I Dig Sports
Zagreb highlights: major upsets, title for hosts
Furthermore, we did not have to wait long for upsets to occur.
Men’s Singles
…………Poland’s Marek Badowski caused a major opening round upset by beating Slovakia’s Lubomir Pistej, the no.8 seed (8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 12-10, 11-9); however, his joy was short-lived, in the next round he suffered at the hands of Belgium’s Robin Devos, the no.22 seed (11-4, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7).
…………Japan’s Takuya Jin, required to qualify, caused the biggest second round upset; he overcame Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi, the no.4 seed (11-6, 11-6, 11-9, 11-8).
…………Winner the previous week in Slovenia, the host nation’s Wei Shihao continued his quite outstanding run of form. He beat Austria’s Andreas Levenko, the no.29 seed, before ousting Russia’s Alexander Shibaev, the no.10 seed (11-3, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9, 11-4).
…………Chinese Taipei Chuang Chih-Yuan and Sweden’s Kristian Karlsson, the top two names, both booked third round places by recording five games wins. Chuang Chih-Yuan beat Frenchman Jules Rolland (11-6, 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 11-8); Kristian Karlsson accounted for colleague Elias Ranefur (6-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9, 15-13).
Women’s Singles
…………Chinese Taipei’s Su Pei-Ling caused the first shock of the day; she beat Austria’s Sofia Polcanova, the no.3 seed, in the opening round (11-7, 9-11, 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8). Furthermore, she maintained her form; she overcame Sweden’s Linda Bergström, the no.17 seed (11-6, 11-9, 11-8, 12-10) to reserve her place in the third round.
…………Haruna Ojio caused the biggest upset in the second round; a qualifier she accounted for Japanese colleague, Hitomi Sato, the top seed (1-11, 11-5, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-4).
…………Former champions departed in round two, Monaco’s Yang Xiaoxin, the no.20 seed and winner in 2014, was beaten by Japan’s Miyu Nagasaki, the no.8 seed (11-6, 11-5, 11-5, 11-6); the latter’s colleague, Honoka Hashimoto, the no.6 seed and successful in 2017, suffered at the hands of Ukraine’s Tetyana Bilenko, the no.18 seed (14-12, 4-11, 12-14, 11-9, 10-12, 11-6, 11-9).
…………Japan’s Saki Shibata, the defending champion and no.2 seed, booked her third round place in style; she beat Viktoria Pavlovich of Belarus, the no.22 seed (11-8, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6).
Men’s Doubles
…………Brazil’s Eric Jouti and Gustavo Tsuboi, the winners last week in Slovenia, made a successful start to their campaign; the no.2 seeds, they overcame Slovakia’s Samuel Novota and Lubomir Pistej (11-8, 11-8, 11-13, 12-10).
…………Belgium’s Martin Allegro and Florent Lambiet, the top seeds, recorded a convincing opening round win; they overcame Sweden’s Fabian Akerström and Simon Berglund (11-9, 12-10, 11-9).
Women’s Doubles
…………Seeking a record breaking third consecutive title, Japan’s Honoka Hashimoto and Hitomi Sato, the top seeds, started their quest for honours by overcoming Thailand’s Orawan Paranang and Jinnipa Sawettabut (11-7, 11-6, 12-10).
…………Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki, the winners four days earlier in Slovenia, made the ideal start; the no.7 seeds, they accounted for Austria’s Karoline Mischek and Amelie Solja (11-9, 11-5, 12-10).
Under 21 Men’s Singles
………… Japan’s Yukiya Uda, the no.2 seed, beat Kanak Jha of the United States, the no.9 seed (6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 11-7) to secure the under 21 men’s singles title. It is for 17 year old Yukiya Uda the first such title of his career.
Under 21 Women’s Singles
………… Croatia’s Sun Jiayi, required to qualify, won the under 21 women’s singles event beating Japan’s Yumeno Soma, the top seed, in the final (6-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-8). In 2017 she had been the runner up in Poland.
Dexter St Louis, Caribbean stalwart, passes away
Dexter St Louis made his debut for Trinidad and Tobago in 1983, when 15 years old; after, in the early 1990s gaining impressive results against French players and winning a tournament in Martinique, he received a professional contract to play in the French League; for many years he represented Bordeaux.
The leading player in the Caribbean for over three decades, notably he competed in the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games, the first occasion when table tennis was included in the multi-sport event. He raised the eyebrows of the locals when against England, in the group stage of the men’s team event, he remained unbeaten. Even more notably, at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, a period of 16 years later, once again he was on duty for Trinidad and Tobago.
Additionally he competed in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games, later in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games; the Latin American Qualification tournament for the event in the Chinese capital city being one that all present on that occasion in Santo Domingo will never forget.
Competing for the very last available place, in the seventh game against Mexico’s Marcos Madrid, Dexter St Louis appeared down and out; he recovered, secured the vital game by the minimal two point margin, promptly ripped off his shirt and stood on the table in the guise of a successful warrior prince.
An exuberant character, a showman; in fact Dexter St. Louis was the exact opposite. In the hotel, away from the glare of the playing arena, he would be sitting reading the Financial Times or similar. It was not for him late nights and drinking; talk to him and you realised you were in the company of a very astute, intelligent associate, a man of the very highest integrity.
Most significantly, wherever he played, Dexter St Louis was respected, a fact recognised in Xalapa at the 2014 Central American Games; a special presentation was made in his honour, he accepted in his usual gracious manner.
Always on the international stage he was accompanied by his stepdaughter Rheann Chung; she competed in the recent Liebherr 2019 World Championships in Budapest. They were a team, either mixed doubles or one sitting on the bench advising the other.
He passed away surrounded by his wife, Jeromaine and two daughters, Rheann and Axelle.
A character of the sport but most importantly a sportsman in the true sense of the word, always competitive but always fair; our thoughts are with his family, Dexter St Louis is sadly missed but never forgotten.
INDIANAPOLIS – Ed Jones of Ed Carpenter Racing was the fastest driver in Thursday’s abbreviated Indianapolis 500 practice session, with a fast lap at 227.843 mph in his No. 63 Chevrolet.
He ran his fast time on lap eight and completed 37 laps on Thursday. Takuma Sato, winner of the 101st Indianapolis 500, was second in a Honda at 226.699 mph. The day was brought to an early end because of a rain storm that struck the track just after 4:30 p.m.
Jones was Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 2017 and this is his first season with ECR.
RELATED: Alonso Misses Out On Track Time At Indy
“Since joining the team, the first thing you think about is, as a driver anyway, you want to be quicker in the Indianapolis 500, and I knew as soon as the deal was done, that was going to be a reality,” Jones said. “So far, it’s been so good.
“It’s great to be part of Scuderia Corsa and Ed Carpenter Racing, and a lot of credit to Ed Carpenter, running a third car. With other teams maybe, a lot of times where the third cars aren’t quite the same as the two main ones, and as we’ve seen so far this week and also last year with Danica Patrick, they’ve done a great job with that third car and giving us an opportunity to be fighting at the front.
“I’m grateful for that and looking forward to how the rest of the week progresses.”
Jones likes the idea that the owner of the team is also a driver. Because of that, it’s easier to share data with the team’s other drivers including Carpenter and Spencer Pigot.
“It’s quite a different concept,” Jones said. “And for sure it’s beneficial because, as a driver, you see things differently to how a team owner would see them sometimes, and vice versa.
“Ed sees it, and he knows what it takes to have a good team around here, what it takes to produce those results. I’ve been learning from him. Again, I’ve been fortunate with the teammates I’ve had the past three years, with Sebastien, who was just up here, Scott last year, and now Ed as well. I think, if you’re going to pick three guys to learn from as teammates around the speedway, I think those are probably near the top of the list.
“I’ve been happy with that, and again just trying to learn as much as I can.”
Jones also led the ever-important now tow speeds. Those are times without the aid of another car 10 seconds in front or 10 seconds behind a car when it is clocked. That means it’s a pure speed and not benefited by a draft.
Pigot was second on the no tow list followed by Simon Pagenaud, Will Power and Charlie Kimball. All of the top five of the no tow group were Chevrolets.
There was one major crash in Thursday’s action.
Carlin rookie Patricio O’Ward slammed hard into the turn two wall at 12:20 p.m. Eastern Time and went airborne for a few hundred feet before landing on its wheels Thursday in practice. The crash practice for the 103rd Indianapolis 500 was the second time in as many days a rookie driver has hit the turn two wall after losing front aero balance in turn two.
O’Ward’s Dallara/Chevrolet flew like a wing but did not rollover. That minimized the impact of the crash. The 19-year-old driver from Mexico was able to climb out of the car with minimal assistance from the AMR IndyCar Safety Team.
He was taken to the IU Health Infield Care Center for evaluation. The tub for Carlin appears to have suffered front damage, which means the team will have to switch to a backup car and scrub the primary chassis.
“I’m OK,” O’Ward said after his release. “I went for a ride. There are two kinds of people at IMS – the ones who are going to hit the wall and the ones who have already hit the wall.
“Oh, I hit hard. I felt it and maybe hit the side of the monocoque. My hands are a bit sore. The good thing is we are OK. It looks like I just lost it, I guess. There is not much more I can say about that. It looks like I’m OK. The team is going to get a car ready for the next sessions or for Friday. They are getting the spare car ready.”
Fernando Alonso, who crashed his McLaren during practice on Wednesday, failed to turn a lap while his team worked to prepare his backup car. The team had hoped to have the car on track by 1 or 2 p.m., but the team was still working on his car when the rain storm hit the track and ended all on-track activity for the remainder of the day.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Boston Bruins expect captain Zdeno Chara to be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Chara missed the deciding Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday with an undisclosed injury. The Bruins eliminated the Carolina Hurricanes with a 4-0 win.
"We don't believe it is serious," coach Bruce Cassidy said of Chara's injury.
Cassidy found out on Thursday morning that Chara would be unavailable.
Chara, a 42-year-old defenseman, ended a run of 98 straight playoff games dating back to 2011. John Moore replaced him in the lineup.
After the final buzzer, Chara was in uniform and came onto the ice to celebrate with his teammates and take part in the post-series handshake line. The Bruins reached their third Stanley Cup final in nine years.
Chara had been set to play in his 176th career playoff game, which would have tied him with current San Jose Sharks player Joe Thornton and Mike Modano for 40th all-time in playoff games.
Chara typically plays on the Bruins' top pairing alongside Charlie McAvoy. In 16 playoff games this spring, Chara has averaged 22:32 of ice time per game, with one goal and two assists.
Looking ahead for the Hurricanes: Time to pay Sebastian Aho
As each NHL team is eliminated from the playoffs, we'll take a look at why its quest for the Stanley Cup fell short in 2018-19, along with three keys to its offseason, impact prospects for 2019-20 and a way-too-early prediction for what next season will hold.
What went wrong
A lot went right for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2018-19, and a lot went even better than planned. As general manager Don Waddell told ESPN in April: "We'd all probably be telling a fib if we said we thought we'd be here at this point. Certainly we thought we'd be a playoff-bound team. We felt good about the changes we made to the roster. But to end up with 99 points is probably more than we thought. The biggest thing is gaining respect back with the community. That's a big step we've taken this year. We'd always say, 'Next year is going to be the year, next year ...'"
The Hurricanes not only made the playoffs, snapping the NHL's longest postseason drought, but they knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champions in the first round, then swept the league's best defensive team in the second.
But once they got to the Eastern Conference finals, the Boston Bruins -- who have the league's hottest goaltender this postseason and saw all four lines producing -- proved to be too much. Carolina had a hard time rediscovering the game that got it to this point, and it was clear that physical and mental exhaustion had set in. The Hurricanes unraveled in the first two games. When the series shifted to Carolina, the Canes threw the kitchen sink at the Bruins in the first period of Game 3. They had 33 scoring chances in the first period alone. But Tuukka Rask was a wall, the Bruins mustered enough offense, and Carolina was defeated. That was too much to recover from.
Let's go back to some bigger-picture positives, because again, this season was not a failure by any means.
The Canes have identified a coach of the future in Rod Brind'Amour, who connected with his players and put together a terrific product on the ice. They established an identity. And as Waddell alluded to, they built back trust in the community. Thanks to the playoff run, by the first round the Canes were already at $2.5 million in new business for season tickets for 2019-20 after being at $400,000 at the same time a year previously. That's a total win.
Bruins sweep Hurricanes to reach Stanley Cup Final
Tuukka Rask posted his seventh career playoff shutout, and the Boston Bruins swept the Carolina Hurricanes out of the Eastern Conference final, winning 4-0 on Thursday night to reach their third Stanley Cup Final in nine years.
Chamblee on Koepka's opening 63: 'Felt like he was giving me the finger'
Even if Brooks Koepka gets the last laugh, at least Brandel Chamblee can laugh about it.
Koepka, the three-time major winner and this week's defending champion, has been in a month-long back-and-forth with Chamblee, the Golf Channel analyst, that took its latest turn on Thursday at Bethpage.
Koepka began his title defense with a 7-under-par 63, setting a new Black Course record and staking himself to the Day 1 lead at the PGA Championship.
This, after Chamblee has criticized Koepka over the last month for engaging in "reckless self-sabotage" in slimming down for a reported ESPN Body Issue photo shoot and questioned his toughness.
"I've been flipped off a few times in my life – probably not as often as you'd think – but I felt like he was giving me the finger for 4 1/2 hours out there today," Chamblee said on Thursday night's edition of "Golf Central Live From the PGA."
Most recently, Koepka tweeted out a photoshopped image of Chamblee in a clown nose after the analyst cited only Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy among players who could hang with Tiger Woods at his best.
RT @dylan_dethier: please, nobody tell Brooks Koepka https://t.co/bWkeoOlCXo pic.twitter.com/DJ7CYbZO8h
— Brooks Koepka (@BKoepka) May 4, 2019
"I gotta tell you, I enjoyed it," Chamblee continued on Thursday, referring to Koepka's round. "Outside of his immediate family, I can't think anybody who enjoyed that round more than I did."
Phil (69) credits brother/caddie for turning Day 1 around
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The people’s champion didn’t disappoint on Thursday at the People’s Country Club.
Phil Mickelson, whose history at Bethpage Black includes runner-up finishes at the 2002 and ’09 U.S. Opens, shot a first-round 69 and was tied for ninth place, albeit six shots off the pace set by Brooks Koepka.
“It's a very fair [test],” Mickelson said of Bethpage. “I feel like I can make some pars out of the rough. I feel like I don't have to be too perfect, but I feel like I can salvage a couple of pars with just a few bad tee shots, and if I keep it in check, I should be able to shoot an under-par round.”
Things didn’t start out that way for Mickelson after bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8 moved him to 2 over for round, but a tip from his caddie, brother Tim, helped turn things around.
“I just wasn't putting well the first eight holes, and Tim noticed that I was kind up and out of it a little bit, so I made a slight adjustment, and I made four really good putts on 9, 10, 11 and 12,” Mickelson said.
Mickelson rolled in 56 feet of putts on Nos. 9-12 and closed his round with six consecutive pars to find himself in the top 10 after Round 1 at a Bethpage major for the third time.
DeChambeau after opening 72: Bethpage's length a 'mess-up'
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Playing to a par-70 this week and stretched to more than 7,400 yards Thursday, the Black Course at Bethpage State Park was in many ways the winner of the opening round of the PGA Championship.
While Brooks Koepka’s bogey-free 63 showed the riddle could be solved, there were far more bogeys than birdies on a day when only 16 players broke par. It produced the type of scoring average fans have grown accustomed to seeing in a major championship, but in the eyes of Bryson DeChambeau it also represented a troubling trend.
DeChambeau opened with a 2-over 72, carding just two birdies, and he now trails Koepka by nine shots. Speaking to GolfChannel.com, he shared his viewpoint that when it comes to major championship venues, longer does not always mean better.
“If you really want to prove who the best champion is, it’s not a long-drive contest. That’s why they have long-drive contests out here,” said DeChambeau, who actually won the long-drive contest at last year’s PGA at Bellerive. “It’s about precision. So when you start making it really tight, I get the tight part. But when you start lengthening it to the amounts that they’ve been lengthening it to, I just personally think that it’s a mess-up.”
DeChambeau is 44th on Tour this season, averaging 301.3 yards per shot, and he shared that he followed his drives with a 4-iron approach on multiple occasions Thursday, resorting to hitting hybrid on the 489-yard 10th hole.
DeChambeau extolled the annual setup at Augusta National, lauding its mix of long and short holes as a more comprehensive test, and pointed to 2013 U.S. Open host Merion Country Club as an example that majors can be successfully contested on layouts where length is not the primary defense.
“That tests the best ball-striker. That’s what majors are supposed to be about. It’s not supposed to be a driving contest,” he said. “You just can’t make golf courses that long with guys on the lower end of the stick driving it 275, 280, 290 and then hitting hybrids into greens.”
After entering the week as one of the three co-favorites to win this week's PGA Championship, Brooks Koepka on Thursday staked himself to the Day 1 lead at Bethpage Black and took over as the new solo favorite for sports bettors.
Koepka at 7 under is now 5/4 at the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, followed by Dustin Johnson, 1 under, at 10/1 and Tommy Fleetwood, 3 under, at 12/1.
Koepka, Johnson and Tiger Woods entered the week at 10/1.
Woods, who finished runner-up to Koepka at last year's PGA and is coming off his 15th major victory, has dropped to 30/1 after a first-round 72 left him nine off the pace.
The Westgate's odds down to 60/1 are listed in the tweet below.
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: 
Email: 
