BASEBALL
Taipei Dome adds seating
An additional 4,700 seats would be available at the Taipei Dome for the Asian Baseball Championship finals on Sunday, Farglory, the builder and operator of the stadium, said yesterday. With the addition of the infield seats, the Taipei Dome will be able to accommodate 22,000 spectators for the championship game, Farglory said, adding that the opener between Taiwan and South Korea on Sunday last week drew nearly 17,000 fans. The 4,700 seats to be added will all be on the upper deck of the newly completed venue, which has a capacity of about 40,000, it said. The games on Sunday are to start at 12:30pm with the third-place game, followed by the final at 6:30pm. Taiwan face Japan today in the Super Round.
CRICKET
England level series
Sam Curran took three wickets and Jos Buttler scored a half-century on Wednesday to help England claim a six-wicket victory over the West Indies in the second ODI, leveling the three-match series at 1-1. Set a target of 203 for victory in North Sound, Antigua, England romped home in less than 33 overs to set up a series finale in Barbados tomorrow. Buttler made 58 not out in a 90-run partnership with Harry Brook (43) to get the tourists over the finish line. Gudakesh Motie was the pick of West Indies’ bowlers, picking up the wickets of Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett in back-to-back overs. Earlier, Curran (3-33) decimated the hosts’ top order in a devastating spell, claiming the wickets of Brandon King, Keacy Carty and Shimron Hetmyer.
TENNIS
Raducanu to play in NZ
Britain’s Emma Raducanu has accepted a wild card to play at the Auckland Classic in the New Year after missing out on one in the initial batch offered by the Australian Open. The former US Open winner has had a lengthy absence from the tour following operations on both wrists and an ankle this year, but hopes to be fit for the start of next season. The 21-year-old is set to return to Auckland with a protected ranking of 103 and a year on from exiting the tournament in tears after rolling her ankle during a second-round match moved indoors due to wet weather. “Despite the fact she had to retire this year, she was really happy to come back,” tournament director Nicolas Lamperin told New Zealand media yesterday. Raducanu joins a field featuring reigning champion and US Open holder Coco Gauff and former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Nawaqanitawase switches
Wallabies star Mark Nawaqanitawase yesterday announced that he would jump codes and join rugby league team the Sydney Roosters, with beleaguered Rugby Australia voicing disappointment. Nawaqanitawase, 23, played 11 Tests and was a standout performer for Australia in their disastrous Rugby World Cup campaign in France this year. “We’re delighted to have secured Mark’s services and look forward to welcoming him to our club in 2025,” Roosters head of recruitment Daniel Anderson said in statement of the two-year deal. “We are disappointed — Mark has been a strong player over the last 12 months,” Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said of the NSW Waratahs player.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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