Former China table tennis teammates Zhang Jike, Liu Dingshuo engage in public online spat

Chad Schofield rates Ka Ying Rising “probably one of the best we’ve ever seen”, but the former Hong Kong-based jockey is confident his The Everest mount Tempted has what it takes to beat the world’s best galloper at Randwick on Saturday. Hong Kong champion Ka Ying Rising chases a 22nd straight victory in the world’s richest turf race, but a rain-affected track and Tempted’s hot form has boosted Schofield’s confidence. Since running second to Ka Ying Rising in The Everest (1,200m) 12 months ago,...

The 0.1 second that stood between Yvette Kong Man-yi and qualifying for the 2012 Olympics was “unbearable”, the Hong Kong swimmer writes in her newly published memoir, The Unmeasured Human. It was, the 33-year-old recalls years later, “too small to feel and too large to survive unchanged”. Fourteen years on, Kong is grateful for the heartbreaking experience, telling the South China Morning Post that “challenge is fundamental to human growth and spirit”. “I needed to find the courage to try again...

After their season was torched by “the biggest crash in SailGP history”, New Zealand’s Black Foils team are already plotting to use Hong Kong as the launch pad for a historic and redemptive 2027 season. Despite boasting the Olympic gold medal and multiple America’s Cup-winning pair of Blair Tuke and Pete Burling as crew mainstays and co-CEOs, the Kiwi boat is still waiting for its first SailGP title. The 10½-month championship features 13 race weekends, where 13 identical F50 catamarans – up to...

Hyrox has warned fans that a group calling itself the Hyrox Association of Macau is not part of the global fitness brand and has no authority to run races in the city. The rapidly growing company said it had already taken official steps to stop the upstart organisation from copying it. According to local media, the new group hosted a dinner on Tuesday in the casino hub to mark its official launch, during which it reportedly unveiled plans for an inaugural “Macau Fitness Run Challenge” at the...

Streetwise Lion City Sailors condemned Tai Po to a 1-0 AFC Champions League 2 defeat at Mong Kok Stadium on Thursday, but victorious boss Mark Jackson accused the hosts of “crossing a line” in their attempts to ruffle the Singaporean team. A husk of the side that was unbeaten at home in last season’s competition, following a summer firesale, Tai Po nevertheless ran themselves into the ground in a vain attempt to recover from the blow of Matthias Phaeton’s strike shortly after half-time. While...

Chinese referee Ma Ning shared details about his “harrowing” journey after officiating an AFC Champions League Elite fixture in Saudi Arabia on social media on Wednesday. Amid escalating tensions in the region following a recent attack on Riyadh’s international airport, the six-member Chinese officiating crew led by Ma completed their match assignment despite severe travel disruptions and uncomfortable conditions in the host city. The officials were in Riyadh for the AFC Champions League Elite...

Seven years after Covid-19 put the brakes on Indonesia’s new women’s football league, Zahra Naqiyyah will finally return to the field with “high hopes” for the women’s game in the country. Sunday’s matches in the Indonesia Women’s League will be the first since 2019 and a new chapter for women’s football in the Muslim-majority country of 290 million people. “I really believe that if Indonesia’s women’s football is properly managed, we can become a powerhouse in Asia,” Zahra said at a training...

Frankie Lor Fu-chuen is hoping last season’s Classic Cup winner Stormy Grove can pass his first test on the road to the Group One Hong Kong Mile when he tackles Monday’s Group Two Sha Tin Trophy (1,600m). The Toronado galloper soared from the back of the field to collect the second leg of last season’s Classic Series, before running a mighty race to finish third in the Hong Kong Derby (2,000m) behind Invincible Ibis. His season ended prematurely on his next start, however, as he bled from both...

A top American high school snapping up a talented Chinese teen basketball player once deemed “too short” to represent the national team has sparked debate online about the country’s rigid training and selection criteria. Zhang Yuchen, who has drawn similarities to Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, left Guangzhou for Phoenix on Wednesday to join the CIA Bella Vista’s men’s basketball team. Winning both the Chipotle High School Basketball Nationals and the EYBL Scholastic titles last...

Persistent rain in Sydney has Zac Purton more hopeful than confident in Ka Ying Rising as the champion sprinter bids to defend his crown in the Group One The Everest (1,200m) at Randwick on Saturday. Purton is concerned about Ka Ying Rising’s ability to handle a wet track, with Randwick rated a heavy 8 on Thursday after heavy rain earlier in the week and more showers on Thursday. The world’s best racehorse has only raced on an official rain-affected track once in Hong Kong, winning the 2024...

The Six Kings Slam tennis tournament originally scheduled for ⁠October has been pushed back to late December, Fifa’s esports finals have been postponed, and officials are considering whether to move the Asian Cup to 2028, after the recent ⁠attacks on Saudi Arabia. A strike on Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300, with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement claiming responsibility for the deadliest attack in the kingdom in more than a...

Mark Jackson was a good enough footballer to make 18 Premier League appearances for Leeds United; to play at Old Trafford, Goodison Park, Highbury and Anfield; and to keep the prolific Ian Wright off the scoresheet in an FA Cup victory over Arsenal. As a coach, he led Leeds’ under-18 and under-23 teams to league titles. None of that afforded Jackson a second crack at management in his native England, after his first chance with MK Dons lasted only 4½ months. Not for Jackson the mulligan that is...