31/08/2025

theSun on Sunday AUG 31, 2025

SPORTS 12

Tears flow and records fall

SHORTS

BJK’S BROTHER MOFFITT DIES AT 76 Former San Francisco Giants reliever Randy Moffitt, the younger brother of Billie Jean King, has died after a long illness. He was 76 years old. Moffitt reportedly died in his hometown of Long Beach, California, on Thursday. Moffitt spent 10 of his 12 big-league seasons (1972-81) with the Giants. He was inducted into the team’s Wall of Fame in 2008. Moffitt and his famous sister always enjoyed a close relationship, and the 81 year-old tennis icon and humanitarian talked about Moffitt in April on National Siblings Day. “My brother Randy Moffitt and I are alike in so many ways,” King wrote on social media. “We were both competitive kids, right from the start. “He enjoyed a great career as an MLB pitcher, and spent most of his time with the San Francisco Giants. “We were so fortunate to grow up in a loving home, and are very close today. Love you, baby brother.” AGHA, RAUF STAR FOR PAKISTAN Skipper Salman Agha hit an unbeaten half century and fast bowler Haris Rauf grabbed four wickets as Pakistan upstaged Afghanistan by 39 runs in the tri-series opener in Sharjah on Friday. Agha hit a 36-ball 53 not out with three sixes and as many boundaries which lifted Pakistan to 182-7 in their 20 overs. Pacers Rauf took 4-31 and Shaheen Afridi 2-21, while spinners Mohammad Nawaz (2-23) and Sufiyan Muqeem (2-25) dismissed Afghanistan for 143 in 19.5 overs before a noisy capacity 16,000 crowd at the Sharjah stadium. Afghanistan matched Pakistan with opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, 27-ball 38 with a six and three boundaries, adding 51 for the second wicket with Sediqullah Atal, who made 23. It was Rauf who changed the game with a two-wicket 12th over sending Atal and Karim Janat back without conceding a run. Afghanistan skipper Rashid Khan smashed five sixes and a four in his whirlwind 16-ball 39 but fell to Rauf to end his team’s fight. Dilshan Madushanka took a last-over hattrick to snatch Sri Lanka a thrilling seven-run victory over Zimbabwe in Harare on Friday in the first of two one day internationals. Zimbabwe were well set with Sikandar Raza, on 92, on strike, as they needed 10 runs off the final six balls with five wickets in hand. But left-arm seamer Madushanka emerged as the hero for Sri Lanka, bowling Raza off the first ball of the final over, then dismissing Brad Evans and Richard Ngarava from his next two deliveries. Raza had his middle stump uprooted attempting a sweep, Evans was caught at short fine leg by Asitha Fernando and Ngarava was also clean bowled. “I am just so happy to do this on my comeback. Very happy that we executed our collective plans at the death,” said Madushanka, who held his nerve with the last three balls to close out the win. Zimbabwe won the toss and Sri Lanka posted 298-6 batting first courtesy of a late barrage of boundaries. The second ODI is on Sunday at the same venue. MADUSHANKA HATTRICK IN SRI LANKA WIN

… as injury woes rock US Open

BEN SHELTON’S US Open campaign ended in tears yesterday after he with drew mid-match with a shoulder injury he called the “worst pain” of his life, while milestone man Novak Djokovic battled through his own physical strug gles to reach the fourth round. Canadian Open champion Shelton was locked in an entertaining contest with Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in the day’s opening match on Louis Armstrong Stadium when his tourna ment suddenly unravelled. “I just did something to my shoulder, I don’t know what it is. I’m in a lot of pain,” the American

Arthur Ashe Stadium. The Serb recovered from a lower back problem to knock out Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-3, eliminating the last remaining Briton in the men’s draw and becoming the

Connors in 1991. The four-time US Open winner also surpassed Roger Federer to become the man with the most hardcourt victories at the majors with his 192nd win, inch ing closer to a record 25th Grand Slam title. “I’m good, man. I’m as young as ever and strong as ever,” said Djokovic after his battling victory. Earlier in the day, 2021 champion Emma Raducanu fell 6-1, 6-2 to Elena Rybakina at the same Louis Armstrong Stadium that witnessed Shelton’s anguish, as British hopes in the women’s draw ended with clinical effi ciency from the Kazakh. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz weathered his own injury scare, over coming knee concerns to dismantle Italian Luciano Darderi 6-2, 6-4, 6-0. “It was just the game that he broke my serve, on the last point after the serve… I just felt something in the knee,” said Alcaraz, who took a precau tionary medical timeout but allayed concerns with a devastating display. Defending women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka knocked out Leylah Fernandez 6-3, 7-6(2) to erase the sting of her 2021 US Open semifinal upset at the hands of the Canadian. Elsewhere in the women’s draw, fourth seed Jessica Pegula progressed with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and was joined in the fourth round by former Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova, who beat Italian seventh seed Jasmine Paolini 7-6(4), 6-1. The last 16 will also feature unseeded American Taylor Townsend, who advanced with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over fifth seed Mirra Andreeva in another massive upset. Fourth seed Taylor Fritz lifted some of the gloom with a gritty 7-6(3), 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4 victory over Switzerland’s Jerome Kym in the last match at Ashe, becoming the only remaining American man in the last 16. – Reuters four holes. Sagstrom, 32, won her second career LPGA title in April at the Match Play tournament. Sagstrom birdied the sixth and par-five seventh holes then came out of the second delay and reeled off four birdies in a row from the 13th through the par-three 16th. “We saw it coming on 16 and I go, ‘This is not great. Two breaks. That’s enough,’” Sagstrom said. “Clearly I needed the second one because I came out really hot after that. I found a little bit of rhythm, hit some good putts I tried to hit it smart and made a few putts and that paid off.” The joggers also included Thailand’s top-ranked Jeeno Thitikul, who shot 66 to stand on 137 with England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff, South Korean Lee6 Jeong-eun and Japan’s Ayaka Furue and Miya Yamashita, who won the Women’s British Open earlier this month. – AFP

oldest man to reach the last 16 at Flushing Meadows since Jimmy Ben Shelton reacts before retiring injured against Adrian Mannarino during the US Open. – AFPPIC

sixth seed told his father and coach Bryan during a medical timeout. As left-hander Mannarino fought back to level the match at two sets all, a devas tated Shelton wiped away tears before withdrawing ahead of

the decider, leaving fans gasping at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Shelton’s compa triot 17th seed Frances Tiafoe lost 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(7) to big-serving German Jan Lennard Struff at the Grandstand, while 10th seed Emma Navarro went down 4 6, 6-4, 6-4 to u n s e e d e d Czech Barbora Krejcikova in another upset. As the younger genera tion nursed their wounds, 38-year old Djokovic was making history under the lights of

Chinese rookie Wang grabs LPGA lead

stand on 135, one stroke ahead of Australian Hannah Green, Spain’s Azahara Munoz and Norway’s Celine Borge. Wang couldn’t quite finish her round before the third stoppage, which lasted some two and a half hours. “We’ve had plenty of experience with weather,” she said. “I was not in any panic anyway, so it was good.” In her closing birdie hattrick, the last came after she hit her approach at 18 to 10 feet just before the horn, then returned two and a half hours later to sink the putt and double her lead. “I didn’t expect the weather,” Wang said. “We just have to face it and prepare mentally, physically for the thunderstorms and just try to stay calm and every time warm up just like you didn’t stop and just keep going.” Leading those still on the course were South Korean Kim Sei-young on 8-under through four holes and second-ranked American Nelly Korda on 7-under through

CHINESE rookie Miranda Wang birdied the last three holes to seize a two-stroke lead when darkness halted yesterday’s storm hit second round of the LPGA FM Championship at TPC Boston. The 26-year-old LPGA newcomer, who played collegiate golf in the United States, birdied three of the first four holes then closed with birdies at the par-three 16th, par-four 17th and par-five 18th. That was enough for her to shoot a 5 under-par 67 and stand on 11-under 133 for 36 holes, two strokes ahead of Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom when sunset ended a stop-and-start day with half the field of 144 still on the course “It was really discontinuous,” Wang said. “It shows three birdies in a row, but for me it was like one shot at time, and also with all the stops in the way I was just trying to hit as good as I can.” Three total stoppages for heavy rain and lightning kept players scrambling. Sagstrom fired a bogey-free 66 to