BADMINTON
Chou ousted in first match
Taiwanese men’s singles star Chou Tien-chen yesterday lost his first match of the Victor China Open to world No. 7 Li Shifeng of China. The world No. 11 was defeated 21-14, 18-21, 21-18. Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi fared better in Changzhou, beating France’s Toma Junior Popov 21-15, 10-21, 21-16. Among other Taiwanese results, mixed doubles pair Ye Hong-wei and Lee Chia-hsin thrashed the Netherlands’ Robin Tabeling and Selena Piek 21-13, 21-13. In the men’s doubles, Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin upset compatriots Su Ching-heng and Ye 21-14, 21-14, while Chang Ko-chi and Po Li-wei lost 21-14, 21-17 to China’s He Jiting and Zhou Haodong. Sung Shuo-yun was beaten 21-15, 21-13 by China’s He Bingjiao in the women’s singles.
CRICKET
NZ level England T20 series
Mitchell Santner starred with the ball on Tuesday, before Tim Seifert led the way with the bat as New Zealand beat England by six wickets at Trent Bridge to end a four-match Twenty20 series all square at 2-2. When Jonny Bairstow was making a quickfire 73, T20 world champions England were on course for a huge total. However, with England white-ball captain Jos Buttler rested from the game, New Zealand took four wickets for 35 runs — with left-arm spinner Santner returning fine figures of 3-30. New Zealand controlled their chase, with Seifert making 48 and the in-form Glenn Phillips 42 before Mark Chapman’s unbeaten 40 completed a comfortable win with 16 balls left. “They [England] got off to a great start tonight, but we knew that if we kept taking wickets it was the best way to slow them down,” New Zealand captain Tim Southee said. “We were trying to be smart and make them take aggressive options.”
BASKETBALL
Stewart breaks WNBA record
New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart on Tuesday broke the WNBA record for most points scored in a single season after her 40 against the Dallas Wings took her tally to 885 points from 38 games. The five-time All Star forward moved past the 860 points set by Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi in 2006 when the regular season was 34 games. Stewart has two games left — against Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday and Washington Mystics on Sunday — to add to her tally. “I have something I can hold over her head a little bit,” Stewart, 29, said, jokingly. “It means a lot. Any time I’m in the same limelight as ‘D’ it’s a huge honor. I really appreciate everything I’ve been able to do, and wouldn’t be able to do it without my teammates.”
SOCCER
Messi mural goes viral
High-school students in Argentina pieced together a massive mural of soccer superstar Lionel Messi out of thousands of recycled plastic bottle caps. The mural fills the floor of an open-air high school courtyard in the Grand Bourg neighborhood, just outside the capital, Buenos Aires. It depicts the beaming forward holding aloft the golden FIFA World Cup trophy from last year’s win in Qatar, along with a caption offering thanks to Argentina’s tattooed captain. Sebastian Ramirez, a teacher at the school, posted a video clip on social media that went viral summing up a widely-held assessment of Messi’s legacy. “A tribute to the greatest,” he said.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946