BADMINTON
Lee, Yang place 2nd in Paris
Taiwanese shuttlers Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan finished runners-up at the French Open on Sunday after losing to Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the men’s doubles final. Lee and Yang, who are ranked 16th, lost 21-11, 21-17 against the world No. 1 pair from India in a match that lasted just 37 minutes at the Adidas Arena in Paris. Despite the score being tied 4-4 early in the opener, Rankireddy and Shetty quickly set an aggressive tone to take the lead for the rest of the game. Lee and Yang improved in the second game, leading 14-13 at one point, but a series of unforced errors allowed their opponents to seal the win. The Taiwanese duo have lost all three of their matches against the Indian pair. Lee and Yang said that they were disappointed with their performance, and felt they were too conservative with many of their shots, pledging to fight harder next time they face the Indian duo. Rankireddy and Shetty attacked well, which is why many of their defensive shots went wide, the Taiwanese pair said, adding that they should have focused on attacking.
SPEEDSKATING
Champ Stolz sets record
Jordan Stolz on Sunday became the youngest allround speedskating world champion since Eric Heiden accomplished the feat as an 18-year-old in 1977. He is also the first American to win the title since Shani Davis in 2006, capping a dominating performance with the highest points total ever. Nineteen-year-old Stolz started the day with a track record in the 1,500m at Max Aicher Arena, crossing the line in 1 minute, 41.78 seconds. He then took 13 seconds off his personal best in the 10,000m. The Wisconsin native, who is positioning himself to be one of the biggest stars at the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics, totaled 144.740 points to eclipse by 0.821 the previous allround mark set by Patrick Roest of the Netherlands in 2019 on the high-altitude oval in Calgary, Canada. “I’ve been beaten by a phenomenon,” said Roest, a three-time world champion who settled for the runner-up spot this time behind Stolz. “He is just incredibly strong, he can handle all distances and he even defeats long-distance specialists in their own event. What he does is quite special.”
SUMO
Hakuho could lose stable
Sumo’s greatest champion, Hakuho, could have his stable of wrestlers forcibly closed after he failed to control a protege who was thrown out of the sport for bullying, Japanese media reported. The wider group to which Hakuho’s Miyagino stable belongs on Sunday submitted a plan to sumo authorities to transfer all of his wrestlers to other set-ups within the organization, reports said. If the proposal is accepted, Hakuho’s stable would close its doors from next month and the former yokozuna, who won a record 45 tournaments before retiring in 2021, would also be moved elsewhere. However, the stable could return, reports said. Hakuho was last month fined and downgraded to the lowest rank for sumo elders for failing to control the behavior of his protege Hokuseiho. Twenty-two-year-old Hokuseiho, who is 204cm tall, is alleged to have punched lower-ranked stablemates and stolen money from them. He was forced to quit the sport in disgrace when sumo authorities issued a recommendation for him to retire.
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
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
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
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