Taiwanese pool player Chou Chieh-yu on Sunday won the Wisconsin Women’s Open, shutting out Britain’s Allison Fisher in the final.
Chou, 36, took home a prize of US$17,000 after beating Fisher, 55, in the three-set final of the 64-player 10-ball tournament.
Chou found herself on the ropes after losing the first set 2-4, but rallied, winning the next two sets 4-2, 4-1 to take the title.
Photo courtesy of the Sports Administration
In a post-game interview, Chou, who is also the reigning women’s WPA World 10-Ball Championship title holder, said the Wisconsin victory was beyond her expectations.
It was her second consecutive win against the British pool titan this year.
The two squared off in January in the final of the WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Chou dominated 9-0 and took the title, making her the first female competitor to hold both the 9-ball and 10-ball world titles since Britain’s Kelly Fisher in 2012.
At the Wisconsin Women’s Open, two other Taiwanese, Wei Tzu-chien and Wang Wan-ling, made it to the quarter-finals, but were knocked out by Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva and Russia’s Kristina Tkach respectively.
Tkach competed in the tournament as an Authorized Neutral Athlete.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Stephen Curry and Jayson Tatum on Sunday combined for 27 points as Shaquille O’Neal’s “Team Shaq” cruised to victory in the new-look NBA All-Star game in San Francisco. Curry, playing on his home court at Golden State’s Chase Center, reeled off a string of trademark three-pointers to help his star-studded lineup coast to a 41-25 victory over Charles Barkley’s “Team Chuck.” Boston Celtics star Tatum finished with 15 points after delivering a dominant performance in a starting lineup that also included Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and James Harden. Team Shaq’s preparations for the game had been dealt a blow shortly before tip-off when