Digest

TABLE TENNIS

Fan and Sun retain top spots in world rankings

China's Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha have maintained their positions atop the latest world rankings, which were released by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) on Tuesday.

Despite being deducted 1,400 points for not competing at last week's World Table Tennis (WTT) Champions, Fan still has a sizable advantage in the men's singles rankings, with 5,500 points, followed by compatriots Ma Long (3,700) and Liang Jingkun (3,085).

Japan's Tomokazu Harimoto climbed to No 4 following his stunning victory in the WTT Champions final on Sunday. Harimoto produced an epic comeback to beat China's Lin Gaoyuan 4-3 in the final. The Japanese is now just 65 points off his career-best ranking of No 3 behind Liang.

Patrick Franziska of Germany rose to a career-high No 11 after making it to the WTT Champions semifinals. Despite his heartbreaking defeat to Harimoto, Lin climbed eight places to No 12.

Chinese paddlers occupy the top-four positions in the women's singles rankings, with Sun leading the way ahead of Chen Meng, Wang Manyu and Wang Yidi.

SOCCER

Suarez agrees return to his Uruguayan roots

Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez says he wants to return to his soccer roots in Uruguay.

The 35-year-old striker announced Tuesday that he is looking to rejoin Nacional de Montevideo, the club where he began his glittering career in 2005.

In a video posted on social media, Suarez said that he reached a preliminary agreement with the team and that "in the coming hours details will be finalized".

He became a free agent after his two-season contract expired with Atletico Madrid in Spain and had been considering a variety of teams that he might join, sparking a surge of calls from Nacional fans urging him to come back to his first team.

"I wanted to thank you for all the love that I and my family have received these last few days, which has been impressive," Suarez told the team's fans. "It's very exciting all the videos and messages that have come to us."

Suarez is the Uruguayan national team's all-time leading scorer, with 68 goals in 132 games.

Li Ke hopeful latest surgery fixes leg issue

Beijing Guo'an midfielder Li Ke has undergone a third operation to treat an "uncommon" leg complaint.

British-born Li, also known as Nico Yennaris, on Monday posted a photo on social media which showed his right leg partially taped up.

"Road to recovery begins again," the Team China international wrote.

Li linked up with Guo'an in mid-May after returning from London, where he had two leg surgeries in late November before undergoing rehabilitation.

Without kicking a ball with the team this season, he was sent back to Beijing to receive treatment at the end of May after the leg problem, which he described as a condition "rare to see in footballers", recurred.

"I had two surgeries last season to try to unblock the artery and vessel to help the blood flow," Li explained. "Everything went well and then this season I suffered a re-block in the blood vessel, which means I have to now have a third surgery to unblock the blood vessel."

Striker Scamacca joins West Ham for $36m

Italy striker Gianluca Scamacca joined West Ham United from Sassoulo for a reported fee of 30 million pounds ($36 million) on Tuesday as the Premier League club finally brought in some help and competition for Michail Antonio up front.

The 23-year-old Scamacca signed a five-year deal, with the option of a further 12 months, after being linked with a move to higher-profile teams like Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.

He scored 16 goals in 36 matches in Serie A last season and has played seven times for Italy, where he has been compared to former national team striker Christian Vieri because of his power and presence. He is 6-foot-5(1.95 meters), a similar height to his soccer idol, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Hammers manager David Moyes has had to rely on Antonio to lead his attack since the club sold Sebastien Haller to Ajax in January last year.

Moyes might now be back in the market for a central defender after new signing Nayef Aguerd sustained ankle ligament damage in a friendly against Rangers last week.

ATHLETICS

Champion Chopra out of Commonwealths

Neeraj Chopra

India's Olympic javelin champion Neeraj Chopra has been ruled out of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, with injury, sports authorities said on Tuesday.

"Chopra had called me earlier today from the US to convey his inability to take part in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games owing to fitness concerns," Indian Olympic Association secretary-general Rajeev Mehta said.

"Following his participation in the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Mr. Chopra had an MRI scan done on Monday and, based on it, he has been advised to have a month's rest by his medical team."

The Commonwealth Games start on Thursday.

Chopra, 24, made history for his country when he won the javelin at last summer's Tokyo Games, becoming India's first Olympic athletics gold medalist.

He followed that up with silver at the worlds in Eugene, Oregon, last weekend.

Agencies