TABLE TENNIS
Taiwanese make final
Taiwanese pair Lin Yun-ju and Chen Szu-yu face a South Korean duo in the final of the mixed doubles at the World Table Tennis (WTT) Contender in Tunis after they beat a Chinese pair in the semi-finals yesterday. Lin and Chen, who were paired after the WTT Contender in Almaty in September last year, defeated Liu Yebo and Liu Weishan 3-0. The Taiwanese pair, ranked 10th in the world, in the final face Lim Jong-hoon and Shin Yu-bin, who are ranked seventh. Lin and Chen were defeated in their respective round of 16 singles matches earlier yesterday. World No. 8 Lin was beaten 3-2 by China’s Sun Wen, ranked 89th in the world. Chen, ranked 31st in the world, failed to make it to the quarter-finals after losing 3-1 to Brazilian player Bruna Takahashi, ranked 38th.
BASEBALL
MLB eyes Paris, Taiwan
The MLB on Friday said that it is looking to hold a regular-season series in Paris in 2025, and added that games in Asia — including Taiwan — were being planned. “We are in the process of working on Paris in 2025,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told a news conference ahead of games in London this weekend between the St Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs. “We’re not at the point where we’re going to make a commitment or a more formal announcement, but it is in the planning stages.” The MLB would continue to take baseball to locations worldwide, Manfred said. He called Europe a “strategic priority,” but the MLB is not stopping there. “We are also interested in places in the Americas, where it’s closer to home, and baseball has more of a rooting in the culture,” he said. “Japan, Taiwan and [South] Korea also remain important initiatives for us and we will be playing in those countries over the course of the next few years,” he said.
SOCCER
World Cup decision delayed
FIFA’s search for the men’s 2030 World Cup hosts was postponed on Friday due to delays about agreeing on rules for the campaign and the final vote. The vote by about 200 FIFA member federations was moved to the last quarter of next year instead of a previously expected meeting in September next year. Bid rules will aim to be settled on at a FIFA council meeting before the end of October, soccer’s governing body said, “with the bidding process to be officially launched thereafter.”
SOCCER
Vote to decide on coach
Nigeria coach Jose Peseiro’s job is in the hands of the fans after Nigerian Football Federation president Ibrahim Gusau said he would let them decide if the Portuguese should stay on. Peseiro, who has coached Porto and Sporting in his home country and took the Nigeria job in May last year, has led his side to the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast starting in January, but his contract ends on June 30. There is now a national debate over whether the 63-year-old should be retained and Gusau said the people can decide. “We have the plan to push the votes to Nigerians to hear their views and thoughts,” Gusau said on the LovingFootball radio show. “We’ve tried the foreign coaches and also the local coaches. Maybe we didn’t get it right in the area of getting the right person. We are going to push it to the public, whether we should continue with Peseiro or he should go.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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