TENNIS
Taiwan’s Chan makes final
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico yesterday reached the final at the China Open. Chan and Olmos defeated Poland’s Magda Linette and Peyton Stearns of the US 7-5, 6-4 at the National Tennis Center in Beijing to book a place in today’s championship match against the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova and Sara Tormo of Spain, who beat Brazilian pair Luisa Stefani and Ingrid Martins 6-2, 6-2 in the other semi-final.
SOCCER
Nantes defeat Strasbourg
Two second-half goals on Friday helped Nantes earn a 2-1 win against RC Strasbourg Alsace in their Ligue 1 match. Both teams played cautiously during the opening 45 minutes. Nantes scored a goal in the 51st minute when Marcus Coco beat Matz Sels from close range. Samuel Moutoussamy then made it 2-0 from a rebound seven minutes later. Substitute Moise Sahi Dion pulled a goal back for Strasbourg in stoppage-time. Nantes moved to eighth place in the standings, one point above Strasbourg ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games.
SOCCER
Sancet scores for Bilbao
Oihan Sancet on Friday celebrated his first call-up to Spain’s national team by scoring in Athletic Bilbao’s 3-0 win over last-placed UD Almeria in La Liga. Gorka Guruzeta and Dani Garcia also scored for Athletic as they ended their brief winless run and moved into the top four in the standings with the victory at San Mames Stadium. The 23-year-old Sancet earlier on Friday was included in the squad by Spain coach Luis de la Fuente for their European Championship qualifiers. The midfielder sealed Athletic’s victory in the 81st minute after Guruzeta scored in the 10th minute and Garcia in the 63rd. The win moved Athletic two points behind third-placed Girona and one point ahead of fifth-place Atletico Madrid, who had two games in hand ahead of their game among the rest of the weekend’s games. Almeria, who had only one shot on target, are the only team without a win after nine rounds.
ROWING
Naked Australian rescued
A naked Australian adventurer was rescued on Friday by a cruise ship near Vanuatu after capsizing while attempting to row solo across the Pacific Ocean. Tom Robinson clung to the hull of his heavily modified rowing boat for almost 13 hours before he was plucked out of the water, a statement on the expedition’s Web site said. The 24-year-old was seeking to become the youngest person to row across the Pacific Ocean — a journey of about 8,000 nautical miles (14,800km) starting in Peru and ending in Australia. Robinson’s team said in the statement that the situation “was caused by an unexpectedly large wave that came through the main hatch and flooded the cabin.” After activating his emergency distress beacon, Robinson was spotted by a plane dispatched from the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia. A cruise ship that was diverted to rescue Robinson found him clinging naked to the overturned hull of his homemade boat, his team said, adding that he “sounded well after a precarious night.” Robinson set off from Peru in July last year and was aiming to make landfall on Australia’s eastern coast by December after stops in Tahiti, the Cook Islands and Vanuatu.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
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