Sophie Summers Is Winning Hearts With 'Pleasure in the Madness'

Joyful Joy needs to boost his low rating to leap into Classic Mile calculations, but Mark Newnham is concerned a lack of speed in Saturday’s Class Three Panasonic System Kitchen Handicap (1,600m) at Sha Tin could thwart his promising galloper. Joyful Joy boasts a rating of only 67 and with Newnham mindful of the plethora of highly rated four-year-old imports in the system this season, the impressive two-time winner needs to lift his figure to be a Classic Mile contender on January 31. The son of...

Hong Kong’s athletes were praised on Friday for their “strength and perseverance” at a ceremony honouring the delegation’s Asian Para Games performance in Japan. The city’s 80-strong squad, competing across 10 sports, brought back 41 medals from last month’s multi-sport event in Nagoya, including three gold, 14 silver and 24 bronze. Highlights included a boccia team that produced their best performance at a regional Games, securing two gold, three silver and three bronze, and a dominant display...

It is all systems go to the Group Two Jockey Club Sprint (1,200m) on November 22 for Ka Ying Rising after he breezed through a key barrier trial at Sha Tin on Friday, much to the delight of his trainer David Hayes. In his first run out since his winning streak ended at 21 with a gritty second in last month’s Group One The Everest (1,200m) at Randwick, the star sprinter cruised to a two-length victory over Helios Express, clocking 1:08.80 over 1,200m on the dirt. “I was very happy with him, he...

Australian hockey great Alyson Annan has made the “very difficult decision” to step down as head coach of the Chinese women’s national team – just weeks after being named the best in the business. Annan said she needed time to recover and rejuvenate after she reached a point of “physical and mental exhaustion”, following 11 years in elite international coaching. The decorated former player started her role in China in May 2022 and previously led the Netherlands women’s team as head coach from...

French showjumping legend Roger-Yves Bost has acknowledged that current riders must work harder and perform better than past generations just to secure a foothold at the elite level. With more than half a century in the saddle and still competing at the sport’s highest level, Bost knows better than most about the demands of equestrian. The winner of the Longines Grand Prix in Hong Kong earlier this year and a 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist, Bost visited Beas River Equestrian Centre on Sunday to...

Wang Junjie set a single-game scoring record for a Chinese player in the top tier of US college basketball after scoring 28 points for the University of Massachusetts on Thursday. Competing in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Wang accounted for nearly 40 per cent of his team’s points in the comeback 72-62 win over UMass Lowell. The NCAA oversees 90 championships across 24 sports spanning three tiers, Divisions I, II and III, with basketball and American football...

Much like the looming heavyweight clash between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, the mooted coming together of Mauricio Pochettino and Manchester United feels like it is happening a decade too late. Had he taken over at the peak of his powers in 2016 or 2018, following the respective exits of Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho, Pochettino would have inherited malfunctioning teams, but teams flirting with the Premier League’s top end, nonetheless. Should he be confirmed as Old Trafford boss this...

A former Chinese national swimming champion who now runs a street food stall has said there is no shame in sportspeople returning to normal life. Yang Fan, who once trained with the national squad, attracted attention on social media for selling traditional snacks on a street in Tianjin alongside her husband, who is also a retired athlete. “Looking at how I appear now, you would never imagine I used to be a national champion,” Yang said in one of her videos. “Right now, I am running a stall in...

Manchester United sacked manager Michael Carrick on Thursday after their worst start to a Premier League campaign, with USA boss Mauricio Pochettino widely expected to replace him. Former United midfielder Carrick led the team to an impressive third-place finish last season but they have taken just eight points from 10 games in the current campaign and are mired in the relegation zone. “Manchester United can confirm that Michael Carrick has departed his role as men’s first-team head coach,” the...

Riding on the crest of a wave with six wins so far this month, Alexis Badel is confident Solid State can capitalise on a light weight when he makes his Class Two debut in Saturday’s Panasonic Cup (1,200m) at Sha Tin. Badel’s confidence is sky high after booting home a treble at Happy Valley on Wednesday night and the Frenchman has five rides at the Saturday fixture. Solid State drops 19lb on his last-start second to Bunta Baby at Sha Tin under Zac Purton, who cannot make the Frankie Lor Fu-chuen...

Local sports chiefs have defended their decision to include two Russian club teams in next month’s Hong Kong International Lacrosse Sixes. Moscow Lacrosse Club and Phoenix Moscow will compete in the men’s and women’s events in the city for the first time, despite the sport’s world governing body suspending Russian teams, athletes and officials in World Lacrosse events and related qualifiers indefinitely in March 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine. Hong Kong has regularly hosted tournaments...

Son Heung-min and four other South Korean players said Thursday they had put their differences aside after reports of bitter internal divisions at the heart of the national team. South Korean football has been mired in controversy since their hugely disappointing exit in the group stage of the World Cup, after which unpopular coach Hong Myung-bo quit. In the fallout, reports emerged in local media of a split involving the 34-year-old skipper Son and some of the other players, including Bayern...