Digest

WINTER OLYMPICS

'Strongest ever' Danes eye Beijing 2022 berth

Danish hockey bosses say the country will field one of its "strongest national teams ever" at a Beijing 2022 qualifying tournament in Norway at the end of August.

Five Danes playing in the National Hockey League (NHL) have joined Denmark's squad, making it "on paper, one of the strongest national teams ever", read a Danish hockey media release.

Denmark will face Norway, South Korea and Slovenia, with a solitary qualifying berth for the Beijing Winter Olympics being awarded to the eventual winner.

"Of course, our ambition and mission is to win the tournament up in Norway, but we also approach this task in the awareness that we must be humble and not believe that things happen by themselves," said Denmark coach Heinz Ehlers.

"On paper, we have a really strong squad and the art is of course to shape the squad for a strong team."

BASKETBALL

China rises to seventh in FIBA world rankings

The United States has strengthened its grip on top spot in FIBA women's world rankings, while Asian sides China and Japan both broke into top eight.

With the rankings updated after the Tokyo Olympics, gold-medal winner the US retained the No 1 berth. After finishing sixth in Tokyo, Spain leapfrogged Australia into second place, with the latter managing only one win at the Games.

China climbed two spots to No 7 due to victories over Australia and Belgium in the group stage en route to a fifth-place finish－its best result at the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Games.

Host Japan, which twice pulled off shock victories over France and edged Belgium in the quarterfinals, moved up two positions to No 8.

Canada, France and Belgium kept their places at fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

SWIMMING

Peaty to swap trunks for dancing shoes

Britain's triple Olympic champion Adam Peaty is to spend some of his mental health break from the pool by donning his dancing shoes after agreeing to participate in BBC TV series Strictly Come Dancing.

The 26-year-old became the first British swimmer to successfully defend his Olympic title when he took gold in the 100 meters breaststroke in Tokyo last month.

He also won gold in the 4x100m mixed medley relay and silver in the men's 4x100m medley.

Peaty said on Friday he is looking forward to a different type of challenge in the dancing competition that gets underway in the autumn.

"I think this will come as a surprise to a lot of people, but I'm so excited to finally share the news that I'll be joining Strictly this year," Peaty said in a BBC statement.

"I'm really looking forward to doing something totally different and challenging myself away from the pool. I'm hoping my competitive nature is going to compensate for my dancing abilities!"

SOCCER

Neymar to captain Brazil against Messi

Neymar will face his new Paris Saint-Germain clubmate Lionel Messi in a South American grudge match after being named Brazil captain for three World Cup qualifiers.

Coach Tite also called up six members of the squad that retained the Olympic title on Aug 7.

Brazil leads the 10-team South American group after six matches and faces a busy week as the tournament tries to catch up after two rounds were postponed in March due to the pandemic.

Brazil starts with a trip to Santiago to play Chile on Sept 2, then takes on Argentina in a rearranged match in Sao Paulo three days later before traveling over 2,200 kilometers north to Pernambuco to entertain Peru on Sept 9.

Since March, Argentina has beaten Brazil in July's Copa America final at the Maracana and Argentine captain Messi has left Barcelona and joined Neymar at PSG.

Messi was introduced to some 49,000 fans in a full Parc des Princess stadium before watching his new teammates beat Strasbourg 4-2 in Ligue 1 on Saturday.

Xinhua - Agencies