Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet continued his adventure in the Hangzhou Tennis Championship, after qualifying for the semi-finals of the men's singles competition currently held in China, for the first time in his sporting career.
Jacquet qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament, after defeating Hungarian Fabian Marozsan, the sixth seed in the competition, with a score of 7-6 (14-12) and 6-4, on Sunday, in the quarter-finals.
Jacquet, who caused a huge surprise by defeating Argentine Thomas Martin Echeverry, the third seed in the tournament, in the second round, maintained his successful campaign in the competition with a strong performance against Marozsan.
In their first direct confrontation, Jacquet saved three set points during the tiebreak in the first set, before saving two break points while serving to win the match, with the score indicating a 5-4 lead in the second set.
Jacquet said after the match: “It was a great match.” I had to stay focused throughout the fight because it was very difficult. I'm really happy with my performance today, with my fighting spirit, and with everything else. It was a strong performance and that's why I won. “I am really proud of myself.”
Jacquet needed an hour and 47 minutes to pass the Marozsan obstacle, setting up a difficult match with Russian Andrey Rublev, the second seed in the tournament, who defeated Frenchman Hugo Gaston with a score of 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.
The Russian Roman Safiulin also claimed the ticket to the semi-finals, after defeating the Chinese Yunchao Kitty Po with a score of 6-3, 6-3, to meet in the next match with the winner of the match between the Russian Daniil Medvedev, the first seed in the competition, and Chuck Lam Coleman Wong, from Hong Kong.
Puribul Punson achieved an unprecedented achievement for Thai athletics on Sunday, as he stormed to gold in the 200 meters on a wet track to complete the double in the sprint events at the Asian Games, defeating China's Yan Ziye, the rising star of the javelin throw, and an Olympic champion.
After winning the 100-meter gold medal with a time of 9.90 seconds two days ago, the 20-year-old became the first Thai sprinter to break the 20-second barrier in the 200-meter race, recording 19.88 seconds.
His time at the Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium equaled the Asian record set seven years ago by the Chinese Xie Zhenyi, confirming his position as one of the most promising talents in track racing on the continent ahead of the World Championships scheduled in Beijing next year.
“I will strive to win more gold medals and break more records,” said Boribol, who was more than half a second ahead of second-placed Chinese Huang Yiyun. "I can't say how much faster I will get, but there will be more records and I will get faster."
Boribol was one of several young talents who shone in athletics competitions.
Yan (18 years old), who stormed the world of athletics forcefully in her first season this year, settled for a single throw of 70.46 metres, beating Olympic and home champion Haruka Kitaguchi (62.70 metres) and winning her first gold in the Asian Games.
Harry Kane, captain of the England national team, said that his team was close to the level of the Spanish national team, the world champion, despite losing to them in their first match in the European Nations League.
The British News Agency reported that German coach Thomas Tuchel's team dealt wonderfully with a volatile match against Spain at Wembley Stadium and succeeded in overturning the deficit with an early goal scored by Lamin Yamal, to lead 2-1 in the first half, after two goals scored by Kane and Anthony Gordon.
Captain Kane had the opportunity to increase the score to 3-1, but he fired a penalty kick that hit the crossbar, so Spain came back strong and snatched the three points thanks to goals from Alex Baena and Mikel Oyarzabal.
However, Bayern Munich's top scorer said that his team did enough to prove its ability to match the world and European champions.
Kane said: “I think we are close, there is no doubt about that, and anyone who watched the match will know that.”
He added: “They (the Spanish national team) have titles that confirm their superiority, so until we achieve that, what we say remains just talk, as we must prove it on the field.”
He continued: “We performed well in many aspects, but we lacked decisiveness in the important moments.”
Kane concluded his statements by saying: “But we are among the four best teams in the world. We were in third place in the World Cup, so we are close without a doubt, and I think they definitely felt that during today’s match.”
