CRICKET
Stars go home winless
The Taiwan Stars yesterday lost three games from three at the Janhong Tournament at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei, leaving them last and out of today’s finals. Taipei-based ICC made 76-2, aided by 25 extras, to overhaul the Stars’ total of 74-6 in the first of yesterday’s 12-over matches. Saurabh Hajari belted 50 not out from just 23 deliveries to power the Game Swingers to 128-5 in the second match, which was too much for the Stars’ 72-7. In the third game, the Taipei Indians made 116-3 to set up a 30-run win. Yesterday’s action completed the group stage in the five-team tournament, with the Hsinchu Titans topping the table for direct entry into today’s final. The Indians and the Swingers are to play in the morning to decide who gets the other spot in the championship match.
LITTLE LEAGUE
Girl scores a run
Stella Weaver, the only girl playing in the Little League World Series this year, singled, scored a run and was hit by a pitch, helping Tennessee to an 8-1 win over Rhode Island on Friday. Weaver is just the 22nd girl to play in the tournament’s history. The first Little League World Series was held in 1947. With the bases empty, Stella hit a hard grounder to short and beat out the throw to become the 10th girl to record a hit in tournament history. She later hustled from second to home on a bloop single, clapping her hands as she slid through the plate. “People don’t realize how fast she is,” manager Randy Huth said. “You ask any one of these guys, she can fly. She can flat out fly. She hit that ball so hard to shortstop and he still couldn’t throw her out.” Weaver also made a put-out in right field before she was pulled defensively in the fourth, maintaining her place in the lineup. Huth said he made the switch because he considered pitching her in relief of starter Grayson May. Huth said there was “definitely a chance” that Weaver would get the start in Tennessee’s game against Washington tomorrow. The Tennessee team, from Nolensville just south of Nashville, is representing the Southeast region in the US bracket. “You’re gonna see Stella,” Huth said. “She can throw it, man. She can really pitch.” Taiwan, represented by Taoyuan-based Kuei-Shan Little League, face Japan tomorrow. They won their first game at the tournament against Canada.
GAMES
Victoria to pay A$380m
Australia’s Victoria state is to pay A$380 million (US$243 million) to Commonwealth Games organizers, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said yesterday, after it withdrew as 2026 event host citing a projected cost blowout. Victoria last month pulled out of hosting the quadrennial multi-sport event, which was to have been held in four regional hubs, with Andrews saying costs could have ballooned to more than A$7 billion from a budgeted A$2.6 billion. The decision has raised the possibility that the Games might not take place for the first time since being canceled due to World War II. In a joint statement issued by Andrews, the Commonwealth Games Federation, Commonwealth Games Federation Partnerships, Commonwealth Games Australia and Victoria said they had “settled all their disputes regarding the cancelation of the multi-hub regional Victoria 2026 Commonwealth Games.” The statemenst said: “The State of Victoria has agreed to pay the Commonwealth Games parties ... A$380 million.”
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
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
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
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
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