Sports — International

NBA Suns sign Paul to new four-year contract: report

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — All-star point guard Chris Paul, who guided the Phoenix Suns to their first NBA Finals since 1993, has agreed to a new four-year deal with Phoenix worth up to $120 million, US media reported Monday. The 36-year-old Paul opted out of his contract by declining a $44.2 million player option for next season, becoming an unrestricted free agent. Contract agreements with free agents cannot become official until the start […]

PHL gymnast Yulo narrowly misses Olympic medal after placing 4th in vault finals

  (Eagle News) – Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo narrowly missed winning a medal at the men’s vault finals at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday, Aug. 2 after finishing fourth. The 21-year old Yulo scored 14.716, just .017 points from the third placer Arthur Davtyan of Armenia who scored 14.733. Yulo had scored 14.716 in his first attempt after his landing where his right foot stepped off the mat to balance himself, a minor error that […]

American Carey wins women’s gymnastics floor gold at Olympics

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — American Jade Carey won women’s gymnastics floor gold at the Olympics on Monday in a quick upturn in fortune after disappointing in the vault final 24 hours earlier. The 21-year-old from Arizona tumbled her way to a score of 14.366 to take the title from Italian 30-year-old veteran Vanessa Ferrari. There was a rare dead-heat for bronze between Japan’s Mai Murakami and Angelina Melnikova, who led the Russians to team gold […]

Defending champion Van Niekerk out of Olympic 400m

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Wayde van Niekerk’s reign as Olympic 400m champion came to a disappointing end on Monday as the South African world record holder was eliminated in the semi-finals at the Tokyo Games. Van Niekerk, who produced one of the highlights of the 2016 Rio Olympics with an electrifying world record run of 43.03sec in the final, was dumped out of contention after a fifth place finish in his semi-final. The 29-year-old from […]

PH boxer Marcial knocks out Armenian foe in round 1; another Olympic medal assured

2 Filipino boxers now assured of Olympic medals   (Eagle News) – Filipino boxer Eumir Marcial knocked out Armenia’s Arman Darchinyan in the first round of the men’s middleweight quarterfinals and thus entering the semifinals, already with a sure medal in the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday, Aug. 1. With a right hook, Marcial sent his opponent Darchinyan face first on the floor canvas with just 49 seconds left in the first round.  He is now […]

China’s Su blasts into Olympic 100m final, Bromell out

China’s Su Bingtian ran an Asian record of 9.83 seconds to qualify for the men’s Olympic 100m final on Sunday, while US medal hope Trayvon Bromell missed the cut. Su, 31, shattered his previous best of 9.91 to storm to an impressive semi-final win over American Ronnie Baker in a photo-finish. Italy’s Lamont Jacobs finished third in a European record of 9.84 and fourth-placed South African Akani Simbine in 9.90, the pair taking the two […]

Dolgopyat wins Israel’s first Olympics gymnastics gold

Ukraine-born Artem Dolgopyat won the men’s floor exercise on Sunday for Israel’s first-ever Olympic gymnastics gold. He finished level on points with Spain’s Rayderley Zapata but won the tiebreak with a higher difficulty score. China’s Xiao Ruoteng took the bronze. Dolgopyat, who moved from Ukraine to Tel Aviv when he was 12, won only Israel’s second ever Olympic title in any sport after Gal Friedman’s 2004 windsurfing win in Athens. The 24-year-old came into the […]

Zverev routs Khachanov to win Olympic tennis gold, first single gold for Germany since 1988

Alexander Zverev brushed aside Karen Khachanov in straight sets on Sunday to seal the Olympic men’s singles title. The fourth seed, who ended Novak Djokovic’s Golden Grand Slam bid in the semi-finals, produced a dominant display to win 6-3, 6-1 after just 79 minutes on court. Zverev becomes only the second German to win an Olympic singles gold after Steffi Graf in 1988, while Boris Becker and Michael Stich took the men’s doubles crown four […]

American Robert Finke wins 1500m to seal Olympic distance double

America’s Robert Finke secured the Olympic distance double Sunday by winning the men’s 1500m gold medal to go with his 800m title. The 21-year-old delivered a devastating final 50m to pull clear of a tight field in a race that was neck-and-neck from the off. Finke touched first in 14mins 39.65secs ahead of Ukrainian Mykhailo Romanchuk (14:40.66) and Germany’s Florian Wellbrock (14.40.91). Gregorio Paltrinieri would ordinarily have been favourite as defending champion and second fastest […]

1964 Tokyo Games weightlifter wants to meet Hidilyn

By Lade Jean Kabagani MANILA – Artemio Rocamora, 88, is looking forward to meeting his fellow weightlifter, Olympian and Philippine Air Force officer Hidilyn Diaz. Rocamora placed 19th in the light heavyweight division of the 1964 Tokyo Games while the 30-year-old Diaz will be etched in history books as the Philippines’ first Olympic gold medalist. She also snatched a silver at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Incidentally, the ongoing Games are also being held in […]