Digest

SPEED SKATING

Lin claims his second World Cup 500m title

Lin Xiaojun

China pocketed a gold, a silver and a bronze at the 2022-2023 ISU Short Track Speed Skating World Cup in Dordrecht, the Netherlands on Sunday.

China's Lin Xiaojun clocked 40.693 seconds to win the men's 500m, which was his second victory in this category after being crowned at the Dresden leg in Germany. South Korean Lim Yong-jin and Lukasz Kuczynski of Poland finished second and third respectively.

Dutch skater Xandra Velzeboer claimed the women's 500m title in 42.020.

The Chinese team of Lin, Zhong Yuchen, Song Jiahua and Liu Guanyi came home behind South Korea in the men's 5,000m relay final to settle for silver, and Japan finished third.

In the women's 3,000m relay, China (Gong Li, Xu Aili, Wang Xinran and Zang Yize) took the bronze. Canada and Hungary finished first and second place respectively.

Park Ji-won of South Korea won the men's 1,000m in 1:25.359. And Canadian Courtney Sarault triumphed in the women's 1,000m.

TRACK AND FIELD

China wins two gold medals at Asian c'ships

Teenager Wu Hongjiao surged a powerful home stretch to win the women's 800m race as the Chinese team bagged two gold medals at the 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships that concluded in Astana on Sunday.

The women's 800m race saw Ayano Shiomi take an early lead as the Japanese enjoyed the pole position for the first three of the four-lap race. The 19-year-old Wu, who waited patiently in third place for most of the race, launched her charge in the last lap and caught Shiomi after passing the last curve. Wu crossed the finish line with an indoor personal best of two minutes, 6.85 seconds.

Shiomi finished second in 2:07.18, followed by China's Rao Xinyu in 2:08.75.

It was the second gold medal collected by the Chinese team at the three-day competition. Fang Yaoqing, the eighth finisher at the Tokyo Olympics Games, claimed the men's triple jump title at 17.20m in the opening competition day on Friday.

The Chinese Athletics Association has sent a young squad to Astana as more than half of the 25 athletes were competing overseas for the first time.

TABLE TENNIS

Teenager Lin stuns Ovtcharov to claim title

Lin Shidong

China's Lin Shidong lifted his first-ever men's singles trophy at a World Table Tennis (WTT) Series event, upsetting Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov in the WTT Contender Amman, in the Jordanian capital on Sunday.

Lin defeated the tournament's second seed Ovtcharov in straight sets 11-7, 11-3,13-11, 11-8 in the final.

The 17-year-old Chinese star thus stood atop the podium for the second time at the tournament, after he had paired up with Kuai Man to win the mixed doubles on Saturday with an 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 victory over Romanian duo Ovidiu Ionescu and Bernadette Szocs, bringing home their fifth straight WTT title in the category coming into 2023.

Liu Yebo and Xu Yingbin pocketed the men's doubles title with a full-sets win over top-ranked Yukiya Uda and Shunsuke Togami of Japan.

The women's singles title went to top seed Mima Ito of Japan, after her second-seeded opponent Doo Hoi-kem of Hong Kong, China was forced to withdraw from the final due to injury.

Doo chose to pull out of title contention with only four points played after she appeared to be affected by an elbow injury.

Cheng I-ching and Li Yu-jhun of Chinese Taipei emerged victorious in the women's doubles after edging past French pair Camille Lutz and Prithika Pavade in full sets.

SOCCER

Barca wins 11th straight, opens 11-point lead

Pedri

Barcelona keeps on winning at the top of the Spanish league and moving further away from Real Madrid.

Barcelona beat Villarreal 1-0 on the road on Sunday to extend its winning streak to 11 matches in all competitions and its lead over second-place Madrid to 11 points.

Madrid, which won the Club World Cup on Saturday, has played a game less than Barcelona.

"There is nothing decided yet, there is still a lot of league left," Barcelona coach Xavi said. "But we are happy because we are on a great run, doing things well."

It was the 16th clean sheet for Barcelona in 21 league matches this season.

Pedri scored in the 18th minute for Barcelona, whose 1-1 draw against Espanyol in the league on Dec 31 was the last time it failed to win. The 11-game streak has included beating Real Betis on penalties in the Spanish Super Cup and an extra-time victory in the Copa del Rey against Intercity.

It was the third straight loss for eighth-place Villarreal.

Xinhua - Agencies