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Three years is a long time in sport, and all athletes have to deal with ups and downs, but few have quite experienced the challenge that emerging Chinese swimmer Yu Yiting has had to face: the sudden, if not entirely unexpected, rise of her teenage compatriot Yu Zidi. But despite facing some serious challenges from the much younger swimmer, Yu Yiting rediscovered her form just before the Asian Games and took her medal tally in Japan to four on Wednesday, storming back from behind at the turn to...

Apprentice Nichola Yuen Hang-yiu celebrated her first Happy Valley win on Wednesday night as trainers David Eustace and David Hall and jockeys Jerry Chau Chun-lok and Vincent Ho Chak-yiu fired in doubles. At her third meeting at the city circuit, Yuen was over the moon after lifting Pierre Ng Pang-chi’s Prestige Always to victory in the second section of the Class Three Mount Butler Handicap (1,200m). Despite being trapped three wide for the first half of the race, Prestige Always raced to the...

Table tennis fans had a unique experience watching star duo Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha beat their Uzbekistan opponents in the Asian Games, after state media used three smartphones to stream the match live to viewers back in China. The reason for the extraordinary measure? Out of nine competition tables, organisers of the Asian Games equipped only Tables 1 and 2 with broadcast cameras, leaving the rest without live coverage. Wang and Sun played on Table 4 at Sky Hall Toyota arena on...

North Korea’s Ri Song-gum set three world records to give her country their first gold in weightlifting at the Asian Games on Wednesday, while South Korea’s badminton world No 1 An Se-young had stern words for her watching father. Ri set the world records in the women’s 49kg class in Nagoya, joining an elite club of just four weightlifters who have won three Asian Games gold medals. The reigning two-time world champion added to her Asian Games golds in Jakarta in 2018 in the 48kg class and...

Hong Kong’s Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung beat her personal best time twice in a single day and broke a Hong Kong record set by Siobhan Haughey on her way to bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly at the Asian Games on Wednesday. The 24-year-old touched the wall in 58.05 seconds to finish third behind China’s Yu Yiting and Zhang Yufei, eclipsing Haughey’s previous city mark of 58.12 seconds set in 2023. China’s Yu and Zhang captured gold and silver with times of 56.41 and 56.44, respectively. Kan had...

Hong Kong wushu athlete Lydia Sham Hui-yu said a gruelling training schedule allowed her to deliver on an Asian Games gold medal pledge she made to her idol, Exo boy band member Kai. On Tuesday, after winning the women’s changquan event to secure Hong Kong’s first gold of the Asian Games, the 26-year-old posted a video on social media sharing the medal ceremony and tagging the official accounts of South Korean boy band Exo and Kai. “I kept the promise I made to Kim Jong-in [Kai] at the fan sign...

Hong Kong karate veteran Tsang Yee-ting finally stepped onto an Asian Games podium on Wednesday, taking silver in the women’s 50kg kumite final, and adding another medal to the city’s growing tally. There was success in the swimming pool too, with Natalie Kan Cheuk-tung taking bronze in the women’s 100m butterfly, while earlier, the men had won bronze in the team kata. In wushu, Leung Yu-hong beat Bintang Reindra Nada Guitara of Indonesia 2-1 to reach the men’s 60kg final, where he will face off...

Siobhan Haughey may have cemented her place as Hong Kong’s best athlete ever after capturing yet another Asian Games gold medal on Tuesday. Touching the wall first in 52.45 seconds – ahead of a pack of swimmers at least three years younger – to defend her women’s 100m freestyle title successfully pushed Haughey’s gold medal count at the regional multi-sports bonanza to four, after she also retained the 200m freestyle crown she won in Hangzhou the previous day. From showcasing to the world her...

The briefest of wobbles cost Chloe Leung Wing-yee Asian Games road race gold on Tuesday, but 48 hours after a bitterly disappointing individual time trial, the Hongkonger and her coach were content with the bronze she captured in Japan. Herve Dagorne suspected his rider was destined for victory as the 90.4km tussle in secluded Shinshiro City entered its business end. Committing unflinchingly to her pre-race strategy of attacking on the downhills, however, Leung slipped to hand the initiative to...

Madonna, Bob Dylan and Jack White have banned phones from their concerts. An exasperated Adele once asked an audience member: “Can you stop filming me? … You can enjoy it in real life rather than through your camera.” In the sporting sphere, however, those bastions of decorum at Augusta National Golf Club are alone in waging war on mobile devices, employing a strict cell phone ban for patrons attending the US Masters. Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 Open Championship winner and veteran of 18...

Jay Rooney DANICA'S CHOICE - R8 (8) Finished last season in top form and has trialled well ahead of his return   Owen Goulding JUMBO BLESSING - R6 (1) Dominant first up and can complete the hat-trick on the way to better things   Paul Lally DANICA'S CHOICE - R8 (8) Has won two trials ahead of his reappearance and looks ready to win tonight   Phillip Woo MATZDEN - R2 (4) Produced an eye-catching return and can go one better tonight   Trackwork Spy CLOUD NINE - R4 (6) Ended last season in good...

Plagued by controversy ranging from athlete accommodation and dining complaints to severe operational blunders including misrecorded scores and incorrect national anthems, Asian Games host Japan has faced criticism for deflecting blame onto delegations and foreign contractors rather than addressing its own shortcomings. And now some in the country are worried they could be landed with the label of hosting the “worst Asian Games ever”. On Tuesday, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games Organising Committee...