FOOTBALL
Bills trample Jaguars
Josh Allen on Monday produced a monster performance as the Buffalo Bills trampled over the Jacksonville Jaguars 47-10 to maintain their perfect start to the NFL season. Bills quarterback Allen was in superb form as Buffalo buried the Jags in an avalanche of first-half scoring that saw them power into a 34-3 lead at the break. Allen threw four touchdowns and finished with 263 passing yards, while Buffalo’s defense gave Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence a torrid time at the Bills’ Highmark Stadium. In Monday’s other game, the Cincinnati Bengals were left still looking for their first win of the season after suffering a 38-33 home defeat to the Washington Commanders.
SOCCER
Injury shocks Germany coach
Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann on Monday said that news of Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s serious knee injury came as a major shock after the Barcelona goalkeeper underwent an operation that is expected to sideline him for at least eight months. Ter Stegen sustained a rupture of the patella tendon in his right knee, Barcelona said on Monday. The 32-year-old fell badly after jumping for a ball during Barcelona’s 5-1 La Liga win over Villarreal on Sunday and was visibly in pain as he was carried off the pitch on a stretcher. His weight fell on the right knee on which he had two operations in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons. “The news of Marc’s injury was a big shock for us,” said Nagelsmann, who has now lost two experienced goalkeepers in a month following Manuel Neuer’s international retirement last month. “We wish Marc all the best ... we will always be there for him on his way back, Nagelsmann told the German Football Association Web site.
SOCCER
Fans attack Partizan coach
Partizan Belgrade fans on Monday vandalized their team’s dressing room and left their head coach Aleksandar Stanojevic with a head injury after a 4-0 loss to rivals Red Star Belgrade in Serbia. Red Star have won the past three editions of the Belgrade derby and Monday’s victory was the biggest since 1998 when they won by the same score. “Disgruntled fans broke the glass, it’s unpleasant. I came with Band-Aids to the press conference, but there’s no reason to make a theater,” Stanojevic told reporters. “There was nothing more, no fight, no physical conflict. It’s no drama.” Stanojevic said the loss was the worst of his career.
CHESS
Moscow criticizes FIDE ruling
The Kremlin on Monday said that a decision by the general assembly of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) to uphold a ban on Russian and Belarusian players was the result of Western and Ukrainian pressure. FIDE’s general assembly on Sunday upheld the ban, which was imposed after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. “The West and Ukraine are putting open and undisguised pressure on countries within FIDE. This is no secret, everyone knows about it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said when asked about the ban being rolled over. The Ukrainian government, the US Department of State and players including former world champion Magnus Carlsen had urged chess federations to reject an initial motion by Russian ally Kyrgyzstan to fully reinstate the two nations.
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the
Olympic bronze medalist Lee Meng-yuan has become the first Taiwanese athlete to top the International Shooting Sport Federation’s (ISSF) men’s skeet world rankings, while top Taiwanese shooters won golds in each of yesterday’s finals in Taoyuan. Lee’s 6,610 points put him ahead of fellow men’s skeet medalists from the Paris Olympics Americans Vincent Hancock and Conner Prince. Lee on Monday said that he was surprised by the result, although he had expected his ranking to rise after the Games, which was also the first time a Taiwanese athlete had competed in men’s skeet. Despite topping the rankings, Lee said he believed Hancock, who