BADMINTON
Taiwanese win German Open
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan yesterday edged China’s He Jiting and Ren Xiangyu 15-21, 23-21, 23-21 to win the men’s doubles title at the German Open in Mulheim. The world No. 16 pairing of Lee and Yang on Saturday defeated Denmark’s Rasmus Kjaer and Frederik Sogaard 22-20, 21-11 in the semi-finals. In women’s doubles on Saturday, Taiwan’s Hsu Ya-ching and Lin Wan-ching lost 21-17, 21-18 to China’s Li Yijing and Luo Xumin.
CRICKET
Australia best NZ in first Test
Australia captain Pat Cummins yesterday heaped praise on teammates Nathan Lyon and Cameron Green for match-winning performances as his side secured a 172-run triumph over New Zealand in the first Test. Lyon spun the visitors to victory in the morning session on day four in Wellington, taking six wickets as New Zealand crumbled to 196 all out. Green’s career-high unbeaten 174 on day one rescued Australia from 89-4, having been put into bat, to reach 383 and set up a decisive 204-run first-innings lead. It gave Green the nod over Lyon as man of the match and Cummins said that was a fair outcome. “Cam was amazing, he was really the difference in the end,” Cummins said. “I thought the way he went about it, with that intent, really put the pressure back on the bowlers on day one. There was as much bounce as I’ve seen in any wicket for a long time but thankfully it spun which, with Nathan in our side, is always a pretty good thing.”
MOTORSPORTS
Verstappen wins Bahrain
Three-time world champion Max Verstappen on Saturday began his title defense in flawless fashion when he guided his Red Bull team to a crushing one-two triumph, ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, at the Bahrain Grand Prix. In a statement of emphatic superiority, the 26-year-old Dutchman came home 22.5 seconds clear of Perez, who started from fifth, to ease some of the pressure on team boss Christian Horner. By claiming the 33rd pole of his career, fastest lap and race win, Verstappen delivered the 12th “hat-trick” of his career, leaving only the seven-time champions Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton ahead on 22 and 19 trebles respectively. It was Verstappen’s eighth successive win, his 55th race victory and 99th podium finish.
BOXING
Ray Ford wins featherweight
American Ray Ford on Saturday clinched the vacant WBA featherweight world title with a thrilling 12th round last-minute stoppage of Uzbekistan’s Otabek Kholmatov. Ford was down 106-103 on two of the scorecards going into the final round, but the New Jersey fighter landed a strong right hook that left Kholmatov reeling. With Ford, now 15-0 with one drawn and eight knockouts, raining punches on the wobbling Uzbekistani, the referee stepped in. “I always knew I had it in me. I come from a rough background. There’s nothing that can stop me ever,” said Ford, bleeding from the eye after an accidental clash of heads. “I always knew I had a better inside game to him. I didn’t expect him to be as sharp as he was as a boxer and he used his legs as much as he could. I knew I had to dig down to his body and bring it sharp hooks up upstairs and you know that’s my money punch, so I knew I could get him out with one of those.”
The qualifying round of the World Baseball Classic (WBC) is to be held at the Taipei Dome between Feb. 21 and 25, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced today. Taiwan’s group also includes Spain, Nicaragua and South Africa, with two of the four teams advancing onto the 2026 WBC. Taiwan, currently ranked second in the world in the World Baseball Softball Confederation rankings, are favorites to come out of the group, the MLB said in an article announcing the matchups. Last year, Taiwan finished in a five-way tie in their group with two wins and two losses, but finished last on tiebreakers after giving
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
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