FOOTBALL
NFL debuts kick-off rule
The NFL’s new one-year trial kick-off format was debuted on Thursday in a pre-season opener halted early by a storm. The Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, ended with the Chicago Bears 21-17 winners over the Houston Texans after play was suspended with 3 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter and did not resume. Under the new rule, kickers struck the ball at their 35-yard line while the other players lined up on the opposition 40 and 35-yard lines except for two receiving players in the reception zone between the goal line and the 20-yard line. Players are not allowed to move until the ball is touched by a receiver. If the ball hits the ground or is downed in the end zone, the receiving team take possession at their own 30-yard line. As a result, kickers must now aim to put the ball in a 20-yard landing zone rather than smash it beyond the back of the end zone. In the first half, five kick-offs under the new rule saw an average return of 20 yards, with average starting position being just beyond the 25-yard line. Former Chicago star Devin Hester was shocked that the format did not produce breakaway runbacks. “I’m surprised we’re not seeing no big runs. It’s shocking,” Hester said. “This is the first season, first game, so I’m figuring a lot of coaches are going to evaluate this game and try to figure out what they can do to utilize and get some more big plays in there.”
Photo: AFP
TENNIS
Taiwan’s Wu makes semis
Wu Fang-hsien of Taiwan on Thursday won in the women’s doubles quarter-finals at the Washington Open. Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China defeated Yana Sizikova and Anastasia Potapova of Russia 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) on the hard courts at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center. The win earned them a match against Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia and Japan’s Miyu Kato at the US$2,100,230 event, with their semi-final to be played after press time last night.
RUGBY UNION
Perenara to go to Japan
All Blacks scrumhalf T.J. Perenara is to leave New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and the Wellington Hurricanes at the end of this year after signing a three-year deal with Japan League One side Black Rams Tokyo, NZR said yesterday. The 32-year-old debuted for the All Blacks in 2014 and lifted the Rugby World Cup a year later. Perenara has earned 81 Test caps over a decade and is set to play in the Rugby Championship for six Tests against Argentina, South Africa, and Australia. “I’m grateful for every opportunity in the black jersey and as long as I can I’ll keep competing and contributing to the All Blacks,” Perenara said in a statement. “It’s an exciting time to be involved with a new coaching group and the motivation to represent New Zealand is as strong now as it was when I made my debut.” New Zealand are to begin their Rugby Championship title defense with two matches against Argentina on Saturday next week and Aug. 17.
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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