JUDO
Taiwan’s Yang wins bronze
Taiwan’s Yang Yung-wei on Friday won bronze in the men’s under-60kg category at the Grand Prix Portugal. Yang, who was defeated by Dilshodbek Baratov of Uzbekistan in the round of eight, bounced back to beat three-time Grand Prix winner Balabay Aghayev from Azerbaijan in the repechage after Aghayev was given three shido — called when rule violations occur — while the two were competing in the golden score contest, or sudden death overtime. The 26-year-old Taiwanese judoka faced off against 20-year-old Youssry Samy of Egypt in the bronze-medal game and took the Egyptian opponent down with a triangle choke, which encircles the neck and one arm with the legs. His bronze was his first this season. Yang’s coach Liu Wen-teng told reporters that there are more competitors than usual because it is an Olympic year. However, Yang has performed well despite the packed schedule, Liu said. Yang is to compete in the Judo Grand Slam Paris this week in his bid to secure more points ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Photo: CNA
SOCCER
Cagliari pay tribute to Riva
Cagliari on Friday paid tribute to former star Gigi Riva in their first home match since the Italy great died. The Sardinian cub, struggling after promotion to Serie A, lost 2-1 to Torino, but remembered more successful days as they commemorated the center-forward of their only league-winning team. Duvan Zapata and Samuele Ricci put the visitors two goals up by half-time. A 77th-minute reply by Nicolas Viola could not save Claudio Ranieri’s team. Riva was listed at No. 11 in Cagliari’s starting line-up and the team warmed up in white shirts, replicas of those worn by their predecessors in 1970, the year of the Sardinian club’s only Serie A title. Play was interrupted in the 11th minute as the 30,000-strong crowd paid tribute to Riva, who passed away on Monday at the age of 79 in Cagliari.
SOCCER
Gotze scores only goal
Mario Gotze on Friday scored deep into the second half as Eintracht Frankfurt beat FSV Mainz 05 1-0 in the Bundesliga. Mainz started the night third from bottom in the standings. They had the early running, but were floored by Gotze’s 73rd-minute winner as the playmaker headed home a loose ball. There was a suspicion of offside, but the goal was allowed after a video analysis.
SPEED SKATING
Stolz sets world record
Reigning world champion Jordan Stolz of the US on Friday set a world men’s 1,000m speed skating record, the teen clocking in at 1 minute, 5.37 seconds at the Utah Olympic Oval. The 19-year-old, who won three titles at last year’s World Championships, set the mark at a World Cup race outside Salt Lake City, shattering the old mark of 1 minute, 5.69 seconds set by Pavel Kulizhnikov of Russia in the same oval in February 2020.
‘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