Sports

Pacific Institute will present its 2008 Eldership Awards, which recognize the lifelong contributions of two of the Bay Area’s outstanding elders, to San Francisco’s Sensei Keiko Fukuda and author and administrator John Levy.

A celebration of their unique talents and life’s work begins at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Marines Memorial Club, 609 Sutter St. in San Francisco. This celebration will recognize their wisdom and generosity of spirit, demonstrating what it means to be an elder in today’s society.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Kyodo) — Akinori Iwamura had a pair of hits and drove in a run as the Tampa Bay Rays marked their first-ever playoff appearance with a 6-4 win over the Chicago White Sox in Game 1 of their American League division series on Oct. 2.

Iwamura hit an RBI triple to center field in the bottom of the third inning and scored himself on Willy Aybar’s sacrifice fly as the Rays took a 4-3 lead at Tropicana Field. Iwamura hit a single in the fifth and struck out in the sixth before drawing a walk in the eighth.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Fourth-seeded Richard Gasquet of France brought an end to rising star Kei Nishikori’s run at the Japan Open on Oct. 2 with a straight-sets victory in the men’s singles third round.

World No. 13 Gasquet broke serve twice in both sets and ended the match with three straight aces in a 6-1, 6-2 rout of 84th-ranked Nishikori en route to booking a place in the quarterfinals on the men’s side of the ATP-WTA event at Ariake Tennis Forest Park.

TOKYO (Kyodo) — A nonfiction writer who alleged match-fixing in sumo in a weekly magazine testified in court Oct. 3 that yokozuna Asashoryu played a central role in such practices.

Yorimasa Takeda, who wrote the articles in question in Shukan Gendai magazine, said, “Lower-ranked wrestlers support the yokozuna’s position. They sell victories to yokozuna wrestlers and buy wins with the money received from the yokozuna.’’

DALY CITY — The Nikkei Ladies League played on Sept. 24 at Classic Bowling Center. The results are as follows:

Team Standings
Pearl 12.5 3.5
Aquamarine 12 4
Sapphire 12 4
Ruby 10.5 5.5
Diamond 7 9
Opal 7 9
Garnet 6.5 9.5
Amethyst 5.5 10.5
Emerald 4 12
Topaz 3 13

Individual High Scratch
Sanae Tanaka 554

OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics celebrated Japanese Heritage Day on Sept. 20 at McAfee Coliseum, featuring representatives of the local Japanese American community and donating part of the day’s ticket sales to Nikkei community organizations.

The A’s faced the Seattle Mariners in the second of three games, the season’s last series at home for Oakland. The lineup included a Japanese American player, A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki, and two from Japan, Mariners outfielder Ichiro Suzuki and catcher Kenji Johjima, and there was a large turnout of Asian American fans.

DALY CITY — The Nikkei Mixed Classic League played at Classic Bowling Center on Sept. 25. Results follow:

Team Won Lost
Hanson’s 68 16
Kirbs Ave 49.5 34.5
Bates Creek 47 37
Classic Bowl II 43 41
Fukusuke 42.5 41.5
Presidio Bowl 39 45
Classic Bowl I 36.5 47.5
Ohana 35 49
Molokai Cntr. 35 49
Team #9 24.5 59.5

Stars of the Week
Women
Mayumi Florek 581
Kim Nakasu 571
Darlene Wong 557
Joyce Wong 539

Men
Chris Somme 727
Gary Nakasu 705
Michael Mar 704
Tony Tsui 693
Alan Himuro 685

DALY CITY — The Nikkei Invitational League posted Week 3 results folowing matches on Sept. 24 at Classic Bowling Center:

Classic Bowl 13 3
All American 13 3
Just Collectibles 12 4
Ernest Lew Law 11.5 4.5
Presidio B&G 10 6
Fukusuke 9 7
California Bank 8 8
Team Brunswick 8 8
Club K O 6 10
GC Paws 6 10
Bowlers Appch 5.5 10.5
Benkyodo 4 12
Yellow Cab 4 12
Presidio Bowl 2 14

High Series
Men

COLORADO SPRINGS — The U.S. sent five athletes to the top of the podium on Sept. 27 at the U.S. Open Championships, which were held at the U.S. Olympic Training Center.

Olympian Ryan Reser returned for his first competition since Beijing and had the opportunity to fight in the 73kg division in front of a hometown crowd filled with family and friends.

“I really just fought mainly because it was here in the Springs,” Reser said. “I’ve been training, but not really hard since the Olympics, so I just wanted to go out and have fun.”

TOKYO (Kyodo) — Rising Japanese tennis star Kei Nishikori advanced to the men's
singles second round with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2 victory over Robert Kendrick of the U.S. at the Japan Open on Sept. 30.

But former world No. 4 Kimiko Krumm-Date, who entered the tournament as a wild card, lost to sixth-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel 6-3, 6-1 at Ariake Tennis Forest Park in her first singles match on the WTA Tour in 12 years.

Nishikori and Kendrick never broke each other's serve in the first two sets and split the tiebreakers.