Windy Shaowindysjf@hotmail.com

A GRAND ceremony was held at Mission Hills Dongguan yesterday to mark the opening of the 15th Mission Hills Gol-fathon, which will last until Sept. 15.

Launched in 2004 to cel-ebrate Mission Hills’ recogni-tion as the world’s largest golf club, the Golfathon offers golf enthusiasts an opportunity to play on the club’s 10 award-win-ning golf courses in Dongguan and Shenzhen over a fi ve-month span.

Over the past 14 years, the event has attracted nearly 100,000 participants from more than 30 countries to compete on courses designed by golf legends like Jack Nick-laus, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo and Annika Sorenstam. Their ages vary from 5 to 87, accord-ing to the organizers.

Wang Dajiang, who has attended the event 13 times, said the Golfathon is a very good opportunity for him to enjoy the sport.

“I do not pay much attention to the scores. I just enjoy the experience of playing on differ-ent courses,” he said.

Li Rongfang, 87, is the oldest

participant. He said this year is the seventh time he has attended the event, and he considers it an important sport to keep himself healthy and happy.

Yuan Weimin, former presi-dent of Chinese Golf Asso-ciation, and Xu Deli, former president of Guangdong Golf Association, also attended the opening ceremony.

The 2018 Golfathon cham-pion will win a Guest Package

for Mission Hills Golfathon 2019 and a free Golf & Hotel Package at Mission Hills Haikou, including a two-night stay in SPA VILLA and two green vouchers. The division winners and 1st runners-up will win Mission Hills Haikou Golf & Stay Packages.

Organizers are also offering a luxury Lexus hybrid car as a prize for the Lexus Hole-In-One Challenge on the opening day.

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Thursday April 12, 2018

WITH his arms held out wide and his mouth gaping open, Kostas Manolas started running and yelling uncontrollably. Then he patted his chest and was mobbed by his Roma teammates.

Manolas, a center back known more for his defensive skills than his attacking abilities, had just scored one of the most memo-rable goals in Roma’s history.

His header from a corner in the 82nd minute Tuesday put Roma into the Champions League semifi nals and knocked out fi ve-time champion Barce-lona following one of the most extraordinary comebacks the competition has ever seen.

Roma won 3-0 to overturn a three-goal defi cit and advance on away goals, having entered the game as massive underdogs after losing the fi rst leg of their quarterfi nal 4-1 against a Lionel Messi-led team that was one of the big favorites to win the competition.

“I don’t care about becom-ing part of Roma’s history. I’m just happy that the squad has reached the Champions League semifi nals by beating a great team like Barcelona,” Manolas said. “In the fi rst leg they denied us two penalties but tonight we showed that Roma can play with and beat anyone.”

The atmosphere inside the Stadio Olimpico was deafening as Roma unexpectedly domi-nated.

Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco acknowledged before the match that his team needed

a “miracle” to advance, and they got the start they needed when Edin Dzeko controlled an over-the-top pass between two defenders after six minutes and poked in his sixth goal in this season’s competition.

Then near the hour mark, Dzeko earned a penalty that Daniele De Rossi converted to set the stage for Manolas’ late header.

“It is for moments like this that it is so beautiful to live for these colors,” recently retired Roma captain Francesco Totti tweeted, adding “Daje Roma!”

— “Go Roma” in Roman dialect — followed by two heart emojis in yellow and red.

Messi and fellow Barcelona forward Luis Suarez hardly threatened as Roma dominated possession for long stretches and stifl ed the Catalan club with high pressure. Roma capital-ized on its aerial threat through Dzeko and Patrik Schick and its stifl ing defense forced Barcelona into a series of uncharacteristic misplaced passes.

“They showed attitude and for whatever reason we didn’t know how to respond, or to

make chances,” Barcelona mid-fi elder Sergio Busquets said. “For that reason they were better in all aspects tonight.”

It’s the fi rst time that Roma has reached the last four since it lost the 1984 fi nal to Liverpool on penalties in its own stadium — and it’s the third straight year that Barcelona has been elimi-nated at this stage.

“It’s a possibility that this might be my last game in the Champions League but right now this is hard for all the team, all of us,” Barcelona captain Andrea Iniesta said. (SD-Agencies)

A TRANSGENDER weightlifter who made waves at the Com-monwealth Games said her career may be over after she suffered a dramatic injury mid-competition.

New Zealand’s Laurel Hub-bard, the Games’ fi rst trans-gender athlete, made a painful exit while leading the women’s +90kg competition as she attempted a tournament-record lift Monday.

Hubbard’s left elbow buckled and she grimaced as she dropped the 132kg barbell behind her, reportedly rupturing a ligament in an injury that will require surgery.

Hubbard later told a public event: “My arm is busted. It looks like it’s probably going to be a career-ending injury, it’s being looked at.

“I’m glad that I’ve gone out trying to achieve my best on the platform because as the (New Zealand team) slogan says you have to ‘earn the fern,’ you can’t just phone it in. Thank you very much for your support, I’m very grateful.”

If confi rmed, it has been a short-lived women’s career for Hubbard, 40, who was born Gavin Hubbard and competed for New Zealand as a man before transitioning to female in her 30s.

She competed at last year’s world championships in the women’s +90kg category, win-ning two silvers — New Zealand’s fi rst medals at the competition.

Her presence in Gold Coast, Australia, caused much debate, with offi cials from two rival countries insisting she had an unfair advantage.

Simon Kent, New Zealand’s high performance director for Olympic weightlifting, called Hubbard “courageous” for start-ing the debate about transgender sport.

“It is a complex issue,” Kent said.

“I actually tend to think it is a good thing that it is being talked about in the open... because there are no right or wrong answers at the moment.”

Hubbard became eligible to compete as a woman after show-ing testosterone levels below the International Olympic Commit-tee threshold. She received back-ing from the Commonwealth Games Federation. (SD-Agencies)

THE Warriors played as if they wanted to pace themselves through training camp. The Jazz played as if they wanted to steal Game 1 in a playoff series.

Therefore, it did not take long for the Warriors’ 119-79 loss to Utah Jazz on Tuesday to resemble something both for-eign and familiar. The foreign: despite having three healthy All-Stars, the Warriors labored to do anything offensively and defensively. The familiar: after spending the 2017-18 season fi ghting complacency over their two NBA championships in the past three years, the Warriors ended the regular-season with the same mindset.

The Warriors (58-24) lost their third game in the past four contests well aware their No. 2 seed would stay intact. Perhaps they were also aware that a loss ensured the Warriors would not play against Utah or Oklahoma City in the fi rst round, consider-ing the Jazz (3-1) and Oklahoma City (2-2) hurt the Warriors in regular-season matchups.

Still, Utah (48-33) tied with Portland (48-33) for third place entering a regular-season fi nale yesterday. The Pelicans, Spurs, Timberwolves or Nuggets could play the Warriors in the fi rst round. (SD-Agencies)

Injury derailstransgender weightlifter’s golden bid

Roma stuns Barca to reach UCL semis

Utah Jazz crushWarriors 119-79

Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand reacts during the women’s +90kg weightlifting fi nal. SD-Agencies

Roma’s Daniele De Rossi and Alessandro Florenzi celebrate after the match. SD-Agencies

Golfathon attracts thousands of participants

Li Rongfang, 87, the oldest participant, speaks at the opening ceremony of the 15th Mission Hills Golfathon at Mission Hills Dongguan yesterday. Windy Shao