I Dig Sports

Hadleigh Parkes column: Singing with Bryn Terfel and inspiring baby names

Published in Rugby

Friday, 30 August 2019 03:26

In his latest BBC Sport column, Wales centre Hadleigh Parkes explains why the squad have been taking singing lessons from an operatic superstar - and how he'll discover if he's been selected in Wales World Cup squad on Sunday.

Whenever Wales travel for big tournaments or tours we've got a tradition of singing a Welsh song as a squad, and this year we've brought the big guns in.

We'll be singing 'Calon Lan' and 'Lawr ar Lan y Mor' at the World Cup in Japan so, to help us get in tune, we've enlisted the help of world-renowned opera singer Sir Bryn Terfel.

Rhys Patchell, Alun Wyn Jones and Rob Evans are our choir leaders, so we've had a few practice sessions and this week it's certainly gone up a level since Sir Bryn has got involved!

I'm a bit tone-deaf and, listening to the others, it sounds like a lot of us are. But what we lack in tunefulness we make up for with enthusiasm.

It's good fun and the boys enjoy it. In the practices so far, Bradley Davies has really shone through and Leigh Halfpenny and Ken Owens back themselves.

It was Rhys Patchell who taught me how to sing the national anthem and Patch has been showing Sir Bryn around our base at the Vale of Glamorgan Resort. He'll be at our team meeting and watching training, so it will be awesome to have him around.

The wait for World Cup selection

It's such a big day on Sunday.

Players will be by their phones, watching TV, waiting to find out if they've been selected in the final 31-man World Cup squad.

Because it's an early kick-off against Ireland on Saturday, players involved will come back to the Vale and then have the option of staying here or going home to their families.

Personally, I've got a lot of family over so we'll go out for dinner somewhere, relax, take our minds off it and try to get some sleep!

There are four different options when it comes to finding out whether or not you've been chosen in the squad. You can find out live - watching online or on TV - or by email, text or phone call.

I was going to have it on email because that's how I've found out everything else, like finding out if I've been in previous Wales squads.

But this time I've decided to find out live.

I'm not sure why. I guess you're going to find out one way or another anyway, whether it's five minutes before or live, it doesn't make much difference.

If selected, it would be quite cool to be watching it live online or on TV.

Either way, if you're not involved, you get a phone call from the coaches a couple of hours later, which I think is really important.

Turkish heat to prepare for Ireland

Whatever happens on Sunday, hopefully we'll be celebrating a good win over Ireland.

The last time we played them at the Principality Stadium, we certainly got stuck into them and dominated them.

They're going to be coming here with a point to prove, so it's going to be a huge weekend.

The game is a big opportunity for the boys involved for us.

I won't be involved on Saturday but it won't be a case of feet up. You actually do a lot more fitness, a couple of extra gym sessions, and you also have to prepare the boys as best you can because they do the same when you're playing.

We've not long got back from Turkey, where we've been for a training camp, putting our bodies under heat stress. There were some pretty warm days out there!

We'd get up, train in the morning, have a break when it was too hot in the middle of the day and then train again in the afternoon.

You could definitely feel it - just walking out of the door of the hotel, the heat would hit you.

It was good, though. The boys got stuck in and hopefully that sets us up well for this last part of our preparations for the World Cup.

Some of us have been in camp now for 12 weeks and it's absolutely flown by. It's been enjoyable and it's been tough.

There's such a big carrot at the end of it, you want to train as hard as you can and play as well as you can because it would be an amazing experience to get on that plane and travel to Japan.

The boys want to do really well out there so, for the 31 who get to go, it's a very exciting time.

Inspiring baby names

Back in June, a few of us went to New Zealand for Gareth Anscombe's wedding and we'd been out one day playing golf on the west coast, not far from Auckland.

We went into town in the evening and, for those who know the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland, there are a couple of Irish pubs there and there's one which is always busy - whatever night of the week it is - and that's Danny Doolan's.

We ended up in there for a bit of live music and this guy comes up to me, a Welsh farmer called Marc Lloyd Jones who lives in New Zealand and knows my cousins, who are also farmers.

Marc's wife Nia Wyn was pregnant and I'm not on Twitter but someone pointed out to me that there was a photo of Marc and me at Danny Doolan's, and they'd named their baby after me.

It's a slightly different spelling, a Welsh spelling, Hadli, which is nice. Hopefully it's all going well for them and the baby's sleeping well!

Hadleigh Parkes was speaking to BBC Sport Wales' Dafydd Pritchard.

Tagged under

Rain Stops American Ethanol Mods

Published in Racing

Friday, 30 August 2019 03:00

LAKE ODESSA, Mich. — Rain 24 laps into the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series feature Thursday night, forced postponement of the American Ethanol Modified Tour Presented by Allstar Performance feature at I-96 Speedway.

Officials with the AEmods and I-96 Speedway are investigating a potential reschedule date. The next scheduled event for the AEmods is Friday, Sept. 13 from Gas City I-69 Speedway, and Saturday, Sept. 14 from Hartford Speedway with the American Ethanol Late Model Tour.

Tagged under

Europa League draw: Man Utd's travel nightmare

Published in Soccer

Friday, 30 August 2019 01:30

Manchester United face a gruelling Europa League group campaign with trips to Astana and Partizan Belgrade, while last season's runners-up Arsenal will face Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side, who finished sixth last season in a disappointing Premier League campaign that included Jose Mourinho's sacking in December, have a tough schedule in Europe's secondary competition.

They face Astana, Partizan Belgrade and AZ Alkmaar in Group L, while Arsenal are in Group F and face Frankfurt, Standard Liege and Vitoria.

United, who won the competition in 2017, are now looking at travelling to Kazakhstan and Serbia as well as the Netherlands. Arsenal, meanwhile, will face shorter journeys to Germany, Belgium and Portugal.

Elsewhere, Celtic will come up against Cluj, who knocked them out in this season's Champions League qualifiers, as well as Lazio with Roma taking on Borussia Monchengladbach. Debutants Wolves have been drawn alongside Portuguese side Braga.

Record five-time winners Sevilla will face APOEL, Qarabag and Dudelange.

The 2020 Europa League final will take place on May 27 in the Polish city of Gdansk.

Full draw

Group A: Sevilla, APOEL, Qarabag, Dudelange

Group B: Dynamo Kiev, Kobenhavn, Malmo, Lugano

Group C: Basel, Krasnodar, Getafe, Trabzonspor

Group D: Sporting CP, PSV, Rosenborg, LASK

Group E: Lazio, Celtic, Rennes, Cluj

Group F: Arsenal, Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege, Vitoria

Group G: Porto, Young Boys, Feyenoord, Rangers

Group H: CSKA Moscow, Ludogorets, Espanyol, Ferencvaros

Group I: Wolfsburg, Gent, St. Etienne, Olexandriya

Group J: Roma, Borussia Monchengladbach, Istanbul Basaksehir, Wolfsburg

Group K: Besiktas, Braga, Wolves, Slovan Bratislava

Group L: Manchester United, Astana, Partizan Belgrade, AZ Alkmaar

Tagged under

'Exceptional work ethic' sets new Bengal captain Abhimanyu Easwaran apart

Published in Cricket

Friday, 30 August 2019 05:16

Abhimanyu Easwaran's career graph continues to rise. Already a regular opener with India A who is knocking on the doors of the national team, the 23-year-old Bengal player has now been handed the captaincy of the state team for the 2019-20 season across formats. It's a move that has made both Arun Lal, the team mentor, and Manoj Tiwary, the man he replaced, happy and excited.

"He hasn't got runs on the West Indies tour [by India A] and in the Duleep Trophy, but he is a terrific batsman, very, very talented, and he has exceptional work ethic," Lal told ESPNcricinfo. "He is young, and the best part about him is his work ethic, which is brilliant. He is very fit, and is always working hard to become fitter and a better cricketer.

"I like him very much; he has been living alone in Calcutta, away from his family, for a while now, but it hasn't affected his game at all. It's quite remarkable. I also like that he is very respectful towards his seniors and towards his team-mates. I think it's a good call."

ALSO READ: Abhimanyu Easwaran's pragmatism strengthens cricketing passion

Like Lal, Tiwary too has big hopes from Abhimanyu, who has risen to become one of their batting mainstays. Except for his debut season in 2013-14, when he averaged a measly 17.62, Abhimanyu has consistently been among the runs, often averaging in the high 40s, with 12 centuries and 17 half-centuries.

"I will be very disappointed if he doesn't play for India," Tiwary said. "He's worked hard to get here. I said it two years ago that he's India material. He's nearly there now, and hopefully he will wear that cap soon.

"I only hope he is persisted with and is given a decent run, and shouldn't be judged on the basis of a few low scores. He has a good technique and has the ability to leave balls. Once set, his scoring improves and he's a different player."

The captaincy decision was made formal on Friday at a Cricket Association of Bengal meeting, where the selectors initially proposed a split-captaincy model with Abhimanyu as four-day captain and Tiwary as the limited-overs leader. Tiwary, however, felt the new captain "needed to given space" to make a difference.

"While the trophy may not be there, I'm happy to have handled the transition phase well. I can be at peace with myself, because I did the job with utmost sincerity and commitment" Manoj Tiwary

"The selectors proposed a split-captaincy model, but I insisted if they are thinking of a leadership change, it should be uniform," Tiwary said. "That way the new captain gets a free hand to implement certain plans he may have in mind. Having different captains could only create some confusion, so I told them if this is what they're thinking, they should hand over the captaincy across formats."

On the change, Lal suggested that "a captain should in any case be changed every three-four years", partly for the team to move forward and partly because "the captain has contributed all he can contribute".

As for Tiwary, he wanted his successor to not let captaincy become a bugbear.

"Abhimanyu is level-headed, approaches situations in a calm manner. As a senior player, my only advice to him will be to soak it all in and not get too caught up in the job, because you're not just thinking for yourself but also the team," Tiwary said. "He's at a stage in his career where he's also broken into the India A ranks and is in national contention. Sometimes, when you're there, you tend to lose the enjoyment factor and take everything a tad too seriously.

"I'm always around as a senior player to help him out. He will be his own man, but should he need any support, as a senior, I will be around to help him."

Tiwary looked back at his stint with pride, despite Bengal failing to win any silverware under him. While their search for a Ranji Trophy since 1989-90 continues, the side made the semi-finals two seasons ago, and have consistently been in the reckoning for the knockouts. Tiwary hoped the "fruits of labour" would bear fruit soon.

"I will look back at my time as captain fondly. Yes, we couldn't win the big Ranji Trophy, but we had a lot of improvements. A number of players we backed three or four years ago are coming through," he said. "While the trophy may not be there, I'm happy to have handled the transition phase well. I can be at peace with myself, because I did the job with utmost sincerity and commitment."

With inputs from Shamya Dasgupta

Tagged under

Bangladesh drop Mustafizur for Afghanistan Test

Published in Cricket

Friday, 30 August 2019 05:46

Bangladesh have left out Mustafizur Rahman from the 15-man squad that will take on Afghanistan in the one-off Test in Chattogram starting next Thursday. Apart from Mustafizur, Tamim Iqbal and Khaled Ahmed were also missing from the squad; Tamim was granted leave by the BCB earlier this month for recovery while Khaled recently underwent a knee surgery.

Compared to the squad that last played Tests in March this year against New Zealand, Bangladesh brought back captain Shakib Al Hasan, Taskin Ahmed and Mosaddek Hossain. Shakib and Taskin were originally in that squad but had pulled out due to last-minute injuries. Mosaddek returned to the longer version after 18 months, having last played a Test against Sri Lanka in February last year.

Mosaddek becomes another spin-bowling option in a squad heavy with four frontline spinners, like their last home Test series against Afghanistan. They also retained pace bowlers Abu Jayed and Ebadat Hossain, who somewhat impressed in New Zealand, along with Taskin, who had been included in the New Zealand tour earlier in the year following a decent BPL campaign.

Taskin last played a first-class match in December last year, and his last Test in October 2017, in South Africa. Jayed bowled well in New Zealand without much luck while Ebadat showed signs of good pace too.

But there's some concern in the top order as the selectors didn't pick an opener in place of Tamim. Soumya Sarkar is likely to open with Shadman Islam, although he batted in the middle order in New Zealand.

Squad for one-off Test: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Soumya Sarkar, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Liton Das, Mahmudullah, Mohammad Mithun, Mosaddek Hossain, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Abu Jayed, Taskin Ahmed, Ebadat Hossain

Tagged under

ZEN-NOH announced Title Sponsor of 2019 ITTF Team World Cup in Tokyo

Published in Table Tennis

Friday, 30 August 2019 02:07

ZEN-NOH, otherwise known as the National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations, is headquartered in Japan and one of the world’s largest agricultural cooperatives in terms of trading volume. At the 2019 ITTF Team World Cup, ZEN-NOH has exclusivity to the Food & Beverage category.

ZEN-NOH has already built a strong track record in the sport of table tennis, including having been Title Sponsor of the 2014 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Tokyo.

Now as Title Sponsor of the 2019 ITTF Team World Cup, ZEN-NOH will be partnering one of the most prestigious international table tennis events, held every two years, in which the best 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams in the world will lock horns in search of some of the sport’s most highly coveted silverware.

Japan hosted the very first ITTF Team World Cup event in 1990 in the city of Chiba. Twenty-nine years later, the tournament returns to Japanese shores at a crucial moment in the nation’s sporting history. Indeed, the 2019 ITTF Team World Cup serves as a test event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“We are delighted that ZEN-NOH returns as Title Sponsor of a major ITTF event in Japan. We look forward to working with the Japan Table Tennis Association (JTTA) and ZEN-NOH to present an exciting and memorable Team World Cup, paving the way to more extensive cooperation in the future at further ITTF events globally.” – Kimberly Koh – ITTF Head of Sponsorship

“We at ZEN-NOH have had a great opportunity in the past to support ITTF events and, through that experience, we are proud to be Title Sponsor of the 2019 Team World Cup. We look forward to welcoming people from around the world with our Japanese food!” – Jinde Genichi, then ZEN-NOH President & CEO, Board of Directors

“As you all may know, since the beginning of this year, both male and female Japanese players have been making great progress around the world. Table Tennis is a hugely popular sport throughout Japan and I look forward to seeing our players putting in proud performances and our fans providing strong support for the success of this event.” – Sadayoshi Fujishige, JTTA President

Tagged under

Awesome August: Expect the unexpected!

Published in Table Tennis

Friday, 30 August 2019 03:28

Four weeks of pure entertainment have surely spoiled us all in August 2019. Whether it were the athletes coming up with insane shots or the onset of a new trend in Smash TTX, let’s relive the top moments from last month!

Home benefits in Africa

Kicking us off were reigning champions Egyptian duo Omar Assar and Dina Meshref, who successfully retained their titles in an all-round impressive showing at the 2019 ITTF Africa Cup on Monday 5^thAugust in Lagos, Nigeria. Both athletes qualified for the respective Men’s and Women’s World Cup tournaments to be held later in the year in Chengdu, China.

The no.3 seed Assar was imperious as he accounted for the Nigerian favourite and top seed Quadri Aruna in the semi-final (11-6, 11-8, 3-11, 11-7, 11-3) before defeating Ahmed Saleh in a seven game thriller (10-12, 11-3, 11-6, 12-14, 11-3, 9-11, 11-3).

“It was a very tough tournament for me, which started with a knee injury, then I recovered on the second day. I am very happy with this victory and now I will keep training hard as I try to reach another goal in the German league, seizing the next challenge.” Omar Assar

For Meshref, it was a family affair as she beat her cousin, Yousra Helmy in straight games (11-9, 11-9, 11-1, 11-8) to claim her seventh title (!), meaning she will make her sixth consecutive appearance at the Women’s World Cup in November!

But this was not the end of the show in Africa – as the ITTF Challenge Plus Nigeria Open had some surprises for us as well.

Aruna came back from losing out in the Africa Cup to retain his Nigeria Open title on home soil, while Russian Polina Mikhailova completed a double win – securing both the women’s singles and doubles titles with partner Yana Noskova.

Bulgarian party for Asians

Moving to the middle of the month, there was no sign of relaxation from the players as the 2019 ITTF World Tour returned with the Asarel Bulgaria Open.

At 16 years of age, Japan’s fan favourite Tomokazu Harimoto established himself as a serious force on the international table tennis stage, by winning the Bulgaria Open in fine fashion. He defeated China’s Zhao Zihao 4-1 (11-6, 12-14, 11-5, 13-11, 13-15, 11-4) to secure the men’s singles gold medal.

Meanwhile, upcoming athlete Chen Xingtong overcame He Zhuojia (11-4, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-4) in an all-Chinese women’s singles final. It was particularly exciting for Chen given her semi-final scalp of Japan’s Mima Ito, the no.2 seed.

Success for Chen in Bulgaria meant she had secured her fourth career ITTF World Tour women’s singles title. However, as we found out later in August, that number would change very soon.

These results wrapped up an exciting week in eastern Europe, which also produced a first ever international title for Japan’s mixed doubles pair Mima Ito and Jun Mizutani. They defeated China’s Ma Te and Wu Yang 3-1 (11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-9) after a stunning show of pace and poise in the final.

It turned out to be a perfect week for our Asian athletes, as Korea Republic’s Jeoung Youngsik and Lee Sangsu won the men’s doubles title, while China’s Gu Yuting and Mu Zi were crowned women’s doubles champions.

There was also a very important victory for the environment, as the Bulgaria Open organisers had decided, instead of the plastic bottles that have been used during the previous editions of the tournament, this time around there would be aluminum bottles provided to all accredited personnel – starting, of course, with the players!

“We firmly believe that our approach will benefit everyone and most importantly the planet that we live on. Furthermore, instead of the typical plastic cups for water and coffee, we are going to use 100 percent recyclable cardboard cups.” Aneliya Karova

Boredom? Czech yourself!

It had been almost nearly three years last week since each of the four singles players to reach an ITTF World Tour final had hailed from four different associations. Following the example set by exciting tournaments that preceded it, the Czech Open in Olomouc had no plans on letting the fun stop.

Concluding on Sunday 25th August, we saw four finalists in men’s and women’s singles flying colours of four different flags. It was a testament to class and competition of this sport across the globe – as well as a signal of truly inspiring times ahead.

Chen Xingtong represented China while playing Japan’s Miu Hirano for the women’s title. This was her second final – and second title – in two weeks, in a moment when she clearly stepped up on to the grand stage of world class athletes.

From Chinese Taipei, talented 18-year-old Lin Yun-Ju faced off with German legend Dimitrij Ovtcharov.

Speaking of Ovtcharov, it was a final he reached after a rather important prior match. At the ages of 30 and 27, both Ovtcharov and Patrick Franziska – his semi-final opponent – have the earned the right to be called veterans of the sport at which they highly excel. It speaks to the standards of quality in German athletes that these two are currently engaged in a battle for the final men’s singles spot at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Considering Ovtcharov’s 4-0 win over Franziska at the 2019 ITTF World Tour Czech Open, one would suggest he has the upper hand now, but in table tennis you never know how this “Streit” fight will end.

Coming back to the winners in Olomouc, the teenager Lin Yun-Ju from Chinese Taipei celebrated his debut gold medal at an ITTF World Tour men’s singles event, when he defeated former world no.1 Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the final (11-9, 11-5, 4-11, 11-5, 11-9).

Judging by how the 18-year-old star has played throughout 2019, this could well be his first of many singles successes on international table tennis’ premier event series. This year, Lin has already claimed consecutive mixed doubles titles at the China and Hong Kong Opens, a triple crown (men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles titles) at the Challenge Plus Oman Open, and further tasted individual glory at the T2 Diamond Malaysia event in Johor Bahru.

Concluding August with an eye for the future

As we prepared to wrap up August, there was a third tournament in the African continent for the month. At the 2019 African Games concluding today, Egypt secured more success as they qualified for Men’s and Women’s Team events for the Olympic Games next year. Nigeria’s Omotayo Olajide won the men’s singles title on debut and Dina Meshref retained her women’s singles title, becoming the first Egyptian woman to win two in a row.

Across the ocean, the Para Pan American Games in Lima, Peru resulted in a further 15 players – 10 men and 5 women – qualifying for Tokyo 2020.

After such a roller-coaster of a month, we all needed a place to just relax and have a good time. It was in that spirit that more than 4,200 people spent Saturday 24th August basking in the sunshine at one incredible ping pong party in Denver, Colorado, for the first ever Table Tennis X (TTX) event, ‘Smash Street by TTX.‘

TTX is an action-packed rendition of table tennis, which puts a fun new spin on the sport. Whether you came to compete, or just to play some casual pong with your friends, Smash Street was an ace when it comes to fun.

What’s next?

September’s on the horizon for us and we at the ITTF have an even more exciting month ahead for you all! Out of the major events, Liebherr 2019 ITTF-European Championships kick us off in Nantes, France following which will be the ITTF Challenge Plus Paraguay Open in Asuncion, Paraguay.

Finally, we take you to Yogyakarta, Indonesia for the ITTF-ATTU Asian Table Tennis Championships to conclude what is surely going to be another crazy month!

Don’t forget you can stay up to date on all of those tournaments right here on ITTF and watch the live games on itTV!

Tagged under

Career high for Lin Yun-Ju, meteoric rise continues

Published in Table Tennis

Friday, 30 August 2019 03:28

It is for Lin Yun-Ju the highest of his career and reflects the immense progress made in the past year; last September he occupied the no.43 spot; somewhat differently for Chen Xingtong, she approaches her previous best. Just over one year ago in July she occupied the no.7 position.

Notable progress but at the very top of the order life remains the same.

The Chinese quartet comprising Xu Xin, Fan Zhendong, Ma Long and Lin Gaoyuan continue to hold the top four respective places ahead of Japan’s Tomokazu Harimoto and Brazil’s Hugo Calderano. Immediately below there is a change: Germany’s Timo Boll and China’s Liang Jingkun each climb one place. The player to give way is Sweden’s Mattias Falck, he drops from no.7 to no.9, being one place ahead of Lin Yun-Ju.

Japan’s Koki Niwa and Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov each advance one position to complete the top 12 names.

Dramatic progress

Progress for Lin Yun-Ju but amongst the top 100 names the players to make the most dramatic progress are China’s Zhao Zihao, beaten by Tomokazu Harimoto in the ITTF World Tour Bulgaria Open final, alongside Mexico’s Marcos Madrid, Romania’s Cristian Pletea, Ecuador’s Alberto Miño and Sweden’s Anton Källberg.

Marcos Madrid moves from no.86 to no.66, Cristian Pletea from no.115 to no.75; Alberto Miño from no.100 to no.75. Similarly, Anton Källberg advances from no.108 to no.88. Notably for Marcos Madrid, Cristian Pletea and Alberto Miño, it is the highest ranking of their careers.

Sun Yingsha joins colleagues

With no change at the top of the men’s order, it is the same on the women’s listings; the only difference when compared in August is that as opposed to China occupying the top five places, they occupy the top . Sun Yingsha advances one position and is now next in line to Chen Meng, Ding Ning, Zhu Yuling, Wang Manyu and Liu Shiwen.

Immediately following is the Japanese trio of Mima Ito, Kasumi Ishikawa and Miu Hirano. It is a rise of one place for Mima Ito and for Miu Hirano, while for Kasumi Ishikawa it is a drop of two positions; formerly Kasumi Ishikawa was named in the no.8 spot. A step up of one place for Mima Ito and Miu Hirano; it is the same for Cheng I-Ching who is now listed at no.10; Hong Kong’s Doo Hoi Kem and Singapore’s Feng Tianwei retain their places and complete the top 12 names.

Significant progress

Climbing the women’s rankings, lower down the order in leaps and bounds are Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz, Korea Republic’s Choi Hyojoo, China’s Gu Yuting and Chile’s Paulina Vega making most significant progress.

Melanie Diaz advances from no.88 to no.67, Choi Hyojoo from no.91 to no.69; in a similar vein Gu Yuting climbs from no.119 to no.75, Paulina Vega from no.100 to no.76.

New leaders

No changes at the very top of the order; on the under 18 boys’ and on the under 18 girls’ world rankings there are changes. Singapore’s Pang Yew En Koen, previously at no.4, now heads the list, replacing Russia’s Lev Katsman who drops one place. Success at the Hang Seng Hong Kong Junior and Cadet Open, Iran’s Amin Ahmadian is now at no.3; previously he stood at no.14.

Likewise on the girls’ list there is a new name at the very top; Amy Wang of the United States changes places with China’s Shi Xunyao, Poland’s Anna Wegrzyn once again completes the top three names.

Top places retained

Somewhat differently, on the under 15 boys’ and under 15 girls’ listings, there are no changes in the very top position.

China’s Chen Yuanyu and Kuai Man remain the respective leaders; next in line to Chen Yuanyu is Japan’s Sora Matsushima followed by Belgium’s Louis Laffineur. Notably Sora Matsushima advances two places, for Louis Laffineur it is one place lower.

Meanwhile, for the girls, in the elite positions there is no change at all; once again China’s Chen Yi and Romania’s Elena Zaharia are next in line.

World Rankings: September 2019

Tagged under

Sheppard Beats The Rain At I-96

Published in Racing

Friday, 30 August 2019 03:43

LAKE ODESSA, Mich. — The chance of rain was imminent Thursday night at I-96 Speedway, so the urgency of the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series racers was clear.

Get to the lead and get to the lead quickly. That’s exactly how Brandon Sheppard raced.

From his outside front row starting position, Sheppard charged around Chase Junghans through turns one and two and into the top spot.

The point leader from New Berlin, Ill., continued to pull away while every spot behind him was tightly contested. Sheppard was going to leave no doubt en route to his 17th victory of the season, one short of tying the all-time single-season win mark.

Sheppard was blazing a trail through turns three and four on lap 24 when a group of cars spun in front of him. While under caution, the skies opened and that imminent rainstorm made its appearance.

The race was declared official with Sheppard earning the victory, Junghans in second and Frank Heckenast Jr. in third.

The finish:

Feature (24 Laps, rain shortened) 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard [2][$10,000]; 2. 18-Chase Junghans [1][$5,000]; 3. 99jr-Frank Heckenast [3][$3,000]; 4. 29-Darrell Lanigan [4][$2,500]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard [6][$2,000]; 6. M14-Brandon Thirlby [14][$1,700]; 7. 25-Shane Clanton [5][$1,400]; 8. 7-Ricky Weiss [12][$1,300]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs [7][$1,200]; 10. 42-Chad Finley [8][$1,100]; 11. 87-David Mielke [13][$1,050]; 12. B1-Brent Larson [11][$1,000]; 13. 28-Dennis Erb [9][$950]; 14. 6-Blake Spencer [17][$900]; 15. 24n-Kyle Novak [19][$850]; 16. 5*-Bryant Dickinson [18][$800]; 17. CJ1-Rusty Schlenk [23][$770]; 18. 2s-Travis Stemler [10][$750]; 19. 52-Brad Harden [20][$730]; 20. 2-Bry Johnson [16][$700]; 21. 53-Hillard Miller [21][$700]; 22. 21-Logan Arntz [22][$700]; 23. 113-Kyle Roberts [15][$700] Hard Charger: M14-Brandon Thirlby[+8]

Tagged under

Smalling, Darmian to leave, Rojo staying - Ole

Published in Soccer

Friday, 30 August 2019 03:01

MANCHESTER, England - Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said he would speak to Zlatan Ibrahimovic if the LA Galaxy forward were serious about returning to Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic said this week he believes he is still capable of performing in the Premier League adding that "if United needs me, I'm here."

- ESPN fantasy: Sign up now!
- When does the transfer window close?

The former Sweden international scored 29 goals in 53 appearances at Old Trafford between 2016 and 2018 and Solskjaer appeared to leave the door open when asked about a possible move for the 37-year-old.

"If he was 28 and not 38 [in October], there'a big difference," Solskjaer told a news conference on Friday. "Zlatan had a great time here, he's still doing well, it's unfortunate he got his injury here.

"Who knows, he knows my number, he looked at my house [when he was here]. We can speak a native language. If he's serious I'll always speak to Zlatan.

"I don't think that will happen, I think he's had his time at the club, he's had a fantastic career at the club."

Solskjaer has seen his attacking options reduced this summer after the departures of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to Inter Milan.

It leaves the Norwegian with just Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and 17-year-old Mason Greenwood as the only recognised centre forwards in the squad. Martial is set to miss the trip to Southampton on Saturday because of a thigh injury but Solskjaer is insistent it was the right decision to let Sanchez leave.

"Alexis needed to go," Solskjaer said. "He's been here for 18 months and it's not really worked out for him.

"For him to restart and get himself playing regularly and scoring goals that will only benefit everyone in the end. He will come good for them. For us we had a decision to make. I'm trusting Anthony, Marcus, Mason to be our centre forwards.

"We've got wingers in Chongy [Tahith Chong], Dan James, [Andreas] Pereira. We've got loads of options. For me it's time for our boys to feel that pressure and responsibility, to be more robust, to know they have to play five games in a row."

Solskjaer also said Chris Smalling is set to sign for Roma on loan and added Matteo Darmian could also leave before Monday's deadline.

Smalling flew to Italy on Friday morning to finalise a season-long deal with the Serie A side. Darmian is also set to return to Italy but Marcos Rojo will stay at Old Trafford despite interest from AC Milan, Monaco and Marseille.

"The opportunity for Chris is something that came up the last couple of days," Solskjaer told a news conference on Friday. "We sat down [on Thursday] and I couldn't promise Chris regular football.

"It's a big club and hopefully he will come back stronger for it. There is some interest in Matteo from Italy and he wants to go back home. Marcos is definitely staying.

"The squad is now less in numbers but it's big enough and strong enough to have cover in all positions."

Tagged under