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Deprived of the player he called “the future of Hong Kong cricket”, and also without one of the city’s greatest batsmen for the beginning of a winding 2028 T20 World Cup qualifying campaign this week, Kaushal Silva looked forward to a time when key absences were covered by oven-ready replacements from a growing talent pool. Head coach Silva’s 14-man party for the first round of qualifiers in Malaysia features only four players from the last Hong Kong team to compete in a major tournament at the...

Michael Chang Chun-wai celebrated his 400th Hong Kong win and continued his strong start to the season with a double at Happy Valley on Wednesday night. The veteran trainer repeated his brace at Sha Tin last Sunday when New Power and Kwai Chung Talents struck at the Valley under Keith Yeung Ming-lun, who bagged his first two wins of the campaign. Now 64, Chang was an apprentice jockey in Britain for three years before returning to Hong Kong in 1987 to work for the Jockey Club. He worked his way...

Supreme Sha Tin have pulled off an astonishing coup after tempting David Silva out of retirement and into a short-term deal with the ambitious Hong Kong Premier League club. World Cup winner Silva hung up his boots three years ago following an enormously decorated career with Valencia, Manchester City and Real Sociedad. Nonetheless, the 40-year-old was unable to resist the opportunity with newly-promoted Supreme, who this week appointed Englishman Tom Ballantyne as their head coach, and he could...

The reward of a military service exemption for gold medal-winning South Korean athletes could be abolished or reduced in future after public backlash to some controversial comments from winners at the Asian Games. Three players from the men’s football team came under fire for comments following South Korea’s 1-0 win over Japan in the Asian Games final last weekend in Japan. All three apologised but a broader debate had already reignited over whether athletes should receive special treatment for...

Lionel Messi described his retirement from international football as the “saddest day of my career” on Tuesday in Buenos Aires after playing his final game for Argentina in a 3-0 defeat of Benin. Messi, who scored a goal and provided two assists in the victory at the Monumental Stadium, took to the field after the win to express gratitude to fans and teammates as he reflected on his 21-year career with Argentina. “It was a huge source of pride for me to defend this jersey for more than 20...

After completing the interminable process of assembling a world-class coaching team that “knows what it is to win”, Herve Dagorne said he needed to “hurry up” and deliver a champion Hong Kong cyclist before time runs out on his reign. The appointment of two-time Olympic silver medallist Kevin Sireau to lead the city’s sprint squad was the final piece in a particularly tricky jigsaw that head coach Dagorne has been attempting to piece together for the past two years. Also a three-time world...

Rising fencing star Harris Ho Shing-him said for the coming Youth Olympic Games he only had one goal in mind: to win the gold medal. Hong Kong have never won any individual gold medals at the Youth Olympic Games since their inception in 2010, and while teenager Ho had “no idea” who he might face in the capital city of Senegal, he was determined to succeed. “I had a one-week break after the Asian Games and that’s enough for me. I am ready to get going again,” the 17-year-old said. “I am confident...

Lionel Messi will pull on Argentina’s sky blue-and-white jersey for the last time on Tuesday and enjoy an emotional farewell in front of his adoring fans in a stadium with a name to match his legacy: Monumental. Some 85,000 Argentina fans will be on hand to watch the 39-year-old idol perform his wizardry in a friendly against Benin that brings down the curtain on his 21-year international career. Millions more will be following the action in South America’s largest arena, Buenos Aires’...

Jay Rooney KWAI CHUNG TALENTS - R6 (10) Second on return and looks poised to break through   Owen Goulding AURIO - R9 (1) Ran huge on return and looks primed for an overdue win with Purton up   Paul Lally KWAI CHUNG TALENTS - R6 (10) Looks ready to win after last-start second first-up   Phillip Woo KWAI CHUNG TALENTS - R6 (10) Can go one better than promising return second   Trackwork Spy DARYL FLASH - R7 (11) Bumped into one on return and looks set to go one better off light weight   Racing...

Jorn Andersen was on the brink of a sensational return as Hong Kong head coach earlier this year, only for talks to collapse and pave the way for interim boss Roberto Losada’s permanent appointment. Enormously popular with supporters after ending the city team’s 55-year wait to reach a major tournament at the last Asian Cup finals, Andersen ultimately accepted a “great offer” from Myanmar back in July. He had been unemployed for two months after leaving Yunnan Yukun when the local football...

Elite Hong Kong athletes Ryan Choi Chun-yin and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu have been named among the recipients of this year’s Ten Outstanding Young Persons award. The pair have represented the city at home and abroad over the past several months, with Choi winning two silver medals at the Asian Games last month, in the men’s individual foil and men’s team foil categories. Ho, meanwhile, captained Hong Kong’s first ever Shergar Cup team to an impressive second place at Ascot in August and is the first...

Douglas Whyte is adamant Live Wire will handle the rise to Class Three when the progressive sprinter chases a third consecutive win at Happy Valley on Wednesday night. After returning with a dominant all-the-way success last month, the Tassort four-year-old will make the leap from Class Four in the first section of the Yip Fat Handicap (1,200m). Live Wire has always shown potential and delivered on that at his seventh career start, scoring narrowly at the city circuit at the end of last...