GOLF
Taiwan’s Chien drops back
Kim A-lim on Friday birdied the final two holes for a seven-under 65 and the lead in the suspended second round of the rain-delayed LPGA Chevron Championship, while Taiwan’s Chien Pei-yun, the first-round leader, had dropped down the leaderboard. Thirty-one players were unable to finish the second round before it got dark in the first women’s major tournament of the season. After opening with a 71 on Thursday at The Club at Carlton Woods, Kim on Friday had eight birdies with just one bogey to reach eight-under 136. Americans Lilia Vu and Megan Khang were tied for second, a stroke behind. Chien shot a 67 in the first round, but remained at five-under with four holes to play in the second round, which was to resume after press time last night.
Photo: AFP
ATHLETICS
Challenge Taiwan starts
More than 8,000 triathletes from more than 20 countries lined up for the start of the 11th annual two-day Challenge Taiwan in Taitung County yesterday. Participants were to swim, cycle and run over a variety of distances, including full-distance (226km), half-distance (113km), Olympic (51.5km) and sprint (25.75km). The swimming portion was at Taitung Forest Park’s Flowing Lake, after which the athletes would cycle along a section of Provincial Highway No. 11 before finishing with a run to Tie Hua Village in Taitung City. Traffic controls would be in place across several road sections in Taitung County until 12pm today to make way for the cycling and running courses, the event’s organizers said.
TENNIS
Fellow Serb beats Djokovic
Novak Djokovic on Friday lost to a Serb countryman for the first time in 11 years. Dusan Lajovic won 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) in their quarter-final at the Srpska Opento to down a world No. 1-ranked player for the first time. “It is the biggest win of my career,” Lajovic said on court. “The emotions are very mixed because I’m playing here in front of the home town and I’m also playing against Nole, who is a good friend and he’s a hero of our country.” Djokovic’s previous loss to a fellow Serb was in 2012 to Janko Tipsarevic in Madrid. “Dusan is a fantastic person, great guy,” Djokovic said. “Someone I’ve known for a very long time, since he started playing professional tennis. So many times on the Davis Cup team together, trained together. I’m happy for him, to be honest. He deserved to win today.”
TENNIS
Swiatek advances to semis
Iga Swiatek on Friday rallied to beat Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 for a place in the Porsche Grand Prix semi-finals. She next faces third-seeded Ons Jabeur, who eliminated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-0 in their quarter-final in Stuttgart. Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka rallied to defeat Spain’s Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to advance, with her semi against Anastasia Potapova, who upset fourth-seeded Caroline Garcia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The semis were to be played after press time last night.
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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