BADMINTON
Taiwanese pair make final
Taiwanese pair Yang Po-hsuan and Hu Ling-fang yesterday earned a spot in the mixed doubles final at the Singapore Open, defeating Mads Vestergaard and Christine Busch of Denmark 21-17, 21-12 in 36 minutes. They face Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong in the final at the Singapore Indoor Stadium today after the Chinese pair ousted Seo Seung-jae and Chae Yu-jung of South Korea 21-16, 21-18. Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen lost in the men’s singles semi-finals after a marathon first game against China’s Shi Yuqi. Shi won 28-26, 21-9, recovering from deficits of 12-7 and 16-12 in the first game to claim victory in 45 minutes and extend his head-to-head record against the Taiwanese to 8-5. Chou on Friday beat Kenta Nishimoto of Japan 21-17, 21-13 in the quarters.
SOCCER
Al-Hilal win King’s Cup
Cristiano Ronaldo on Friday left the field in tears after his Al-Nassr team lost the King’s Cup final to Al-Hilal and ended a second successive season in Saudi Arabia without any major silverware. Al-Hilal won a penalty shoot-out 5-4 to decide a final that finished 1-1 after extra-time in Jeddah. Ronaldo, who signed for Al-Nassr in December 2022, fell to the ground in despair and was consoled by teammates at King Abdullah Sports City. The loss came just four days after the end of a Saudi Pro League season in which Al-Nassr finished second, 14 points behind Al-Hilal. Friday’s tempestuous encounter had three red cards. Aleksandar Mitrovic headed Al-Hilal ahead after seven minutes. Early in the second half Al-Nassr goalkeeper David Ospina was sent off for handling the ball outside the area. Al-Hilal were also reduced to 10 men after 86 minutes when Ali al-Bulaihi was red-carded for an apparent headbutt on Sami al-Najei. Seconds later, Ayman Yahya headed Al-Nassr level. Al-Hilal had another defender sent off in the 91st minute after Kalidou Koulibaly received a second yellow card. In the shoot-out, Ruben Neves missed Al-Hilal’s first attempt as did Alex Telles for Al-Nassr. Ronaldo converted his penalty, but could only watch as Bounou saved twice, the first from Ali al-Hassan and then from al-Nemer.
BOXING
Tyson-Paul fight postponed
Mike Tyson’s fight with Jake Paul has been postponed after the 57-year-old Tyson fell ill on a flight last weekend. Tyson and Paul on Friday said that they would announce a new fight date next week. They were scheduled to meet on July 20 in Arlington, Texas. Tyson became nauseous and dizzy during the final hour of a flight from Miami to Los Angeles on Sunday last week and his plane was met by first responders who attended to the former heavyweight champion. Tyson’s camp attributed the episode to an ulcer problem. “During a follow up consultation on Thursday with medical professionals on his recent ulcer flare-up, the recommendation is for Mike Tyson to do minimal to light training over the next few weeks and then return to full training with no limitations,” the fight’s promoters said in a statement. Tyson has not fought professionally since June 2005, but he has been training regularly for several years. He fought Roy Jones Jr in an entertaining exhibition in Los Angeles in November 2020.
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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