Is the early season Happy Valley bias a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ as the debate rages on

Cinemas across China will throw open their doors for a special showing on Sunday, but it isn’t the latest blockbuster fans are flocking to see – it’s tennis star Zheng Qinwen. The Olympic champion has finally broken her country’s China Open curse, and will be the first home player to compete in a singles final, men’s or women’s, since Chen Li lost to Chinese Taipei’s Wang Shi-ting in 1996. With the National Tennis Centre in Beijing selling out, cinemas across the mainland have opted to show the...

A new deal signed by NBA China and Shanghai Jiushi will see the league help the Chinese Basketball Association side with the development of its players, coaches and front office. The collaboration with the reigning CBA champions is the first of its kind, and comes as the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets clash in two pre-season friendlies in Macau. According to a statement released by the NBA, the agreement will cover four key areas: elite player development, competition opportunities, coach...

Manchester City have a puncher’s chance of successfully contesting the ruling that they were guilty of all charges relating to flagrant breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, but should their argument fall flat, the 10-time English champions can expect to be clobbered with swingeing penalties. Those are the views of Luca Ferrari and Daniel Gore, specialists in sports and litigation law, respectively, after City were found guilty by a three-person independent commission of 80 charges...

A resurgent Zheng Qinwen charged into the China Open final on Saturday, beating Elise Mertens 7-5, 6-2, and will play Mirra Andreeva for the title at her home tournament. It is another step in the Olympic gold medallist’s injury comeback, following a gritty showing at last month’s US Open, where she reached the quarter-finals. Zheng, a former world No 4, had struggled with her form since needing elbow surgery in 2025 and is a wild-card entry in Beijing. “I had a great performance tonight,” said...

Jay Rooney TITAN PEGASUS - R10 (2) Trialled like a horse ready to strike first up and has drawn well   Owen Goulding DRAGON SKY FORCE - R6 (3) Promising debut and has since won a trial, step up in trip will suit   Paul Lally TITAN PEGASUS - R10 (2) Group Three winner in Australia who has trialled well ahead of his return   Phillip Woo HAPPY INDEX - R9 (3) Looks fresh and ready from the trials and is drawn ideally to strike   Trackwork Spy CELESTIAL HERO - R10 (9) Step up in trip looks ideal...

Singapore’s Formula 1 circuit needs redesigning and lacks entertainment value for a sprint race, Saturday’s sprint winner Max Verstappen and runner-up Lewis Hamilton said after the 20-lap race involved little overtaking. Rain delayed the start of the inaugural sprint at the ‌Marina Bay Street Circuit, and with overtaking almost impossible, the only drama came in the form of collisions and a record nine retirements. “I think we shouldn’t host a sprint where you can’t pass,” Red Bull’s pole sitter...

Jamie Richards still has Classic Series aspirations for Cool Boy as the promising galloper gets his campaign up and running in the Class Three San Tin Handicap (1,200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. The Per Incanto galloper built on an encouraging debut last November by completing a brilliant 1,200m hat-trick, which culminated in a dominant performance where he travelled all over his rivals from the back of the field. Three runs afterwards saw him draw nightmare draws in stalls 10, 13 and 14...

Derek Leung Ka-chun has made a rapid start to the season in tandem with in-form trainer Cody Mo Wai-kit and is looking to continue that strong partnership with a pair of strong chances at Sha Tin on Sunday. Leung has stormed to nine winners after nine meetings, posting a 15 per cent strike rate and only sitting behind champion jockey Zac Purton in the jockeys’ premiership. Five of those winners have come for Mo and a further two have been in partnership with Manfred Man Ka-leung, who sits atop...

The founder of the Esports Association of Hong Kong (ESAHK), Erik Yeung, is hoping a perfect storm of changing perceptions, Asian Games success and a wider talent pool can help continue the growth of the gaming scene in Hong Kong. Competitive gaming has been a huge growth market in Asia and became an official medal event at the Asian Games in 2023, and was back again in Japan last month. China has dominated proceedings, winning seven gold medals across the two Games. Three of those came at this...

Dallas Mavericks fans will have to wait just a little bit longer to see Kyrie Irving in their team’s colours for the first time in almost two years, after he sat out Friday’s 135-117 pre-season loss to the Houston Rockets in Macau. Even without the flashy point guard running things, however, the two Texas clubs still put on a show for the thousands that packed into The Venetian Arena for the second year of NBA China Games. When the 34-year-old does finally return after an injury break that began...

Basketball fans draped in the red of Houston and blue of Dallas flooded into The Venetian Macau on Friday ahead of the first of this year’s NBA China Games. The exhibition between the Rockets and Mavericks forms the centrepiece of a five-day basketball festival that tipped off on Wednesday and will conclude with a second match between the two on Sunday. Crowds gathered hours in advance of the opening tip-off, and lengthy queues snaked past the prominent NBA House entrance archway along the...

Home-grown hero Zheng Qinwen pulled out some of her best tennis to beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-6 at the China Open on Friday and storm into the semi-finals. Zheng, a wild-card entry in Beijing, finally notched her first straight-sets win of this year’s tournament, having needed more than 10 hours on court to get to the quarter-final. The world No 54 sent the crowd roaring as she punched winners down the line, though the seventh-ranked Svitolina came back fighting to force a second-set...