Japanese challenger Tashima rates chances of unseating Fifa head Infantino at 20%-30%

Jay Rooney HOT DELIGHT - R11 (4) Can stake his claim as the city's best four-year-old with a win here   Owen Goulding MR INCREDIBLE - R11 (14) No weight to carry from an improved draw and can get back on winning track   Paul Lally FIT FOR BEAUTY - R9 (5) Impressed in a recent trial and has won third up in the past   Phillip Woo TITAN PEGASUS - R7 (3) Resumed fifth with excuses and can secure a maiden local win here   Trackwork Spy HOT DELIGHT - R11 (4) Brave in defeat on return after a wide run...

He has scored in the Premier League, Champions League and La Liga, and now David Silva can boast about the day he netted in the Hong Kong Premier League. Making his debut for Supreme Sha Tin in their 1-1 draw against BC Rangers on Saturday, World Cup winner Silva rolled home a 56th-minute penalty in front of 4,593 supporters – a first sell-out for Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground in its 20-month history. Yakubu Nassam Ibrahim finished precisely across Supreme goalkeeper Bryan Lau Wai-hon 10 minutes...

David Eustace is looking forward to teaming up with fellow Briton Saffie Osborne when Silvery Breeze bids for a maiden Group success in the Group Three Sa Sa Ladies’ Purse (1,800m) at Sha Tin on Sunday. Third in the trainers’ championship on 12 wins, the in-form handler has already tasted Group Two and Group Three glory this season, and Silvery Breeze is another he has feature race aspirations with. The Dundeel galloper had some useful form to cap off last season, winning a pair of races at...

Bailee Brown said she retained her passion for “brutal and unforgiving” triathlon, but there were “things to sort out” after the Hongkonger’s subpar home World Triathlon Cup performance on Saturday. Managing a stress fracture of her left calf bone, Brown paid heavily for missing her bike in transition following the swim, losing touch with the main pack and coming home 50th in 59 minutes and 34 seconds. The reliably tenacious Hilda Choi Yan-yin placed 37th in 58:06, with Cade Wright 39th in...

A mouth-watering clash between Hong Kong’s two most exciting four-year-olds looms as the highlight of Sunday’s Sha Tin undercard in what will serve as a preview of January’s Classic Mile. Hot Delight and Mr Incredible will square off for the first time in the Class Two Santa Monica Handicap (1,400m), with connections of the rising stars predicting improvement second up after their seconds on return. Facing his first test at 1,400m, Francis Lui Kin-wai’s Hot Delight overcame a wide run without...

Former opener Usman Khawaja claimed on Saturday that the entire Australian team knew about the 2018 “Sandpapergate” scandal in Cape Town and said they also employed the tactic during the previous Test at Port Elizabeth. Captain Steve Smith, his deputy David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were sent home in disgrace and found by a Cricket Australia (CA) investigation to be the only three players with prior knowledge of the ball-tampering plot. Smith was banned for a year and sacked as skipper, Warner...

When Emeric Payer plunged into the pitch-black waters of Victoria Harbour at 4am on Monday, his coaches’ old jokes about his endurance were still fresh in his mind. A former competitive pool sprinter in the 50-metre freestyle, the 21-year-old was known to fade minutes into longer distance swimming events. But this changed when he completed a solo, unassisted 45-kilometre circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island in the record time of 10 hours, 22 minutes and 59 seconds. The Hong Kong-French swimmer...

Alexandra Shubladze’s mother and coach, Oksana, was overcome with emotion courtside after her daughter beat Sorana Cirstea into retirement on Friday to reach the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open semi-finals. Competing in a main WTA 250 draw for the first time, Shubladze, whose progress was stalled by a torn anterior cruciate ligament two years ago, blew away Cirstea, the shell-shocked No 1 seed, 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 27 minutes. Now, having achieved one “childhood dream” in Hong Kong when she...

Andrew Wright fears that leading triathletes could desert the sport to compete in “simpler and easier” Hyrox, which this week inched closer to Olympic recognition. Hong Kong head coach Wright, whose team are set for a World Cup leg on Central Harbourfront this weekend, did not, however, share the concerns of triathletes who have voiced concerns over Hyrox potentially ousting their sport from the Games programme, after it announced a strategic partnership with World Triathlon. Max Stapley, Great...

Hong Kong tennis chief Michael Cheng Ming-git revealed plans to improve the skills of young players by sending them overseas to a training centre in Europe. Teenage players who were on the professional tennis path would be expected to spend several years playing at a higher level outside Hong Kong in Spain because “that is the only way up” in the game, according to Cheng. Spain was chosen as the location for the training centre because of its competitive environment and track record of producing...

David Silva said he would “not close the door” on the possibility of repeating his headline-grabbing guest appearance for Supreme Sha Tin this weekend, as the club’s ambitious owner acknowledged he would gladly keep doling out bumper pay cheques to keep the World Cup winner on board. Still, Jim Wong Chi-chuen, who has granted Silva a “seven-figure” Hong Kong dollar payday to play against BC Rangers at a sold-out Kai Tak Youth Sports Ground on Saturday, said that for the 40-year-old to commit...

Cristiano Ronaldo’s glorious Portugal career ultimately ended in acrimony. What a contrast to his great rival Lionel Messi, who also retired from international football this year, but only after leading Argentina to back-to-back World Cup finals. As has been the case throughout their record-breaking careers, it is impossible not to compare the two greatest players of their generation and, for many, the greatest of all time. While Ronaldo’s video message to announce his retirement on Thursday was...