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It is likely that the current batch of table tennis athletes are one of best we have ever seen, with the likes of Ma Long, Timo Boll, Chen Meng, Ding Ning and many more lighting up international events and exciting fans every time they take to the table. With the 2019 ITTF World Veterans Tour taking place in Shenzhen this week, we are using the popular FaceApp application to take a look at just how the sport’s biggest stars will appear while playing their own version of the Veterans Tour 2o years on from now!

Ma Long still going strong

‘The Dragon’ shows no signs of fading away in 2039, nor is he any less motivated to challenge for the major trophies. Even though he’s won everything the sport has to offer, that first title on the ITTF World Veterans Tour will taste just as sweet!

Chen Meng stays at the summit!

Power, grit, determination: Chen Meng has not changed and the current world no.1 is very much on course to maintain that top spot on the Veterans Tour as well!

Timo’s got permanent class

‘Form is temporary. Class is permanent.’ The Timo of 2039 will be no different to the one that table tennis fans around the world know and love today.

Bernie barely looks a day older!

Some people just age better than others… Romania’s Bernadette Szocs is one of the fortunate ones it seems!

Quadri still the king!

He’s run the rule over Nigerian table tennis for nearly a decade already. 20 years later, Quadri Aruna’s cult status is even higher than before.

Queen of Hearts rules in 2039!

Chinese superstar Ding Ning has a habit of making comebacks when it seems impossible, so who’s to say she will not be at the top of her game in two decades’ time? The Queen of Hearts is in no mood to surrender her throne anytime soon!

No retirement to Rio for Hugo!

Most top Brazilian athletes return back to their homeland as soon as their prime years are over, however Hugo Calderano is no typical Brazilian. His friends and family in Rio de Janeiro will now be rooting for the “Thrill from Brazil” on the Veterans Tour!

Mima Ito to Mamma Ito!

The Japanese powerhouse still looks fairly young to us in two decades and she has not lost an ounce of energy either. Those speedy forehands are still at work!

Veteran or Viking?!

It’s all in the beard! Sweden’s Mattias Falck has never looked more like his proud Scandinavian ancestors than on the World Veterans Tour. Even the raw celebration is the stuff of Vikings.

Sun rises early…again

Technically still too young to be on the World Veterans Tour by the time 2039 arrives, there will be no stopping Sun Yingsha from crashing the party and beating her elders!

Harimoto in a hurry to win

Tomokazu Harimoto just loves winning trophies. By the age of 15, he already won an ITTF World Tour Grand Finals, so who’s to say the Japanese wonder will not be competing for honours on the Veterans Tour too! The only issue is he just may need to wait a further five years to be eligible!

Check up on this years’ Veterans World Tour on ITTF.com, watch live matches on itTV and be entertained on ITTF social: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Weibo.

Qualification continues

Look below for the day’s fixture schedule and make sure to watch along live with itTV:

Ireland captain Best eyes World Cup momentum

Published in Rugby
Thursday, 08 August 2019 00:14

Ireland captain Rory Best says his side must use their World Cup warm-up games to build momentum before the tournament begins in late September.

Joe Schmidt's men meet Italy on Saturday before facing England, with home and away fixtures against Wales concluding their preparations.

"It is about making sure that we produce performances," said Best.

"It's important that we treat each of these games as a Test match and we really fire into them."

Heavy defeats by England and Wales in this year's Six Nations came as a major disappointment to Ireland, who came into the tournament following a historic 2018 in which they moved up to second in the world rankings.

"We've gone back to what has served us well," said Best.

"That is taking each day as it comes. In terms of making big proclamations as to where we see ourselves and where we want to get to, it's not us and hasn't been us under Joe."

Over the next five weeks Schmidt will trim his current 43-man panel into his final travelling party of 31 players.

The head coach, who leaves his position following the tournament, will be looking for players to stake a claim for a seat on the plane for Japan over the coming weeks.

"We want guys to put their hand up and say 'i want to be in that squad'," Best said.

"The more competition for places we have the more it will drive us on to be successful and that is what we need to get from these games."

Ireland's World Cup campaign begins in Yokohama against Scotland on 22 September.

They are also joined in Pool A by hosts Japan, Samoa and Russia.

Surprise! It’s Trey Starks At Knoxville

Published in Racing
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 21:17

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Trey Starks surprised everyone, including himself during Wednesday night’s Brandt qualifying night program for the 59thannual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals at legendary Knoxville Raceway.

The Washington native who flies to Iowa weekly to compete at the historic half-mile oval aboard the No. 44 J&J sprint car co-owned by Jeff McCall and Scott Gobrecht, took the lead on lap five and held off a late charge from Australian James McFadden to earn his first victory at the track and his first with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

Starks victory came on a night when eight of the top 10 qualifiers failed to transfer into the feature through their heat races.

“We were a product of our circumstances here tonight,” Starks explained. “A lot of fast guys didn’t make it through their heat, and that cut out a lot of guys that you have to beat. I can’t believe we won our preliminary night at the Knoxville Nationals.”

Still he held off McFadden in uncharacteristic fashion by running the bottom groove around Knoxville Raceway.

“I almost never run the bottom,” Starks said. “That’s the point of running here is to get better at this race track. I used to be a strictly top guy, but I knew that is where Mark was going to be … We were best on one and two on the bottom and I’m not sure where I was fastest in three and four.”

McFadden, who won the Knoxville 360 Nationals last week aboard Kasey Kahne Racing’s No 9, brought the KKR entry home second

“It’s been really cool to get a lot of laps at Knoxville before the Nationals,” he said. “I’ve never had a chance to do that before and it’s really helped, and it’s been a really great time.

“I was annoyed at that caution. I felt like we were better on the long runs but in clean air we weren’t going to be able to handle them. If the race was longer, I feel like we might have had a little better shot at them.”

Sheldon Haudenschild, who won the Ironman 55 at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, last weekend, finished third.

“I can’t complain after that,” Haudenschild said. “Too many driver errors. I would make a mistake and bounce it off the wall. I have to clean it up on my end. Our car was fast. I made those mistakes and I was still able to run them down.”

Polesitter and early leader Mark Dobmeier finished fourth with fast-qualifier Aaron Reutzel, who was the high point man on the night, coming home fifth.

The victory capped a difficult week (see separate story) for Starks and his team, including a crash and an engine failure.

Donny Schatz raced from 24thin feature to finish 11thafter he and Kyle Larson shared the fourth row in the B main. Larson missed the feature and because of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule at Michigan Int’l Speedway, his participation the remainder of the week is in limbo.

Reutzel ended up with 487 points with Tim Kaeding second with 466 points.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Bad Luck Ends For Trey Starks

Published in Racing
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 21:59

KNOXVILLE, Iowa — A landmark victory on the opening night of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals ended a yearlong string of bad luck for Trey Starks and his Gobrecht Motorsports team.

Starks, who has traveled back and forth between his home in Washington to Knoxville Raceway all season, turned in the performance of his life to pick up his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory on the sport’s biggest stage.

Starks, whose car is co-owned by Scott Gobrecht and Jeff McCall, was in disbelief at his victory.

“This hasn’t been the best year for us for multiple different reasons,” Starks explained. “We’ve obviously gotten a ton of rain and we haven’t gotten the laps that we wanted to get this year. We’ve learned something every week we come here and it seems like the last several weeks or the last month, nothing has gone our way. We’ve had problem after problem after problem. At times we haven’t been very fast.”

And the struggle got worse as Knoxville Nationals week began with Sunday night’s Capitani Classic and two nights of racing at Southern Iowa Speedway.

“After all the problems we’ve had this week — we got run over on Monday night at Osky and last night we blew an engine, running solid both times,” Starks said. “To say we were due for this one is an understatement. These guys work so hard. I can’t thank Jeff McCall and Scott Gobrecht enough for believing in me and putting me in their car year after year here.

I just cannot believe it. We have needed this one, but tonight was the night to do it.”

Starks commutes weekly from Washington and McCall travels in from Cherryville, N.C.

“We chose to run Knoxville for a couple of reasons,” Starks said. “Jeff is from North Carolina and Scott is from Pennsylvania. We don’t like to settle in one place, so we thought let’s go to Knoxville. We were let down last year when we didn’t make the feature last year.

“I come in every Thursday and go home every Sunday,” said Starks, who runs a machine shop along with his father and brother. “Jeff does the same exact thing from North Carolina. It’s been a headache at times, but nights like this make it worth it.

“Sometimes I’ll take the red eye into Des Moines. When we run Jackson on Friday, I try to fly in on Thursday. Airports are my second home right now. I try to get back home as quickly as I can.”

And all the travel and hard work paid off on night one of the Knoxville Nationals.

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VIDEO: Third For Sheldon In Nationals Kickoff

Published in Racing
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 22:19

LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV
Sheldon Haudenschild Wednesday Third Place Interview

Sheldon Haudenschild used a last-lap pass to claim 3rd place in the opening night of the 59th Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway. Moments ago, he spoke with Ralph Sheheen.

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VIDEO: McFadden Comes Close In Nationals Opener

Published in Racing
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 22:22

LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV
James McFadden Wednesday 2nd Place Interview

James McFadden grabbed second place with five laps to go in the opening night of the 59th Knoxville Nationals at the famed Knoxville Raceway in Iowa. Ralph Sheheen caught up with him afterwards.

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VIDEO: Starks Scores On Night One At Knoxville

Published in Racing
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 22:23

LIVE from the Knoxville Nationals
Presented by Mobil 1 Truck & SUV
Trey Starks Wednesday Winner Interview

Trey Starks took his first main event victory at Knoxville Raceway Wednesday night, claiming the win as he prepares for Saturday’s 59th Knoxville Nationals.

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Liberty National gates to open at 10 a.m. for Round 1

Published in Golf
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 14:41

Due to a heavy rain storm that came through the Jersey City area on Wednesday evening, the Liberty National gates will open three hours later than previously scheduled for the first round of The Northern Trust. Round 1 tee times, however, will remain the same. 

The course closed down at 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday due to the weather, in which wind and rain caused “damage that segments of the tournament infrastructure and hospitality venues require minor maintenance resulting in the delay of gates being opened to all ticket holders,” according to the PGA Tour. 

Sources: Barca rule out Coutinho Prem return

Published in Soccer
Wednesday, 07 August 2019 16:10

Philippe Coutinho will not return to the Premier League this month despite Barcelona offering him to a number of English clubs in recent weeks, sources at the Catalan club have told ESPN FC.

Barca had hoped to push through a move to Tottenham Hotspur before the transfer window shuts on Thursday, Aug. 8 but talks have now broken down.

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The Spanish champions believed a loan move to London was possible despite some complications earlier this week but have now conceded time is against them and their record signing will not be returning to England during the current transfer window.

Sources at Barca have told ESPN FC that talks with Tottenham were progressing well until chairman Daniel Levy looked to change the terms of the agreement.

Coutinho, 27, was also offered to other English clubs but there were no takers. Jurgen Klopp told ESPN FC that Liverpool could not afford a deal to re-sign the Brazilian, while Arsenal were never interested, despite reports in Spain to the contrary.

Manchester United's fleeting interest never progressed into anything firm, while Chelsea's transfer ban prohibited them from making a bid.

Speaking after Barcelona's 2-1 friendly win over Napoli in Miami on Wednesday, head coach Ernesto Valverde confirmed that Coutinho would be part of his plans if he remained at the Nou Camp this season.

"Of course I am counting on him," Valverde said. "We don't know what's going to happen, but he's with us.

"He didn't play today because, like Arthur and [Arturo] Vidal, they've only had two training sessions. The plan is the same. Bring them in little by little. We will see if on Saturday he can play some minutes.

"The idea is the same with him as everyone else. We count on him, of course."

Barca are still open to selling Coutinho this month, with the transfer windows remaining open in other countries, but felt that the English market represented their best chance of making some money back on a player they signed for a fee rising to €160 million 18 months ago.

Coutinho is prepared to leave and Paris Saint-Germain could yet come in for him, or he could, as sources told ESPN FC earlier this summer, be included in a deal to bring Neymar back to Camp Nou.

There have not yet been any signs of interest from clubs in Italy or Germany.

Coutinho has failed to produce his best form at Camp Nou and is expected to fall further down the pecking order following the arrival of Antoine Griezmann for €120m this summer. Even before the arrival of Griezmann, though, Barca were keen to sell.

The ex-Liverpool man is currently in the United States with the rest of his Barcelona teammates. They play Napoli in Miami and again on Saturday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as part of the inaugural La Liga-Serie A Cup.

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Embiid undergoes surgery on injured left knee

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Sports Leagues

  • FIFA

    Fédération Internationale de Football Association
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    National Basketball Association
  • ATP

    Association of Tennis Professionals
  • MLB

    Major League Baseball
  • ITTF

    International Table Tennis Federation
  • NFL

    Nactional Football Leagues
  • FISB

    Federation Internationale de Speedball

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