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.
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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