GOLF
Grayson Murray dies at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died on Saturday, a day after withdrawing from the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, the PGA said in a statement. American Murray, who was 30, won his most recent title at this year’s Sony Open and had pulled out of the Charles Schwab tournament during the second round citing an illness. Murray, who picked up his first title on the PGA Tour in 2017, reached a career-high 46th in the world rankings after his Sony Open win. “We were devastated to learn — and are heartbroken to share — that PGA Tour player Grayson Murray passed away this morning. I am at a loss for words,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. The PGA did not disclose a cause of death.
RUGBY UNION
Otago advance to quarters
Otago Highlanders yesterday cemented a place in the Super Rugby quarter-finals with a 39-3 thumping of Fijian Drua, leaving four teams to fight for the last playoff berth. The home side ran in five unanswered tries in Dunedin, New Zealand, to notch their biggest win of the season and leave Drua among the sides battling for survival in next weekend’s final round of matches. Drua, who have lost all seven of their away matches this season, remain eighth. Victory over the seventh-placed Melbourne Rebels in Lautoka on Saturday would guarantee them a quarter-final spot.
ATHLETICS
Chebet breaks 10k record
Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet on Saturday broke the women’s 10,000m world record with a victory in 28 minutes, 54.14 seconds at the Prefontaine Classic Diamond League meet in Eugene, Oregon. The 24-year-old, a two-time world championships medalist at 5,000m and a cross-country world champion, broke the record of 29:01.03 set by Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey in Hengelo on June 8, 2021. Chebet’s victory in a race designated as Kenya’s Olympic qualifier established her as a favorite for gold at the Paris Games in August.
TENNIS
Ruud wins third Geneva title
Casper Ruud on Saturday downed Novak Djokovic’s conqueror Tomas Machac to win a third Geneva Open title and head into the French Open with a trophy in his racket bag. The world No. 7 Norwegian beat 44th-ranked Czech Machac 7-5, 6-3 in 1 hour, 47 minutes. Second seed Ruud won the Geneva title in 2021 and 2022. Ruud was the runner-up in the last two French Opens, and a third Geneva title gives the 25-year-old a timely boost as he makes the journey to Paris. Nobody has won more matches on the ATP tour this year than Ruud.
SOCCER
Leverkusen win German Cup
Granit Xhaka on Saturday scored the only goal as a 10-man Bayer 04 Leverkusen beat Kaiserslautern 1-0 to lift the German Cup in Berlin and give the club the league-cup double. Crowned Bundesliga champions last month, Leverkusen were made to fight hard against their second-division opponents, playing with a man down after Odilon Kossounou’s second yellow late in the first half. Leverkusen bounced back from Wednesday’s Europa League final loss to Atalanta BC — which ended both their season-long unbeaten run at 51 games and their hopes of a treble.
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
RSS