Digest

TABLE TENNIS

Ma, Ding contribute to forum on new WTT tour

Newly founded World Table Tennis (WTT) on Tuesday staged an online forum for players to discuss its revamped professional tour.

WTT will introduce a new event structure in 2021, with tournaments divided into four new categories－Grand Smashes, WTT Champions, WTT Contender Series and WTT World Cup Finals.

The WTT plans to stage the tournaments in 34 cities across the globe. So far, 15 cities in China have expressed an interest in staging the events.

"The new WTT event system is a bold innovation which helps to promote the sport across the world. I'm looking forward to participating in it," Chinese Grand Slam winner Ma Long said.

Chinese women's star Ding Ning, also a Grand Slam champion, suggested the new system could feature some other innovations, including the adoption of a mixed team format. Ding reckons teaming players from different member associations would make matches more appealing to fans.

Japan's Kasumi Ishikawa and Tomokazu Harimoto, Germany's Timo Boll and American Lily Zhang also took part in the forum.

BASKETBALL

Sharks lose two foreign players for CBA restart

American Jared Cunningham and Lithuanian Donatas Motiejunas have parted ways with the Shanghai Sharks, the club confirmed on Monday.

That leaves American Ray McCallum as the Shanghai Sharks' lone foreign representative ahead of the CBA league's restart on June 20.

After Cunningham's departure at the end of his contract on May 15, the club originally planned to put both Motiejunas and McCallum on the court in the hope of gaining an advantage over teams whose foreign players have been unable to return to China during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, contract talks with the 29-year-old Motiejunas broke down, with the club citing concerns over his fitness.

FISHING

Jordan lands massive marlin at tournament

Michael Jordan tried his hand at becoming a two-sport athlete when he left basketball for an unsuccessful crack at baseball in the 1990s.

Perhaps his second sport should have been fishing.

Jordan and his fishing crew aboard his boat, the Catch 23, landed a 442-pound (201-kilogram) blue marlin on Tuesday in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament off Morehead City, North Carolina.

The catch was just the sixth-heaviest marlin reeled in over the tournament's first two days.

Only the top three are due to receive prize money when the event ends later this week, with the winner reportedly to receive $1.1 million and with a $550,000 bonus going to the first crew that hauls in a 500-pound (227-kg) blue marlin.

"I'd love to be back with a little bit bigger fish," Jordan said on Big Rock TV, according to 247Sports.

"I'm always looking for an excuse to be back in North Carolina.... It is a chance to come back home. I love coming back home."

EQUESTRIAN

Sheikh hit with 20-year ban for horse abuse

A record 20-year ban has been imposed on a rider from the United Arab Emirates for horse abuse at a long-distance race.

The horse, Castlebar Contraband, was euthanized after a "catastrophic injury" sustained after being injected with a banned sedative for a 90-km endurance race in France.

The International Equestrian Federation said the ban until June 2040 imposed on Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Faisal al Qasimi was the strongest in its history.

He was previously banned for two years in 2012 when a different horse tested positive for testosterone.

The sedative, xylazine, can be used to lower a horse's heart rate and for nerve blocking to allow it to run through pain.

The sheikh was ordered to pay 32,500 Swiss francs ($34,000) in fines and legal costs. He can appeal against his sanctions at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Xinhua - Agencies