SPEED SKATING
Chen takes fifth place
Taiwan speed skater Chen Ying-chu placed fifth in the women’s 500m speed skating event at the 2025 Asian Winter Games yesterday. Competing at the HIC Speed Skating Oval in Harbin, China, Chen clocked 38.88 seconds in the race after making a mistake when exiting a turn and losing her early lead from the first 100m. She finished behind South Korean sprint skaters Kim Min-sun and Lee Na-hyun, as well as Tian Ruining and Wang Jingziqian of China. The times for the top four athletes were 38.24 seconds, 38.33 seconds, 38.57 seconds and 38.87 seconds. Chen made history the previous day as the first athlete representing Taiwan to secure a medal at the Asian Winter Games, finishing third in the women’s 100m speed skating event in 10.51 seconds. The 2025 Games mark Chen’s debut at the event, after winning six medals at roller speed skating world championships before transitioning to speed skating in 2023 to pursue her Olympic dream. Chen is set to compete in the women’s 1,000m tomorrow.
BOXING
Boxer dies after injury
Irish boxer John Cooney has died a week after being taken into intensive care following his Celtic super-featherweight title defeat to Nathan Howells in Belfast. The death of the 28-year-old Cooney was announced on Saturday in a statement published by his promoter Mark Dunlop on behalf of the Cooney family and his fiancee, Emmaleen. “After a week of battling for his life John Cooney has sadly passed away,” the statement said. “He was a much loved son, brother and partner and it will take us all a lifetime to forget how special he was. RIP John ‘the Kid’ Cooney.” Cooney’s fight with Howells was stopped in the ninth round at Ulster Hall. Cooney subsequently underwent surgery after it was discovered he had an intracranial hemorrhage. “Mr. and Mrs. Cooney and his fiancee Emmaleen would like to thank the staff at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital who have worked tirelessly to save John’s life and for everyone who has sent messages of support and prayers,” the statement said.
SAILING
Britain extend their lead
Dlan Fletcher’s Britain prevailed over Giles Scott’s Canada in a thrilling final on Sydney Harbour to take the honors in the third round of the SailGP season yesterday and extend the team’s lead at the top of the series standings. Australia, with Tom Slingsby at the helm, had dominated the fleet races with three wins out of seven but were penalized for encroaching on the Canadians in the prestart of the three-boat shootout for the title and were unable to recover. Canada had a substantial lead turning into the upwind fifth of the seven legs of the final, but Britain overhauled them to edge ahead around Shark Island, and Fletcher held off his fellow British Olympic champion Morris to cross the line first. It was Britain’s first event win since the Canadian round last season, when Morris was at the helm, and extended their lead over Australia at the top of the series standings to three points. “Absolutely buzzing to get the win,” said Fletcher, who returned to the British boat this year having driven for the team in the first season of SailGP in 2019. “We won the start, but after that, you know, big mistakes,” he said. “But a great race here and great for the spectators. I’m stoked.”
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
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
RSS