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.”
“Please love us. Please cheer us on. We have been working hard. Do not give up on us.” Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien’s heartfelt plea echoed across the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 tournament after a historic victory. Rather than boasting, Chen was making an earnest appeal after leading Taiwan to a 4-0 victory over Japan to claim their first major international baseball title at the senior level. Chen’s decisive three-run homer in the fifth inning and his Premier12 leading .632 batting average secured him the Premier12’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) title. He was also named one of the tournament’s outstanding defensive players
WELL-AGED: Although the youngest team in the tournament, Taiwan featured several veteran stars, including Sunday’s home-run hero Chen Chieh-hsien “I will never forget today,” veteran Taiwanese pitcher Chen Kuan-yu said after Taiwan on Sunday night blanked Japan to secure their first ever gold in the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 championship. Chen, who at 34 is the oldest member on the team, said Taiwan “made every difficult step to come to today’s victory. I will never forget today.” Taiwan made history when they won their first gold medal of the Premier12 tournament, beating Japan in a 4-0 shutout victory in the final at the Tokyo Dome. It was a jaw-dropping victory for many baseball commentators who went into the game with
Nikola Jokic on Saturday scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to spark the Denver Nuggets over the Los Angeles Lakers 127-102, continuing their dominance of the NBA rivalry, while Scotty Pippen Jr scored a career-best 30 points to lead the Memphis Grizzlies past the Chicago Bulls, 142-131. The Nuggets won for the 13th time in the past 14 contests against the Lakers, including ousting the Lakers in the playoffs the past two seasons. Serbian star Jokic failed to achieve his sixth consecutive triple-double, managing only eight assists, but his effort was plenty as Michael Porter Jr added 24 points and 11
Major League Baseball (MLB) star Shohei Ohtani wants his former interpreter to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of baseball cards he says were fraudulently bought using his money. The Los Angeles Dodgers star is also requesting Ippei Mizuhara, who previously pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud for stealing nearly US$17 million from the unsuspecting athlete, return signed collectible baseball cards depicting Ohtani that were in Mizuhara’s “unauthorized and wrongful possession,” court documents filed on Tuesday said. The legal filing alleges Mizuhara accessed Ohtani’s bank account beginning in about November 2021, changing his security protocols so that he
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