Sun, Jun 25, 2023 page7

• SPORTS BRIEFS

  • Agencies
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  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.”
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