BASEBALL
Lions, Monkeys to face off
The CPBL is to open its post-season on Saturday when the Uni-President Lions begin a best-of-five series against the Rakuten Monkeys at home in Tainan. The Lions are to start with a 1-0 lead in the opening round of the five-team league’s playoffs, a perk they received for winning the first half of the season. They also have the advantage of playing all of the series’ games at home except for the second game, to be staged in Taoyuan on Sunday. The Monkeys earned their playoff berth on Sunday by outlasting two-time defending champions the CTBC Brothers 11-9. The Wei Chuan Dragons advanced automatically to the Taiwan Series because they had a better full-season record than the Lions. The winner of the Lions-Monkeys series would face the Dragons in the best-of-seven Taiwan Series, which starts on Saturday next week.
BASKETBALL
US player attacked in Poland
An American player with a professional Polish women’s club was beaten and left with a head injury last week with a suspect later detained, officials and reports in Polish media said on Sunday. Mikayla Cowling, who plays for VBW Arka Gdynia, was attacked late on Wednesday in a music club in Gdansk, said the RMF FM broadcaster, which also quoted the club as saying the “brutal beating” left her with a fractured eye socket, among other injuries. “I am outraged that such a shameful situation has occurred. Violence and aggression are unacceptable and must be opposed,” Gdynia Mayor Wojciech Szczurek wrote on Sunday on X, formerly known as Twitter. The attack happened after a EuroCup women’s match where Gdynia defeated Swiss rivals the BCF Elfic Fribourg, 77-47. Cowling scored 7 points. Gdynia president Boguslaw Witkowski said in an interview with the Polish Press Agency that the player was attacked near the women’s restroom by a security guard. The state-run agency also quoted a police spokesperson who said the suspect, a 48-year-old man, was arrested on Friday.
CRICKET
Australia’s Healy bit by dog
Australia acting captain and wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy was rushed into surgery at the weekend after injuring her right index finger trying to separate her dogs as they were fighting. Healy was a late withdrawal from the Sydney Sixers ahead of their 42-run defeat to the Sydney Thunder in the Women’s Big Bash League on Sunday. The Sixers said Healy had hand surgery after a “domestic accident at home,” but her Australia teammate Phoebe Litchfield later revealed the injury was due to a dog attack. Healy yesterday said she sustained an injury after putting her hand between her two Staffordshire bull terriers. “The positive sign out of it is there was no bone or tendon damage, or a rupture,” she told reporters in a videoconference. “I think there was an artery involved which probably made it look more like a crime scene than it needed to be. It was quite gory.” Healy, who is now in doubt for the rest of the season, is to meet with surgeons on Thursday. “When I pulled my finger out initially, I thought I was in strife, but it’s all gone smoothly at the moment,” she said.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
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