GOLF
Taiwanese crash out
Japan’s Yuri Yoshida on Thursday moved into a share of the lead at the midpoint of the Lotte Championship at Ewa Beach in Hawaii, while three of the four Taiwanese at the tournament missed the cut. Taiwan’s Chien Pei-yun had been in a five-player group in second after a five-under-par 67 in the first round at the Hoakalei Country Club on Wednesday, but imploded on Thursday, shooting an eight-over-par 80, including a triple-bogey on the seventh hole, ending her tournament. Hou Yu-sang was in a share of 55th after a 74 put her on 144 overall, nine shots behind Yoshida. Min Lee’s second-round 76 and Cheng Ssu-chia’s 75 meant they also missed the cut. Yoshida carded a five-under-par 67, putting her at nine-under 135 alongside Kim A-lim of South Korea, Russia’s Nataliya Guseva and China’s Liu Ruixin. “Today I feel like ... the wind [changed] every time, every single hole, so some holes I made a mistake and some holes I think it’s great,” Kim said. “So that’s golf.”
Photo: AFP
TABLE TENNIS
Cheng I-ching beaten
Taiwan’s Cheng I-ching on Thursday exited in the round-of-16 in the women’s singles at the WTT Champions Frankfurt. Cheng lost 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 12-10) against He Zhuojia of China. They had met twice previously, with one win apiece. In the men’s singles, Lin Yun-ju was to play Hugo Calderanol of Brazil in the quarter-finals after press time last night.
MOTORSPORTS
Ty Majeski fined
NASCAR Truck Series championship contender Ty Majeski this week was fined US$12,500 by the stock car series after missing media obligations to vote in his home state of Wisconsin on Tuesday. Majeski is one of four drivers who can win the truck title at Phoenix Raceway, with the race scheduled for this morning Taiwan time. Majeski spoke with Thorsport Racing owners and they agreed he would cast his ballot in person on Tuesday. Majeski called the penalty “unprecedented” and said he would appeal the decision. “I felt like I needed to do my duty as a US citizen to vote. My team owners and I, we all made the decision to exercise that right,” he said. A NASCAR spokesman said the team never disclosed that Majeski was not available because he was voting. “This has never happened before,” Majeski said. “Election day, everyone knew it was election day for a long time. It’s unfortunate circumstances for everybody.” Majeski said he has always voted on election day and has never filled out an absentee ballot. “I wanted to make sure my vote was counted,” he said.
CRICKET
Alzarri Joseph suspended
West Indies fast bowler Alzarri Joseph on Thursday was hit with a two-match suspension after storming off the field during the series-clinching ODI win over England. Cricket West Indies (CWI) said that Joseph had been sanctioned for “conduct falling short of CWI’s standards of professionalism.” Joseph marched off the pitch during Wednesday’s game at Kensington Oval in Barbados shortly after taking the wicket of Jordan Cox in the fourth over, in an apparent protest at the field set by Windies skipper Shai Hope. That left them briefly down to 10 players before Joseph then returned for the sixth over. Joseph apologized in a statement, saying that “my passion got the best of me.”
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek on Thursday avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3 win over the Chinese eighth seed, setting up a semi-final against 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva in the California desert. In the men’s singles, Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz put on a show with his acrobatic shotmaking under the lights to close out the day’s action, overcoming a 4-1 second-set deficit to defeat Francisco Cerundolo 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei crashed out of the women’s doubles. Swiatek, one of the gold medal favorites when she lost to eventual champion Zheng in the
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