TABLE TENNIS
Lin Yun-ju falls in rankings
Taiwanese Olympian Lin Yun-ju’s world ranking in men’s singles fell from 12th to 14th, the lowest since July 2019, the International Table Tennis Federation announced yesterday. The rankings are based on the sum of a player’s best eight results in events played over the preceding 12 months. Lin was penalized with zero points for two events after being absent from several World Table Tennis (WTT) tournaments. The 23-year-old has a chance to bounce back this week as he seeks to defend his title at the WTT Champions in Frankfurt. Lin on Monday won his round-of-32 match against France’s Alexis Lebrun, and today faces Germany’s Dang Qiu. Taiwan’s Kao Cheng-jui placed 24th in the rankings, unchanged from last week, while Chuang Chih-yuan rose one spot to 42nd and Feng Yi-hsin dropped one place to 50th. In women’s singles rankings, Cheng I-ching rose one spot to eighth, while Huang Yi-hua dropped one to 35th.
AUSSIE RULES
Umpire suspended for costume
Umpire Leigh Haussen has been suspended for dressing up as Osama bin Laden at an end-of-season function, the Australian Football League said on Monday. He would not be allowed to officiate during round one of next season as punishment after attending a restaurant as the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The theme of the function, in a private room at the venue in September, was “characters from the 2000s.” “I am sorry. I made an error of judgement. I never intended to offend anyone,” Haussen said in a statement. Last month six Greater Western Sydney players were banned for periods of up to four matches and seven others fined stemming from another function, themed “controversial couples.” The league said some players performed skits connected to their costumes that it considered “completely unacceptable.”
FOOTBALL
Kelce sorry for spiking phone
Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce apologized during ESPN’s pregame show on Monday night for grabbing the cellphone of an unruly fan and spiking it to the ground before the Ohio State University-Pennsylvania State University game on Saturday. “In a heated moment, I decided to greet hate with hate,” Kelce said before ESPN’s NFL broadcast of a Kansas City Chiefs’ game featuring his brother, Travis Kelce. “I fell short this week.” Video on social media showed him walking through a crowd near Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania, when a fan began to heckle him. Jason Kelce grabbed the fan’s phone and threw it to the ground, then turned to confront the man. Another fan appeared to step between them before the altercation could escalate. “I think everybody has seen on social media what happened this week,” Kelce said. “Listen, I’m not happy with anything that took place. I’m not proud of it.”
ATHLETICS
NY sets marathon record
The New York City Marathon on Sunday broke the record for the world’s largest marathon, with 55,646 runners crossing the finish line in Central Park, organizers said. That beat the record set by the Berlin Marathon in September, when 54,280 completed the fellow World Marathon Major. The five-borough race included the most female finishers ever with 24,731, organizers said.
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
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