Tears and a song as victorious Zheng Qinwen makes China Open history

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...

Chinese basketball fans wanting to catch a glimpse of Yang Hansen in a Portland Trail Blazers uniform might get their wish next year, with the centre’s side reportedly one of the two teams tipped to play in the 2027 NBA China Games in Macau. The Trail Blazers, who opened their pre-season with a 123-118 win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, have Chinese centre Yang, all-star point guard Damian Lillard, and former rookie of the year Ja Morant on their roster. A well-placed source told...

Mercedes driver George Russell said he will need to throw everything he can at stopping, or even just delaying, Kimi Antonelli’s march to the Formula 1 title – but that will not be easy from the back of the grid at the Singapore Grand Prix. Russell, who won last year’s race in ‌Singapore, ⁠was fastest in ⁠the only practice session on Friday. With the Marina Bay Street Circuit hosting a ⁠sprint this year on Saturday, drivers had just one practice session available – albeit in ‌the daylight – to...

Japan’s top volleyball competition will stage regular-season matches overseas for the first time this weekend, in a strategic push to transform itself into an Asian league. The SV League will host women’s matches on Saturday and Sunday in Bangkok, and plans to take men’s games there in January. Launched in October 2024 as the successor to the former V League, the revamped professional competition features 10 men’s teams and 14 women’s teams competing in a regular-season and playoff...

Coleman Wong Chak-lam’s historic men’s singles gold at the Asian Games had an impact far beyond earning him a spot at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics; it also secured tennis’ elite status in Hong Kong for another four years. Wong beat Wu Yibing of China in straight sets in the final at the Higashiyama Park Tennis Centre in Nagoya, becoming his city’s first singles winner at the continental Games. Bronze for Eudice Chong and Cody Wong Hong-yi in the women’s doubles made it the most successful Games...

Chinese table tennis authorities have called in police and announced plans for venue blacklists as they crack down on extreme fan behaviour, after men’s head coach Wang Hao was swarmed and verbally abused by a crowd of extreme fans at the WTT China Smash. The crackdown coincides with mounting public scrutiny over team management and athlete overwork, after world No 1 Sun Yingsha suffered a shock early exit while competing with a fever on Wednesday night. The off-court turmoil unfolded on Tuesday...

Tennis star Coleman Wong Chak-lam said he longed for nothing more than some decent rest at home and eating with friends after he returned to Hong Kong from a hectic two weeks involving three different cities. Off the back of a quarter-final appearance at the Hangzhou Open, Wong won five matches on the trot to win Asian Games gold in Nagoya, before breaking into the Shanghai Masters main draw following back-to-back wins in the qualifiers. Following his loss to Quentin Halys of France in straight...