Digest

TABLE TENNIS

Golden day for Fan at World Tour Finals

Fan Zhendong cleaned up with two gold medals at the ITTF World Tour Finals in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Sunday.

Second seed Fan defeated compatriot and fourth seed Ma Long 4-1(11-6, 12-10, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8) in an engrossing men's singles final to regain the title he won in 2017 and exact revenge for defeats to Ma in the 2015 and 2016 season-ending finals.

Earlier, Fan partnered with Xu Xin to win the men's doubles title with a 4-0(11-7, 11-6, 11-13, 11-2) victory over Chinese Taipei's Liao Chengting and Lin Yun-ju.

Somewhat surprisingly, the match was the first appearance in the Tour Finals doubles decider for 2017 world champions Fan and Xu.

China's No 3 seed Chen Meng beat compatriot Wang Manyu (No 4) 4-1 (11-9, 11-6, 11-6, 9-11, 11-6) to claim the women's singles crown for the third consecutive year, matching the three-in-a-row Finals feat of teammate Liu Shiwen (2011-13).

BASKETBALL

Royal Fighters floor leader Guangdong

The Beijing Royal Fighters stunned the Guangdong Southeast Tigers with a 126-111 victory on Sunday night, snapping the defending champion's 12-game win streak.

The Stephon Marbury-coached Royal Fighters led 68-61 at halftime and stretched their advantage to 18 points by the third quarter.

Guangdong staged a mini-comeback in the final period but it was too little too late as Sun Yue drained a 3-pointer to kill off the Tigers' challenge.

Kyle Fogg had a game-high 38 points, six rebounds and eight assists for the Royal Fighters, who won their third straight game. Jason Thompson contributed a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Wang Zirui added 16 points. Sonny Weems scored 28 points and eight rebounds for Guangdong.

League-leading Guangdong's only previous loss this season was against Jilin on Nov 10.

In Urumqi, Lester Hudson had 39 points, eight rebounds and seven assists as the Shandong Golden Stars earned a first ever away win over the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, on a 116-107 scoreline.

BADMINTON

Chen claims top spot after Guangzhou glory

Home star Chen Yufei defeated Tai Tzu-ying of Chinese Taipei to win the women's singles championship at the BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou on Sunday.

The victory sees Chen leapfrog Tai in the world rankings to end the year in the No 1 spot for the first time in her career. Team China's last women's world No 1 was Li Xuerui in 2015.

Chen dropped the first game of the final, but rebounded to clinch the title 12-21, 21-12, 21-17.

"I was very calm after the loss of the first game. When I was behind, the only thing I thought was to keep up," said Chen, who won all seven finals she has appeared in this year.

"In the year leading up to the Olympics, winning the Finals is not enough. The future will not be easy and I will work hard in 2020."

Chinese pairs Zheng Siwei and Huang Yaqiong and Chen Qingchen and Jia Yifan also bagged golds over the weekend, in the mixed and women's doubles respectively.

SOCCER

Maradona pledges future to Gimnasia

Diego Maradona said he will remain head coach of Argentina's Gimnasia after the re-election of club president Gabriel Pellegrino.

Pellegrino secured a new three-year term after receiving 61 percent of votes in an election on Sunday.

"I would like to thank the club's members for showing their confidence in me by backing Pellegrino, and I'm sure that together we can take the team forward," newspaper El Dia quoted Maradona as saying on Sunday.

Pellegrino, who was responsible for bringing Maradona to Gimnasia, ruled out running for another term last month but changed his mind after the 1986 World Cup winner threatened to quit.

Maradona, 59, took charge of Gimnasia in early September after agreeing to a contract that runs until May 2020. The team sits 21st in the 24-team Superliga standings.

Coach Li lauds players' spirit despite loss

Li Tie hailed Team China's fighting spirit following a 1-0 defeat to South Korea at the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Championship in Busan on Sunday.

A 13th-minute header from South Korea skipper Kim Min-jae proved enough for the host, which registered 13 attempts on goal compared to China's paltry two.

Despite being outplayed, coach Li, who was appointed on a temporary basis following the November resignation of Marcello Lippi, was happy with his players' work rate.

"I expressed my gratitude to the players in the dressing room, I thanked them for fighting to the last minute. All the players on the field tried their best," said Li.

"After a long season of Chinese Super League, they gave up the chance to stay with their families and came here to fight for our country. I take my hat off to them."

However, Li added: "My players were poor in possession and South Korea scored on a set-piece. I think the scoreline reflects the gap between the two teams."

China, which lost its opening match 2-1 to Japan last Tuesday, plays its third and final match of the tournament against Hong Kong on Wednesday.

WUSHU

Rwanda and China hail kung-fu link-up

Sporting links between Rwanda and China will boost cultural exchanges and open the minds of Rwanda's youth, a senior Rwandan official said in Kigali on Sunday at the country's national kung fu championship.

The long-term cooperation between Rwanda and China has resulted in an increase in the number of kung-fu enthusiasts in the central African country, said Didier Shema Maboko, permanent secretary of Rwanda's Ministry of Sports.

Maboko added that sporting links with other countries and regions encourage Rwanda's youth to participate in physical activity and to learn about different cultures.

The annual kung fu competition is staged by the Confucius Institute at the University of Rwanda and the Rwanda Wushu Federation with support from the Chinese Embassy in Rwanda.

Xing Yuchun, political counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Rwanda, said that China had provided a lot of support to the Rwanda Wushu Federation, with more and more Rwandans interested in and practicing kung fu.