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Monday July 31, 2017

Zou Shiming

JAPAN’S unheralded Sho Kimura stunned Chinese star Zou Shiming with an 11th-round knockout that saw the part-time restaurant worker snatch the WBO world fl yweight title in Shanghai on Friday.

Zou burst into tears afterward and, at 36, the shock defeat could spell the end of a brilliant career, which also included two Olympic gold medals and three amateur world titles before he turned pro.

Zou, making his fi rst defense of the World Boxing Organiza-tion (WBO) crown he won last year in Las Vegas, appeared well on his way to victory, using his experience to repeatedly make Kimura miss while peppering the challenger with counter-punches.

It looked grim for Kimura by the sixth round when Zou’s slashing left hook tore a gash next to the Japanese fi ghter’s right eye, forcing a temporary stoppage as the ring doctor examined the bloody cut.

Cheered on by an ecstatic home crowd, Zou continued to batter Kimura, 28, who works part-time delivering beer for a restaurant and was quoted last week devoting the fi ght to his late mother.

But the older man appeared to run out of juice as the sched-uled 12-round bout wore on and Kimura kept piling forward.

The shocking upset was a bitter letdown for local fans and Zou, who was promoting the fi ght himself and chose his homeland for his fi rst title defense as part of his aim to raise boxing’s profi le in China.

“I have been boxing for 22 years. Why do I still stand here?” Zou told the stunned audience. “Although I lost, I drew attention to the boxing game to millions of people in China. I think it was worth it.”

“Many people still misunder-stand the sport. I hope I can change their mind-set through my work. I don’t rule out retire-ment. But personally I don’t want to say goodbye.

“What I want is that one day, when I lose a fi ght and can not play any longer, China’s boxing will still be supported,” Zou added. (SD-Agencies)

Zou Shiming: I don’t rule out retirement

Sun Yang

SUN YANG was a surprise absentee in the men’s 1500m freestyle heats Saturday as the world-record holder again opted out at the world aquatic championships.

A Chinese offi cial told report-ers the decision was taken to “protect his health” as Sun has complained of tiredness.

The Chinese team gave a brief statement on Sun’s decision.

The statement reads: “Sun competed in several events with high intensity here during the past days. For the sake of his health and preparations for the Tokyo Olympic Games, Sun has decided to withdraw from the 1,500m contest here.”

This move wasn’t a big sur-prise, as Sun has slowly gravi-tated away from the mile, and hasn’t done it in an international fi nal since 2013.

Despite his no-show, the 25-year-old Chinese giant trained Saturday and is due to race in the men’s 4x100m medley relay the next day.

After winning freestyle golds over 200m and 400m in Budapest, Sun had complained of fatigue before fl opping in the men’s 800m freestyle fi nal Wednesday.

He fi nished fi fth, 8.10 seconds adrift of winner Gabriele Detti of Italy.

In Sun’s absence, Ukraine’s

Sun skips 1,500m heats at world swim champs

Mykhailo Romanchuk was the fastest qualifi er for the 1,500m fi nal in 14 minutes, 44.11 sec-onds.

Defending champion Grego-rio Paltrinieri was right behind at 0.20 seconds.

Australia’s Mack Horton was the seventh fastest and 15.13 seconds off the pace.

Elsewhere, Sarah Sjostrom used her frustration at miss-ing gold by 0.04 seconds in Friday’s 100m freestyle fi nal to blast her way into the 50m freestyle semis. Sjostrom clocked 24.08 seconds as the

fastest into Saturday’s semis.Japan’s Junya Koga was

the fastest into the men’s 50m backstroke semifi nals, touching the wall at 24.54 seconds.

On Saturday morning, Ameri-ca’s King was the fastest qualifi er into the 50m semifi nals, clocking 29.76 seconds with Efi mova just 0.23 seconds behind her and the pair both avoiding questions.

The Netherlands were the fastest qualifi ers in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay heats in 3:23.89 with the USA just 0.04 seconds behind.

(SD-Agencies)

THE intrigue surrounding Ney-mar’s future at Barcelona took another twist when the Brazilian star said Saturday that he would be in Shanghai today.

It comes a day after a major event organizer in China said a meet-and-greet with the forward in Shanghai was off because he and his advisers were busy with transfer business.

That added to swirling speculation that the unsettled 25-year-old could be poised to join Paris Saint-Germain for a record-breaking fee.

Footage also emerged of Neymar having a training-ground altercation with new Barcelona signing Nelson Semedo while in Miami, where they played Real Madrid later Saturday in a high-profi le friendly.

Then Neymar sent a fi rst mes-sage on Weibo, saying: “Greet-ings to the fans in China! I’m Neymar Jr., this is my offi cial Weibo account.

“I am going to be sharing my own personal experiences here with Chinese fans.

“I’m looking forward to your following and reposting! See you in Shanghai on Monday!”

The message was written in English and Chinese, but gave no further details on his move-ments in China. (SD-Agencies)

Neymar set for China trip

BARCELONA may have defeated Real Madrid 3-2 in this pre-season El Clasico, but it was the fans in Miami that proved the real winners on the night.

The 66,000-strong crowd at Hard Rock Stadium enjoyed a wild back-and-forth match between these two rivals, high-lighted by Gerard Pique’s 50th-minute game-winning goal.

The match started with a touch of controversy as Neymar — the supposed wantaway star linked with an imminent move to Paris Saint-Germain — went down within the fi rst minute clutching his ankle. Perhaps his intent was to feign injury to avoid playing and remain healthy for his new club, but that theory was quickly put to bed as Neymar returned to the fi eld and played on.

He soon made his presence felt, too, as Lionel Messi put the Blaugrana up 1-0 with a fortuitously defl ected shot early in the match before Neymar plucked out Ivan Rakitic at the edge of the box within three minutes. Rakitic applied a pow-erful fi nish past Keylor Navas to give his team a 2-0 lead over Madrid.

But Real Madrid wouldn’t fold that easily, as Los Blancos mounted a comeback in the form of a pair of fi rst-half goals. The fi rst, scored by Mateo Kovacic, cut the lead in half at the 14-minute mark, and the second was scored in fi ne fashion by

Barca bests Real in wild Clasico tilt

Marco Asensio on a 3-on-1 break at 36 minutes. Asensio’s cool fi nish took Real Madrid into the locker room level at half-time.

It would not stand, however, as Pique’s goal off a set piece gave the Blaugrana a 3-2 lead in the 50th minute, assisted, once again, by Neymar. It was a lead that Ernesto Valverde’s side looked to build on in the

10 minutes afterward as it pep-pered shots at Navas’ goal, only to be denied repeatedly.

If Navas saved Real Madrid’s skin, the same could be said of Jasper Cillessen at the opposite post as Barcelona’s second-choice goalkeeper kept his side in the match with a few score-preserv-ing saves of his own.

In the end, the two goalkeepers preserved their respective side’s

status in the match as Barcelona edged Real Madrid for the one-goal victory in Miami.

It was just the second time that Barcelona and Real Madrid would meet outside of Spain. The only other time was in 1982, when they had played in a pre-season tour-nament in Venezuela apparently attended by just 40 people. The last friendly between the Spanish rivals was in 1991. (SD-Agencies)

Barcelona’s Neymar (2nd L) and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema (2nd R) fi ght for the ball during their match in Miami, the United States, on Saturday. SD-Agencies