CYCLING
Cavendish wins final race
Mark Cavendish on Sunday sprinted to victory in the Tour de France Singapore Criterium with a signature surge to the line in his final race. “I really wanted that so bad,” the 39-year-old British cycling great said after the 166th victory of his career. “I’m terribly emotional. I realized in the last five laps that this was the last 15km of my career and I felt that, but I was so much on the limit.” Coming out of the last bend, Cavendish, who holds the record for most stage wins on the Tour de France, briefly latched onto the wheel of defending champion Jasper Philipsen before pulling away and raising his arms in triumph one last time, to deafening cheers from the crowd who had gathered for the race.
Photo: Reuters
SURFING
Surfers mass for record
Three hundred surfers over the age of 50 gathered at the weekend in Sao Paulo to attempt a world record for the most people riding the same wave. Participants, many of whom took up surfing later in life, arrived early, eager to hit the water. “I had a crazy desire to learn [to surf] and when I started, I couldn’t stop,” Christiane Melin said. “It’s an addiction, but an addiction that’s really good.” The event, organized by a local surf school specializing in teaching older adults, emphasized community and well-being. “This is a great example to show the world the importance that, after the [COVID-19] pandemic and beyond politics, we can all be together on the same wave,” organizer Cisco Arana said. With 98 surfers riding a wave together, the group fell short of the 110 achieved in South Africa in 2009.
Photo: Reuters
SOCCER
Israel tells fans to skip match
Israel has urged fans to avoid Thursday’s France-Israel tie, which authorities fear could become a flash point following violence in Amsterdam surrounding a match involving an Israeli team. Despite a large police presence and the expected attendance of French President Emmanuel Macron, Israeli officials on Sunday warned fans to stay away because of fears they could be targeted after clashes at a match in Amsterdam left about two dozen people injured and were condemned as anti-Semitic by Israeli, US, Dutch and European leaders. A right-wing Jewish group has nevertheless announced a rally ahead of this week’s UEFA Nations League tie. Describing the France-Israel fixture as high risk, Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez said 4,000 gendarmes would be deployed around Stade de France.
SHOOTING
Kim Ye-ji to take a break
Olympic shooting star Kim Ye-ji is temporarily putting down her gun to spend time with family, her agency said on Sunday, saying she was exhausted from competition and the huge public attention her nonchalant cool has generated. The 32-year-old shooter rose to stardom during the Paris Olympics — where she won a silver in the women’s 10m air pistol — after a video of her calmly taking a shot and unloading her gun went viral. The clip, which was actually taken from a competition in May 2024, triggered an Internet frenzy, with people praising her “main character” energy. Kim would “temporarily suspend her sports career ... to have some time together with her young daughter,” her agent Yang Yong-sik said. She would also not renew her contract with her team, which expires in December, he added.
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
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
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
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
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