CYCLING
Race brings back metal
A lightweight wooden medal proved an inadequate reward for the thousands of amateur cyclists who completed the RideLondon mass participation event last year so organizers have bowed to pressure and are to reinstate metal medallions instead. Eco-friendly wooden medals have become more common for sporting events, but they have not been to everyone’s liking. Finishers in next year’s race, which takes riders from central London out to the countryside of Essex and back, would be decorated with medals made from recycled zinc alloy. “We listened to the feedback from riders and the strong preference for a metal finisher’s medal,” RideLondon route director Kevin Nash said in a statement. Zinc alloy is said to be more recyclable than aluminum alternatives, and any leftovers are to be melted down and made into new products, organizers said.
ICE HOCKEY
Wild fire Dean Evason
The Minnesota Wild on Monday fired coach Dean Evason and replaced him with John Hynes after losing seven straight games and 14 of their first 19 to start to the NHL season. General manager Bill Guerin announced the moves, including the firing of assistant Bob Woods. Hynes, the former New Jersey and Nashville coach, is to take over. Evason, 59, had three full seasons in charge of the Wild, who gave him his first head coaching job in the NHL on Feb. 14, 2020, when Bruce Boudreau was fired and he was promoted from his assistant role. He went 147-77-27 in 251 regular season games and 8-15 in the post-season without winning any series.
ATHLETICS
Athletes train for combat
Hundreds of athletes as young as seven are undergoing military training in Shanghai designed to instill discipline and “good fighting ability,” the city said. The athletes are to “deeply study” the Chinese military’s “sense of standards and combat spirit,” the Shanghai Sports Bureau said. Chinese soccer teams have previously undergone similar training, which is largely performative and part of a wider campaign to promote Chinese Communist Party values. He Youxiao, head coach of a men’s gymnastics team participating in the training this week, said that the age range of his athletes spanned from seven to 25. “No matter how old or young, everybody deeply cherishes this opportunity,” a sports bureau news report quoted He as saying. The training started on Monday and is scheduled to last until Tuesday next week. It involves 932 athletes from 11 sports centers across the city.
TENNIS
No penalty for Russia event
The WTA said that while it does not support an exhibition event in Russia this weekend, players who compete in it would not be sanctioned. The second edition of the Northern Palmyra Trophies tournament, sponsored by Russian energy giant Gazprom, is to be held from Friday to Sunday in St Petersburg, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues. Among the WTA players participating are former French and US Open quarter-finalist Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan, Russian world No. 28 Anastasia Potapova and former Roland Garros quarter-finalist Veronika Kudermetova, also from Russia. ATP players include world No. 15 Karen Khachanov of Russia, Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain and France’s Adrian Mannarino, the event’s Web site shows.
‘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
Olympic bronze medalist Lee Meng-yuan has become the first Taiwanese athlete to top the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) men’s skeet world rankings, while top Taiwanese shooters won golds in each of yesterday’s finals in Taoyuan. Lee’s 6,610 points put him ahead of fellow men’s skeet medalists from the Paris Olympics Americans Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince. Lee on Monday said that he was surprised by the result, although he had expected his ranking to rise after the Games, which was also the first time a Taiwanese athlete had competed in men’s skeet. Despite topping the rankings, Lee said he believed Hancock, who