BADMINTON
Taiwanese exit German Open
Taiwanese badminton players Lin Xiao-min and Wang Yu-qiao on Saturday crashed out of the women’s doubles semi-finals at the German Open in Mulheim. The world No. 68 duo, who were teaming up for the first time this year, lost 21-12, 20-22, 21-17 in a hard-fought match against the No. 63 pairing of Japan’s Mizuki Otake and Miyu Takahashi at the Westenergie Sporthalle.
Photo: CNA
ATHLETICS
Takele wins Tokyo Marathon
Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele yesterday won the Tokyo Marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 23 seconds as Uganda’s double Olympic track champion Joshua Cheptegei finished ninth. Takele broke clear of the pack with about 4km to go in warm conditions to claim his first major marathon title, shaving a second off his previous personal best. Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta was second in 2:03:51, with Kenya’s Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich third in 2:04:00. Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa Kebede defended her title in the women’s race, finishing in 2:16:31. Cheptegei, who won gold in the Tokyo Olympics 5km in 2021 and the 10km in Paris last year, was running his second marathon after making his debut at the distance in Valencia two years ago. The 28-year-old finished in a time of 2:05:59.
Photo: Reuters
RUGBY LEAGUE
NRL rocks Las Vegas
Rugby league returned to Las Vegas on Saturday in its continuing mission to convert Americans to football without pads, drawing 50,000 fans to Allegiant Stadium where the grit of the quintessential Australian sport mixed with the glamor of the entertainment capital. Curious locals mixed with fans from Australia, New Zealand and England to watch the four matches. In the Australian National Rugby League (NRL) matches, the Canberra Raiders beat the New Zealand Warriors 30-8, while reigning premiers the Penrith Panthers delivered a cliff-hanger finale, producing a 75th-minute try to Daine Laurie to clinch a 28-22 win over the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. The Wigan Warriors beat the Warrington Wolves 38-24 in an English Super League match, and the Australian Jillaroos crushed England 90-4 in the women’s international. Meanwhile, Raiders players Hudson Young and Morgan Smithies were forced to apologize after being temporarily evicted from their hotel over a scuffle involving an inflatable baseball bat. “Obviously things got a little bit out of hand on Thursday night,” Young said. “I’m embarrassed for myself, my teammates, the NRL and the game.”
Photo: AP
SOCCER
Palace’s Mateta hospitalized
Jean Philippe-Mateta on Saturday said he is doing well and hopes to be back soon after being hospitalized by a horrific challenge from Millwall goalkeeper Liam Roberts. Roberts was sent off just eight minutes into their FA Cup fifth round tie, which Crystal Palace won 3-1, after catching Mateta’s head with his boot as he raced out to clear the ball. Mateta received lengthy treatment, including oxygen, on the pitch before being stretchered to an ambulance and transported to a hospital. “Thank you for all your kind messages. I’m doing well. I hope to be back very soon. And stronger than ever,” Mateta wrote on Instagram. Palace said later that Mateta had been discharged from the hospital after receiving 25 stitches due to a severe laceration to his left ear.
Photo: AP
Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie. Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs. Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick. The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first
Rangers on Wednesday bowed out of the UEFA Champions League playoffs with a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Club Brugge which piles further pressure on head coach Russell Martin, while SL Benfica secured a place in the competition proper at the expense of Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce. The Glasgow giants traveled to Belgium right up against it after losing 3-1 at home in last week’s first leg, when they conceded three times in the opening 20 minutes. They never looked like turning the tie around as Club Brugge took the lead inside five minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion through Nicolo Tresoldi
Noah Lyles on Thursday warmed up for the upcoming athletics world championships by chasing down Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo to win the 200m at the Diamond League final. Lyles trailed Tebogo at the start, but gradually erased the deficit over the final 100m and pipped the Botswana sprinter to the line by centimeters. Lyles, the Olympic 100m champion and reigning world champion in both the 100m and 200m, clocked 19.74 seconds in a slight headwind. Tebogo was 0.02 seconds behind. It was Lyles’ sixth Diamond League title, a record for track athletes. “Six, that’s a big number,” Lyles said. “Shoot, that’s another record on
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
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