BADMINTON
Taiwanese duo win final
Taiwan’s He Zhi-wei and Huang Jui-hsuan yesterday beat Indonesia’s Raymond Indra and Patra Harapan Rindorindo 16-21, 21-19, 21-18 to win the men’s doubles at the Vietnam Open. The Taiwanese pair made the finals with a walkover on Saturday after Japan’s Takumi Nomura and Yuichi Shimogami withdrew from the semi-final. The BWF Super 100 tournament, which started on Tuesday last week at the Nguyen Du Club in Ho Chi Minh City, had a total purse of US$100,000.
TENNIS
Chan exits Seoul singles
Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching on Saturday crashed out of the Korea Open women’s singles qualifiers, losing 6-1, 6-1 to 12th seed Kyoka Okamura of Japan. Chan and her Russian partner Veronika Kudermetova are tomorrow to start their women’s doubles campaign against Tereza Mihalikova of Slovakia and Britain’s Olivia Nicholls. Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien and Chinese partner Jiang Xinyu are today to play Nao Hibino of Japan and Priscilla Hon of Australia. Meanwhile at the Thailand Open in Hua Hin, Taiwan’s Liang En-shou yesterday crashed out of the second day of qualifying in the women’s singles, losing 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 to Thailand’s Mananchaya Sawangkaew, after beating Thailand’s Kamonwan Yodpetch 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday. Liang and Chinese partner Tang Qianhui are tomorrow to play Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech and Feng Shuo of China in the first round of the women’s doubles.
RUNNING
Misoi, Edesa smash records
Kenya’s Brimin Misoi and Ethiopian star Workenesh Edesa Gurmesa yesterday smashed the Sydney Marathon course record to win the men’s and women’s races respectively. Misoi sliced 46 seconds off the previous best set two years ago by compatriot Moses Kibet, crossing the line in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 17 seconds after making his break from the leading pack at the 30km mark. Edesa, world No. 10, was even more impressive, shattering the old record of 2:24:33 set five years ago by Kenyan Stella Barsosio by almost 3 minutes.
RUGBY UNION
Japan sweep Samoa
Japan yesterday set up a Pacific Nations Cup final showdown with defending champions Fiji after sweeping aside Samoa with a rampant 49-27 win in Tokyo. Japan scored four tries in the first half and three in the second to give Eddie Jones his third straight win after a tricky start to his second stint as head coach. Jones would hope to keep the streak going in next weekend’s final in Osaka against Fiji, who beat the US in the first semi-final.
HOBBY-HORSING
Germany hosts tournament
Germany on Saturday and yesterday held its first hobby-horsing championship in Frankfurt, with about 300 young riders competing in time jumping, style jumping and dressage on their wooden stick horses in front of 1,500 spectators. The competition is part of a growing wave of hobby-horsing events internationally. “Hobby-horsing just gives me self-confidence and I just enjoy doing it with other people,” said Max Gohde, a 15-year-old competitor from Gifhorn, Germany, who has been practicing since 2020. “And now there’s also this atmosphere here, where everyone is just happy for you, and I think that’s just really cool.”
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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