Ka Ying Lightning strikes to maintain unbeaten record and give David Hall a birthday treat

David Hall has enjoyed a fine start to the season and unleashes improving sprinter Ka Ying Attack and excitement machine Ka Ying Lightning in a bid to keep the good times rolling at Sha Tin on Sunday. The Australian trainer sits seventh in the trainers’ premiership on eight winners for the season thus far, with his strike-rate of 38.5 per cent being the strongest in the city. Hall is well aware things can change very quickly in racing, but his stable is bouncing at present and he is enjoying the...

China may have unearthed another swimming sensation in 12-year-old Hu Rundong, who turned heads by winning gold, setting records and meeting first-class standards at a provincial event this week. Hu emerged as the stand-out performer in the junior swimming division at the 21st Jiangsu Provincial Games, winning five gold and four silver medals across 10 events. Competing in the boys’ 12-year-old category, the Suzhou native competed in breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle and individual medley...

Tom Ballantyne was playing a pre-season friendly for Welsh club Monmouth Town when he “got clattered” and sustained a tibia plateau fracture. “I broke my knee joint, essentially,” Ballantyne said. “I never played again”. So began a life investment in coaching that would see Ballantyne stacking supermarket shelves overnight, then spending long days on the grass. He has been employed by Cardiff City and Aston Villa, and managed in three of Australia’s six states. The Englishman was the man Jim...

The para table tennis team are quickly becoming the city’s most successful group at the current Asian Para Games at Aichi-Nagoya after taking home a few more medals on Friday. On the penultimate day of the seven-day event, Ng Mui-wui partnered Wong Ting-ting to win the women’s doubles (class 22) silver medal after the pair overcame Chinese Taipei duo Li Jing-shiuan and Lydia Li Yi-ya 3-1 in their final group match. It was Wong’s third medal from the current games after the 23-year-old also took...

Ante Milicic has left his post as coach of China’s national women’s team, the football association said on Friday, eight months before the World Cup. The 52-year-old Australian had been in charge since May 2024 and led the team to the semi-finals of the Women’s Asian Cup in March. That finish earned them a spot at next year’s World Cup in Brazil. Milicic also recently took China to fourth place at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan after losing 2-0 to North Korea in the semi-finals. “After...

Matthew Cheung rode a wave of emotion and a little bit of luck to take a three-shot lead in the Link Hong Kong Open on Friday, leaving himself 36 holes from making history. Beginning the day two strokes back, Cheung carded a sensational eight-under-par 62 to move to 14 under overall, with Caleb Surratt alone in second on 11 under after also posting a 62. Overnight leaders Anirban Lahiri and Kevin Yuan could not match their first-round fireworks, with the former’s 68 leaving him in a tie for...

Days after the World Fencing League (WFL) said it would start its 2027 season in Hong Kong, the sport’s world governing body has warned athletes and officials against taking part in unauthorised events In an official statement released on Thursday, the International Fencing Federation (FIE) said the league was not an official competition and it had not sanctioned any of its proposed tournaments. Signed by FIE secretary general Gulnora Saidova, the statement also pointed to the federation’s...

Former world No 1 Indian para swimmer Mohammad Shams Aalam Shaikh has been sent home from Japan after being accused of molesting a female hotel employee during the Asian Para Games, and faces a potential lifetime ban. According to local media reports as well as The Times of India, the 40-year-old athlete was detained by Japanese police and released after submitting a written apology, before being sent back to India on Tuesday. Official sources said the incident occurred on Monday at the Four...

The head of the Asian Football Confederation said ⁠on Friday the regional body would support Gianni Infantino’s bid for re-election as Fifa president. Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC president, had previously backed opposition to Infantino’s failed plan to sell ‌off the commercial rights to Fifa tournaments, including the World Cup, to private investors. He had joined with the presidents of Uefa and Concacaf to pen an open letter calling the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan...

There was a moment on Thursday when history looked like being made at the Link Hong Kong Open, and while forgiving greens and some generous pins meant normal service was later restored, the glimpse on offer was of a local game in rude health. For the first time since the tournament began in 1959, two Hongkongers – Isaac Lam and Matthew Cheung – briefly sat at the top of the leaderboard at six-under-par. By the end of the day they were far from alone and further down the field than they might...

Hong Kong won a gold medal at the Asian Para Games for the second day in a row after swimmer Chan Yui-lam defended her 100m butterfly (S14) crown on Thursday. Chan, 23, stormed to gold at Nagoya City General Gymnasium in one minute and 5.19 seconds to finish ahead of host swimmer Aira Kinoshita, who finished in 1:05.56. Fellow Hongkonger Lau Chiu-yee took bronze in 1:07.39. The victory for the regional and Asian Para Games record-holder added to her success earlier this week when she took home...

Alexandra Eala crashed out in the Ningbo Open last 16 on Thursday as world No 1 Elena Rybakina reached the quarter-finals on her return from injury when opponent Polina Kudermetova retired. Top seed and defending champion Rybakina was cruising 5-0 in eastern China when the world No 105 from Uzbekistan called it quits because of injury. Earlier, Philippine history-maker Eala suffered a battling straight-sets defeat to Diana Shnaider, the Russian world No 13 winning 7-5, 6-4 to book a...