealand beat Australia 40-14 in Auckland on Saturday, then had to wait about eight hours to be confirmed champions when South Africa failed to record the landslide win they needed against Argentina in the final match of the four-nation southern hemisphere tournament. South Africa had needed to score three more tries and 40 more points than the Pumas, but managed neither in a 38-21 victory. It gave the All Blacks the championship on 19 points, one ahead of the Springboks, the 2019 World Cup winners. Australia were third on 10 points with Argentina a point further back. “I’m very satisfied,” Foster told reporters in Auckland, having stayed up to watch the South Africa match early yesterday morning in New Zealand. “We did it the hard way, but we put ourselves in with a chance last night and it was enough.”
CHESS
FIDE rebukes Carlsen
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) last week rebuked world champion Magnus Carlsen for abruptly conceding an online game against Hans Niemann, while adding it shared the Norwegian’s concerns surrounding cheating. Carlsen on Monday last week resigned after just one move against American Niemann, who lags almost 200 Elo points behind him, at the Julius Baer Generation Cup this week, just days after he left an over-the-board tournament following a loss to the same opponent. The surprise defeat and Carlsen’s subsequent withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis sparked a furor of comments and allegations that the 19-year-old Niemann had cheated, including from American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. It was Carlsen’s first defeat with white pieces in a classical game since he lost to Levon Aronian in October 2020. Niemann denied any wrongdoing. FIDE on Friday said it was its duty to protect the integrity of chess given recent events involving the two players, but added: “We strongly believe that there were better ways to handle this situation.” It said it was prepared to task its Fair Play Commission with a thorough investigation of the incident once adequate initial proof is provided. “We share his deep concerns about the damage that cheating brings to chess,” it said. Niemann had previously been banned from chess.com for cheating online, having admitted he had not played fairly in noncompetitive games on the Web site in his youth.
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
The NHL postponed the Los Angeles Kings’ home game against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday with several massive wildfires burning across the greater Los Angeles area. The Kings and Flames were scheduled to play on Wednesday night at the Kings’ downtown arena. The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers were scheduled to host the Charlotte Hornets in the same arena last night. “Our hearts are with our entire Los Angeles community,” the Kings said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard working first responders who are diligently working to contain the fire and protect our community. We appreciate the league’s support in keeping our
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
EL CLASSICO: La Liga champions Real Madrid would face Barcelona in the Super Cup final tomorrow. Barca secured their final spot after a 2-0 win over Bilbao on Wednesday Real Madrid would chase a record-equaling 14th Spanish Super Cup title in the final against Barcelona after second-half goals by Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo helped them to a 3-0 win over Mallorca in the semi-finals on Thursday. England midfielder Bellingham broke the deadlock after the hour mark with a low shot into the middle of the goal before Mallorca defender Martin Valjent’s own goal doubled the lead in stoppage time followed by a Rodrygo strike from close range. Spanish champions Real are to play Barcelona for the trophy tomorrow after goals by Gavi and Lamine Yamal earned Barca a 2-0 win over
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