WORLD* SPORTS WONDER : ROUNDUP

BADMINTON WORLD TOUR FINALS

BANGKOK : Top - ranked Tai Tzu-ying won a dramatic cliffhanger women's badminton World Tour Final in Bangkok Sunday last, blocking reigning Olympics champion Carolina Marin's bid for a hat-trick of titles in three weeks.

The all Danish men's singles final was equally nail biting as Anders Antonsen denied Viktor Axelsen a third tournament win.

AUSTRALIA IN TENNIS

Melbourne : Ageless Venus Williams opened her 2021 season with a 6-1. 6-3 thrashing of Arantxa Rus Sunday, while former 10 top players Jelena Ostapenko and Carolina Garcia also scored wins.

Williams, 40, showed few signs of having spent 14 days in quarantine in her first round romp at Yarra Valley Classic, grinding down her Dutch opponent in 65 minutes - an amazing 27 years after making her professional debut.

The tournament is one of two WTA events being played concurrently at Melbourne Park as players prepare for the Australian Open Grand Slam starting on February 8.

OLYMPICS - TENNIS - OYSTERS

Melbourne : Japanese sensation Naomi Osaka, Novak Djokovic and Rahael Nadal said Sunday they remain keen to compete in the delayed Tokyo Olympics, and would be guided by what the health experts tell them.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Osaka admitted being worried by a recent poll that found 80-percent of the Japanese public were opposed to Tokyo hosting the event this year because of the pandemic.

Large parts of Japan are currently under a state of emergency to tackle a spike in coronavirus cases, with borders closed to almost all foreigners.

'' My concern would be general safety of everyone else because you're opening the country,'' Osaka said. ''Everyone is flying in from different places. I would just want the public to feel safe.''

PARIS : PSG IN FIRST DEFEAT

PARIS : Paris Saint-Germain suffered their first defeat under Mauricio Pochettino as lowly lowly Lorient fought back to claim a dramatic 3-2 victory on Sunday and prevent the defending champions from retaking top-spot in Ligue 1.

Neymar scored two penalties but the visitors collapsed late on at the Stade de Moustoir, as Nigerian Terem Moffi netted an injury-time winner.

The loss saw PSG stay one point behind league leaders Lyon, although third-placed Lille could go two points clear when they host Dijon later on Sunday. [AFP]