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Thursday November 2, 2017

WORLD table tennis authorities hit world number one Ma Long and two other Chinese stars with US$20,000 fi nes Tuesday but stopped short of suspending them after they quit a tourna-ment in protest of their coach’s removal.

The International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) said that Ma, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin — the three top-ranked players in the world — “damaged the reputation of the ITTF” and “let down the global fans at the China Open”.

But the ITTF said in a state-ment that it had resisted a one-month ban after the trio promised there would be no repeat in the future and explained why they had failed to turn up for their round-of-16 matches in Chengdu, southwest-ern China, in June.

The ITTF did not repeat the reasons given by the players, but at the time — in a rare show of dissent from Chinese sportsmen — they said they were too heart-broken to play after head coach Liu Guoliang was demoted.

Dubbed the “Chengdu Three” for their actions, they later apolo-gized and China’s all-conquering table tennis team closed ranks.

“The trio did not provide the ITTF or the organizing commit-tee any immediate reason why they did not turn up for their matches,” the ITTF said.

“However, due to the players’ explanations, both their own and CTTA’s assurances that such behavior will not be repeated, the three players will not receive any suspension and will be fi ned US$20,000 each.”

The CTTA is the Chinese Table Tennis Association, which fol-lowing the debacle pulled the men’s team from the Australian Open because of “tiredness.”

The players accepted their punishment, the ITTF said, adding: “The ITTF is looking forward to welcoming Ma Long, Fan Zhendong and Xu Xin back to the ITTF World Tour and for the three icons of the sport to be role models for the millions of table tennis players across the world.”

(SD-Agencies)

Chinese table tennis players fi ned for rare revolt

PARIS Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich advanced to the Champions League knockout stage with wins Tuesday night, while Chelsea suffered a shock defeat.

Roma topped Group C after a comprehensive 3-0 dismantling of Chelsea at the Stadio Olim-pico courtesy of a Stephan El Shaarawy brace.

The hosts got off to a dream start when a cross into the area glanced off Edin Dzeko’s shoulder and bounced right to an onrushing El Shaarawy, who blasted a right-footed shot past Thibaut Courtois for the early lead.

Chelsea saw three good chances go begging in the open-ing half hour, Cesc Fabregas fi ring wide from 18 meters, before Eden Hazard shot right at Allison in the Roma goal and Alvaro Morata skied one over the crossbar when left alone at very close range.

Roma would be two ahead at half-time after the Chelsea defense made a mess of handling a Roma ball into the penalty area and El Shaarawy ghosted in and neatly tucked a shot past Cour-tois for his second.

The game was effectively over just past the hour mark when a poor pass from Fabregas allowed Roma to break the other way and Diego Perotti fi red his team’s third goal of the night past a helpless Courtois to put the Serie A side one point ahead of Chelsea in the table.

Meanwhile, Layvin Kurzawa

Chelsea stunned in Champions League

scored a second-half hat trick as Paris Saint-Germain advanced from Group B with a 5-0 win over Anderlecht.

The Belgian side held fi rm for a half-hour before Neymar fed Kylian Mbappe atop the box, and the teenager played in Marco Verratti, who had time to pick his spot and curl a shot into the back of the net.

Neymar then got on the scoresheet himself on the fi nal play of the fi rst half. After playing a short corner to Julian Draxler, Neymar got the ball back, raced

to the middle and fi red a shot in off the hand of goalkeeper Frank Boeckx.

Early in the second half, Boeckx dove to push Neymar’s free kick onto the post, only for the ball to come back out to the center where Kurzawa was wait-ing to net PSG’s third.

Kurzawa delivered a diving header into an open net for his second goal in the 72nd minute, then completed his hat trick in the 78th by lashing a low, left-footed shot home through the box.

PSG remained three points ahead of Bayern Munich, which ensured its own place in the next round by managing a 2-1 win away to Celtic.

Young Benfi ca goalkeeper Mile Svilar was the focus again as his own goal allowed Manchester United to earn a 2-0 home win in Group A.

Barcelona failed to score away to Olympiakos in Group D, as Ernesto Valverde’s men were held to a 0-0 draw at the Karaiskaki Stadium.

(SD-Agencies)

Roma’s Stephan El Shaarawy (R) scores their second goal against Chelsea in Rome, Italy, on Tuesday. SD-Agencies

THE Olympic fl ame arrived in South Korea yesterday, 100 days ahead of the opening ceremony for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.

South Korean Olympic gold-winning fi gure skater Kim Yu-na and the country’s sports minister carried the fl ame, in a white security lamp, down the steps at Incheon airport after a fl ight from Greece. It had been kindled from the sun’s rays in a ceremony at the ancient Temple of Hera in Olympia.

“Today is a very important and proud symbol of our work and passion in bringing one of the

most exciting sporting events ever to our country,” said chief organizer Lee Hee-beom.

“We want the Olympic torch relay to ignite passion and excite-ment in every corner of Korea,” Lee added.

The torch relay was led off by 13-year-old fi gure skater You Young, who jogged past hun-dreds of cameras wearing a “1” tag on her chest.

A total of 7,500 torchbearers will carry the fl ame, organizers said, symbolizing the 75 million people who live on both sides of the divided Korean Peninsula.

The Games will be held from

Feb. 9 to 25, but have been marred by slow ticket sales and the looming menace of nuclear-armed North Korea, just 80 kilometers away from Pyeongchang across the Demili-tarized Zone.

Over the two weeks of the Games, 1.18 million tickets are available, with 180,000 sold internationally so far.

But South Korea is far from the traditional winter sports markets of Europe and North America, making domestic sales crucial, and South Kore-ans have bought little more than 160,000. (SD-Agencies)

Olympic flame lands in S. Korea for 2018 Winter Games

Honorary Ambassador Kim Yu-na (L) and South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon hold the Olympic fl ame at the Incheon International airport in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday. SD-Agencies

THE Los Angeles Lakers were locked in to deliver their best effort of the season. The Detroit Pistons were anything but ready, and the gap between the two mindsets was obvious.

Julius Randle scored 17 points, Lonzo Ball added 13 and the Lakers smashed the Pistons 113-93 Tuesday night.

Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy was unsure about how his team might handle the adulation associated with a surprising 5-2 start, and those concerns proved to be well-founded in a loss he described as a “humbling expe-rience.”

“There’s nothing we did well and they dominated us,” Van Gundy said. “We had no fi ght in us. It was a bad, bad night.”

The Lakers used a 16-5 run in the fi rst quarter to take a lead they would never relinquish, eventually jumping out in front by as many as 23.

Another superb defensive effort keyed the win, as the Lakers allowed three free-throws, the fewest in a game in franchise history.

“This is the way we want to play,” said Lakers forward Brandon Ingram, who had 13 points. “This is kind of the identity we want to bring every single game.”

Larry Nance Jr. had 14 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double for the Lakers, who had lost the previous three games against the Pistons. Ken-tavious Caldwell-Pope had 13 points in his fi rst chance to play against the Pistons, who drafted him No. 8 overall in 2013.

Tobias Harris and Reggie Jackson each had 18 points for the Pistons, who were unable to sweep their three-game Califor-nia road trip. Andre Drummond had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Ball had a modest statistical performance, fi nishing with six rebounds and three assists, but Lakers head coach Luke Walton credited him with setting the tone.

Seven Lakers fi nished with double fi gures, and six had at least three assists. (SD-Agencies)

Los Angeles Lakers’ Lonzo Ball (C) puts up a layup against the Detroit Pistons in Los Angeles on Tuesday. SD-Agencies

Lakers romp to win over Pistons