Champs taking a break

Veteran Grand Slam winners Ma Long and Ding Ning were absent from the list when Team China's table tennis squad for next month's Asian Games was released on Tuesday.

Chinese paddlers are targeting gold in every event except mixed doubles at the quadrennial continental competition, which will be held in Jakarta and Palembang from Aug 18 to Sept 2.

The coaching staff has decided to rest men's team captain Ma, 30, who won gold at the 2010 Guangzhou Asiad, and women's captain Ding, 28, whose medal collection is only missing an Asian Games singles title.