Sports

BEIJING: China's Olympic gold medallists Zhang Ning, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng have been inducted into the Badminton World Federation's Hall of Fame, the sport's governing body said on Wednesday (Jun 2). Zhang won gold in the women's singles at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics and was crowned world champion in 2003. Cai and Fu are the only men's doubles pair to have won four world titles. They also won Olympic gold at London in 2012. BWF President Poul-Erik Hoyer said the trio

SINGAPORE: A Singaporean teen on Wednesday (Jun 2) admitted to harassing English Premier League footballer Neal Maupay by threatening to kill the Brighton & Hove Albion forward and his family in online messages sent last year. Derek Ng De Ren, 19, was in Singapore when he sent the threats to Maupay via Instagram direct message, according to court documents. The court heard that Ng was a junior college student and watched the game between Arsenal and Brighton on television around 10pm on Jun

What is soccer? It is a team game played by two teams of eleven players with a round ball. Well, the main purpose of a soccer game is scoring goals against opponents. Any player on the field, including a striker, defender, midfielder, and even a goalkeeper, can score goals. However, is scoring soccer goals easy? Well, if you don’t know a proper technique, then scoring goals can be one of the most difficult tasks. So whether you are a casual or professional soccer

BARCELONA: Barcelona on Tuesday (Jun 1) confirmed that Manchester City defender Eric Garcia would join them on Jul 1 when his contract with the Premier League champions expires. Garcia will return to his boyhood club on a deal until the end of the 2025-26 campaign after three years at City and follows striker Sergio Aguero in making the switch from Manchester to the Camp Nou. Barca said they had included a €400 million (US$489.52 million) buyout clause in the 20-year-old Garcia's contract. The

MADRID: Spain's Olympic women's singles Badminton champion Carolina Marin confirmed on Tuesday (Jun 1) that she is unable to defend her crown in Tokyo due to a knee injury. Marin, a five-time European and three-time world champion who beat Pusarla Venkata Sindhu of India to claim gold at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, said she has torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and both meniscus in her left knee. "After examinations during the weekend and the medical consultation, I confirm that

OTA, Japan: Australia's softball team became the first athletes to arrive in Japan for the Olympics on Tuesday (Jun 1), in a major step forward for the pandemic-postponed Games as organisers battle COVID-19 fears. The arrival offered a taste of the strict biosecurity measures that the Games will entail. All members of the delegation are vaccinated, but they still had to be tested before travel and on arrival. They filed off the plane sporting masks and green and gold uniforms, escorted by greeters

TOKYO: Japanese fans and public figures rallied in support of tennis star Naomi Osaka on Tuesday (Jun 1), offering sympathy after she withdrew from the French Open and opened up about her battles with depression. The four-time Grand Slam winner's career is followed closely in Japan and the controversy in Paris, which followed her refusal to attend press conferences, led news bulletins on Tuesday. Reaction in Japan was largely sympathetic, with one Twitter user urging Osaka to "take a good, long break". "I

PARIS: Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame a sluggish start to reach the second round of the French Open with a 7-6(6), 6-3, 6-1 victory over France's Jeremy Chardy on Sunday (May 30). The fifth seed, who extended his winning run on clay to five matches after clinching the title in Lyon last week, was in trouble in the opening set in an empty court Philippe Chatrier after spectators were sent home under a 9pm local time curfew before making his superiority count. Tsitsipas, who

BRUSSELS: Thierry Henry is rejoining Belgium’s coaching staff for the European Championship where he will serve again as one of coach Roberto Martinez’s assistants, the Belgian football association said on Sunday (May 30). Henry, 43, worked on Martinez’s staff from mid-2016 until just after the World Cup in Russia, where Belgium finished third. The former World cup winner then went to Monaco as coach and later to Montreal Impact in Major League Soccer before returning to working as a television pundit in Britain.

LOS ANGELES: Chris Paul overcame an injured shoulder and Jae Crowder busted out of a playoff slump Sunday (May 30) as the Phoenix Suns took a 100-92 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, who lost Anthony Davis to another injury. Paul had 18 points and nine assists while Crowder delivered 17 points as half a dozen players finished in double figures for the Suns, who clawed their way level at 2-2 in the Western Conference best-of-seven playoff series against the reigning NBA champions.

WASHINGTON: Jason Kokrak held off home-region hero Jordan Spieth down the final holes Sunday (May 31) to win the US PGA Tour Charles Schwab Challenge by two strokes. The 36-year-old American fired a level par 70 in Sunday's final round to finish 72 holes on 14-under 266 at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Kokrak stumbled with bogeys at the par-4 15th and par-3 16th but closed with back-to-back pars to deny Spieth, who had ended a four-year win drought last month

Kyle Larson put on a show in primetime on Sunday as he streaked to a dominating victory in Sunday's crown-jewel Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Larson led 327 of 400 laps, won three of four stages and beat runner-up Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott to the finish line by more than 10 seconds. "Feels good," Larson said after getting his first Cup win at the 1.5-mile CMS oval. "It was not easy. I felt like I had to

Iga Swiatek returns to the scene of her biggest triumph on Monday when she starts her French Open defence against unseeded Kaja Juvan, while Serena Williams will resume her quest for a 24th major in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier. Swiatek, who turns 20 on Monday, was catapulted into the spotlight at Roland Garros last year when she became Poland's first Grand Slam singles champion and the youngest woman to capture the title in Paris since Monica Seles in 1992. She

LOS ANGELES: Nike said on Thursday (May 27) it parted ways with Neymar last year after the superstar Brazil attacker "refused to cooperate in a good faith investigation" as the company probed an employee's claim that he sexually assaulted her. The apparel giant said in a statement that its investigation into the alleged 2016 incident - which was reported to the company in 2018 - was inconclusive. "No single set of facts emerged that would enable us to speak substantively on the matter,"

HONG KONG: FIFA have voided North Korea's results in the second round of Asian qualifying for the 2022 World Cup after they pulled out of the preliminaries earlier this month. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) confirmed North Korea's withdrawal on May 15, which followed the country's decision not to participate in the Olympic Games in Tokyo due to the COVID-19 pandemic. North Korea had been competing in Group H of Asia's preliminaries alongside South Korea, Lebanon, Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka. With North Korea's

PRAGUE: Slovakia are appearing in their second successive European Championship as an independent nation and will look to a clutch of veterans to lead the squad that booked a spot in the finals with shootout and extra-time wins in the playoffs. While Slovakia left it late to qualify for the tournament, victories over Ireland and Northern Ireland in two dramatic matches showed some steel that will be needed in Group E matches against Poland (Jun 14), Sweden (Jun 18) and Spain (Jun 23).

PARIS: Thirteen-time champion Rafael Nadal, 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer and world number one Novak Djokovic were placed in the same half of the French Open draw on Thursday (May 27). The three most successful players in the history of the men's game have won 17 of the last 20 Grand Slam titles between them and Federer and Djokovic are on a quarter-final collision course. Title holder Nadal, who starts against Australian Alexei Popyrin, could face Italian prospect Jannik Sinner, the 18th

LONDON: Six-times MotoGP champion Marc Marquez said on Thursday (May 27) that he considered a break in racing after the Spanish Grand Prix as he struggles with his comeback from injury but decided to continue after encouraging discussions with his doctors. Marquez fractured his humerus in the 2020 season-opening Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez last July and did not race again all year, making his comeback only at last month's Portuguese Grand Prix, the third race of the season. Marquez is well off

Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host 135,000 racing fans for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday and the sold-out crowd will represent a big step forward as North American sports continue to turn the page on the COVID-19 pandemic. "We've hit our capacity for this year's Indianapolis 500 and look forward to hosting 135,000 fans at the world's largest sporting event since the pandemic began," race organizers said on Thursday. "We're thrilled to welcome fans 'Back Home Again' and appreciate our loyal customers and their

LAUSANNE: Up to 16,500 spectators will be allowed to attend the Champions League final in Porto on Saturday, UEFA announced on Tuesday (May 25) with the opening of ticket sales. The figure permitted by the Portuguese authorities is one-third of the capacity of the Estadio do Dragao which took over hosting the final in mid-May after Istanbul was ruled out by COVID-19 problems. UEFA had already allocated 6,000 tickets each to finalists Chelsea and Manchester City. To this will be added the traditional