TABLE TENNIS
Taiwanese move up rankings
Taiwanese paddlers Lin Yun-ju, Cheng I-ching and Li Yu-jhun moved up in the world rankings due to their performances at the Singapore Smash, which ended on Sunday. Lin rose two spots in the ITTF rankings to world No. 6 in the men’s singles after reaching the semi-finals in Singapore. He earned 700 points after his 2-4 loss to China’s Liang Jingkun, taking him to a total of 3,106 points. Cheng and Li also moved up two positions to world No. 3 in the women’s doubles, despite losing 0-3 to Chinese duo Chen Meng and Wang Manyu in the final.
SOCCER
Chelsea, Lyon triumph
Chelsea hammered last-eight debutants AFC Ajax 3-0 while Olympique Lyonnais needed two second-half goals to claim a 2-1 win over SL Benfica in the opening first-leg quarter-final clashes of the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Tuesday. Lauren James opened the scoring for Chelsea in their away win over Ajax, the England forward calmly rounding the goalkeeper to slot into an empty net. Germany midfielder Sjoeke Nusken then scored a goal in each half as Chelsea went on to dominate the match and put themselves in compete control before the second leg at Stamford Bridge next week. Chelsea manager Emma Hayes called her team’s performance “really professional.” “We defended solidly, as we have been doing, and then once we started to attack the spaces down the sides, we got good opportunities: four crosses, two goals in the first half,” Hayes said. “Outstanding performance from [Kadeisha] Buchanan and Nusken in particular, but the team as a whole, you could see they were confident and delighted to get the third goal.” In Lisbon, Andreia Faria scored her first Champions League goal to hand Benfica the lead against Lyon, the most successful club in the women’s competition. However, the French side’s pressure in the second half paid off, with Delphine Cascarino and Sara Dabritz each scoring to hand Lyon control of the two-leg tie.
OLYMPICS
No parade for Russians
Russian and Belarusian athletes would not be allowed to take part in the traditional parade at the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday. The opening ceremony on July 26 is to have thousands of athletes travel on boats down the River Seine for several kilometers toward the Eiffel Tower, instead of the normal parade of teams inside a stadium. The IOC said athletes from Russia and Belarus who are approved to compete at the Olympics as neutrals would have a chance only “to experience the event” — likely watching from near the river. Russia and Belarus are barred from team sports at the Olympics because of the war in Ukraine and the IOC has laid out a two-step vetting procedure for individual athletes from those countries to be granted neutral status. Those athletes must first be approved by the governing body of their individual sport and then by an IOC-appointed review panel. Neutral athletes must not have publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine, or be affiliated with military or state security agencies. The IOC on Tuesday said it expects about 36 neutral athletes with Russian passports and 22 with Belarusian passports to qualify for the Paris Games.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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