Digest

TABLE TENNIS

Wang and Sun survive mixed doubles scare

Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha had to battle through two five-game matches at the Chinese team trials in Beijing on Wednesday.

The victories secured their places at the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Finals Durban.

The duo, who were crowned the mixed doubles champions at this month's WTT Singapore Smash, fought back from two games down to edge Xiang Peng and Liu Weishan 3-2 in the final of the team's second trial.

However, after finishing seventh in the first trial in February, the newly crowned pair then faced a playoff against Lin Gaoyuan and Chen Xingtong, whose results over the two trials — first place in February and seventh this time — equaled Wang and Sun's record.

Wang and Sun raced into a 2-0(11-9, 11-7) lead in the winner-take-all duel. Lin and Chen recovered to tie the match by taking the next two games 11-8, 13-11, before Wang and Sun dominated the decider, 11-6.

The winners of the men's and women's singles in the second trial will also be decided this week.

Olympic champion Ma Long, and world No 1s Fan Zhendong and Sun Yingsha have already booked their places in the Chinese squad for the table tennis worlds, which will be staged in Durban, South Africa from May 20-28.

SOCCER

Spurs' Paratici handed worldwide FIFA ban

Tottenham's managing director of football, Fabio Paratici, has been given a worldwide ban by FIFA that could end his time with the north London club.

Paratici was handed a 30-month ban from Italian soccer in January after his former club Juventus was found guilty of false accounting.

The 50-year-old Italian was sporting director and managing director at Juventus before joining Tottenham in June 2021.

His initial ban only applied to his homeland, meaning he was free to continue working at Tottenham, where he was involved in Sunday's departure of manager Antonio Conte and the start of the search for a new boss.

But a statement issued by FIFA on Wednesday threatened to cut short his spell at Tottenham, with the global governing body saying: "FIFA can confirm that following a request by the Italian FA (FIGC), the chairperson of the FIFA disciplinary committee has decided to extend the sanctions imposed by FIGC on several football officials to have worldwide effect."

Son 'feels responsible' for Conte departure

Tottenham's South Korean striker Son Heung-min admits he was sad to see Antonio Conte leave the club and put his hand up to accept some responsibility for the Italian's departure.

Conte left Tottenham "by mutual agreement" late on Sunday night. It became obvious it would be impossible for him to continue in the role after an outburst attacking the team's culture in the dressing room.

"As a player, I am really sorry. He's a world-class coach, and we had a great journey together," Son said.

"I am grateful for what he's done. He's such a great coach and has so much experience. I will be rooting for him," continued the striker, pointing to his own drop in form as one reason for the club's inconsistency.

The South Korean netted 23 league goals last season but has only scored six times this campaign.

"I should have played better. I feel responsible for his departure, because I haven't helped the club all that much," he admitted.

Enrique eager to work in Premier League

Former Spain national team coach Luis Enrique said on Wednesday that one of his ambitions is to coach in the Premier League.

The man, who stepped down as Spain boss after a disappointing FIFA World Cup in Qatar, said he would be open to a new adventure.

"I'd really like to coach in England. I am a big fan of the Premier League, which is really interesting," Enrique said.

He also said he wouldn't rule out coaching another national team.

"I haven't had any offer yet, but I have heard of interest from some national teams. I'm not going to give any name, but I don't rule out coaching a national team," continued Enrique, who nevertheless said that the national team was not Brazil.

"I don't think that I fit the profile of coach for a team like Brazil. Nobody from Brazil has called me. I love quality players, but I don't know if I would be the best kind of coach for a team of that level," he explained.

Speaking the day after his replacement, Luis de la Fuente, suffered a 2-0 defeat in Scotland, Enrique said he felt "loved" by the majority of Spain fans.

"I feel very proud of my time as national team coach. I made a lot of mistakes, but that's normal and I'm not really interested in debates over whether 'Plan A' or 'Plan B' is better between people who don't have all of the information."

Agencies