I Dig Sports
Pang Yew En Koen leads Singapore, faces strong challenge
Furthermore, he leads Singapore’s junior boys’ team bid for honours; the top seeds, he lines up alongside Beh Kun Ting and Josh Chua Shao Han, both no strangers to the international scene. Notably last year Josh Chua Shao Han was a junior boys’ singles semi-finalist in Canada and Serbia.
Next in line is the Belgium trio formed by Nicolas Degros, Olav Kosolosky and Adrien Rassenfosse; they are the second seeds ahead of India’s Manush Utpalbhai Shah, Raegan Alburquerque and Deepit Patil. Earlier this year both Olav Kosolosky and Adrien Rassenfosse reached the junior boys’ singles quarter-finals in France; additionally Olav Kosolosky progressed to the same round in Italy, Adrien Rassenfosse in the Czech Republic.
Meanwhile two step further, Manush Utpalbhai Shah and Raegan Alburquerque both reached finals in 2018; Manush Utpalbhai was the runner up in Jordan, as was Raegan Alburquerque in Egypt.
Strong title contenders but the strongest of all is the fourth seeded outfit, the Chinese combination of Kuang Li, Liu Yebo and Xie Congfan. No current world ranking, 17 year old Xie Congfan is a newcomer to the international scene, Kuang Li and Liu Yebo are no strangers. Both have ITTF World Junior Circuit titles to the credit; last year Kuang Li won in the junior boys’ singles event in Thailand, Liu Yebo succeeded in Hungary.
Equally Kuang Li and Liu Yebo are names to note in the junior boys’ singles event. Liu Yebo is the no.3 seed, behind Pang Yew En Koen; Kuang Li is the no.9 seed. Also the names of Olav Kosolosky and Adrien Rassenfosse appear high on the list; they are the respective fourth and fifth seeds. Thailand’s Yanapong Panagitgun followed by Josh Chua Shao Han and Chinese Taipei’s Peng Chih complete the top eight names.
China very much an outfit to note; it is the same in the cadet boys’ team competition. Chen Yuanyu, Lin Shidong and Huang Youzheng form the selection; all have ITTF World Junior Circuit cadet boys’ singles titles to their name. Last year Chen Yuanyu won in Croatia, Lin Shidong in Italy; Huang Youzheng in Hungary.
Favourites for gold, they are listed ahead of the quartet formed by Peru’s Carlos Fernandez and Puerto Rico’s Angel Naranjo who join forces with Australia’s Nicholas Lum and Finn Luu. Hong Kong’s Baldwin Chan Ho Wah, Lee Pok Kwan, You Kwan To and Yu Nok occupy the no.3 seeded spot ahead of Japan’s Sora Matsushima, Haruki Michihiro and Kazuki Yoshiyama.
Notably, Sora Matsushima is the top seed in the cadet boys’ singles competition, Chen Yuanyu alongside the Czech Republic’s Simon Belik and Carlos Fernandez being the next in the order.
Play commences in Bangkok with the junior boys’ team and cadet boys’ team events.
Zagreb highlights: Ivor Ban stars on opening day
The teenager was the star of the show.
Men’s Singles
…………Ivor Ban, no current men’s world rankings, beat both Belgium’s Laurens Devos (11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 11-7) and Italy’s Marco Rech Daldosso (11-7, 11-9, 2-11, 12-10) to emerge the only player guaranteed a group first place.
…………Japan’s Yuki Hirano and Chinese Taipei’s Peng Wang-Wei, the top two names on qualification duty, both made impressive starts. Yuki Hirano beat Italy’s Gabriele Piciulin (11-2, 11-7, 11-8); Peng Wang-Wei accounted for Chile’s David Valenzuela (11-3, 11-4, 11-9)
Women’s Singles
…………Against the odds, the host nation’s Klara Cakol and Russia’s Ekaterina Chernyavskaya, alongside the Chinese Taipei’s duo of Tsai Yu-Chin and Huang Yi-Hua, all completed their initial stage matches unbeaten and thus secured main draw places. All started the day the lowest ranked players in their respective groups,
…………Leading names on duty in the qualification stage all made successful starts. Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz beat Sweden’s Caroline Tanska (15-13, 11-7, 11-2), Austria’s Karoline Mischek accounted for India’s Pooja Sahasrabudhe (11-5, 11-7, 11-5).
Under 21 Men’s Singles
…………Ivor Ban, no global status, caused a major opening round upset; he beat Slovakia’s Adam Brat (11-3, 8-11, 11-4, 11-8).
…………Japan’s Takeru Kashiwa caused the biggest first round surprise; the no.41 seed, he accounted for Germany’s Nils Hohmeier, the no.6 seed (9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8).
Under 21 Women’s Singles
…………Sweden’s Christina Källberg caused the biggest upset, she beat Turkey’s Ozge Yilmaz (8-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-6), the fourth highest ranked player in qualification stage duty.
…………Chinese Taipei’s Su Pei-Ling, Japan’s Haruna Ojio and Russia’s Anastasia Kolish, the leading three names in the qualification tournament all secured group first places in their groups and the progressed to the main draw.
Dear friends,
For one more year the ITTF has been present at the SportAccord Convention – the world sport and business summit, focused on driving positive change internationally and dedicated to engaging and connecting international federations, rights holders, organising committees, cities, press and media, businesses and other organisations involved in the development of sport.
This time, the ITTF had three delegates on site: our President, Thomas Weikert, our Secretary General, Raul Calin, and our Marketing Director, Matt Pound. They kept our CEO, Steve Dainton, updated on the different meetings this week, and we decided it was good to share with our membership the key outcomes.
Probably the pinnacle of the Convention was, once again, the ASOIF General Assembly, which was held on Tuesday 7th May.
ASOIF is the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations, the group of the “core” 28 IFs present in the Olympic Games.
During the GA, its President, Francesco Ricci Bitti, and its Executive Director, Andrew Ryan, talked about the impressive impact the report “FUTURE OF GLOBAL SPORT” issued on 28th February, has had around the world of sport.
You may remember that already on 6th April our CEO shared with you the report and also an article that appeared in SPORTCAL.
During the two months since the report was released, there have been many discussions among the International Federations, and there is a clear consensus on a few points, already mentioned on the “Executive Summary” of the report:
Thus, when three delegates at our AGM questioned some of the decisions taken by our Executive Committee in regard to good governance measures, probably the best answer we can give is asking them to read the ASOIF report.
Hence, the idea of establishing World Table Tennis, as a vehicle to drive the ITTF commercial interest in the future, can be considered as one of the pioneering initiatives in this respect. It fits perfectly with what the global sport leaders are suggesting.
Skeptical about TTX? Consider it as the perfect door for the ITTF to discover, engage and attract future table tennis fans and players.
But there is much more. When digging on the report, you can see specific sections for the different areas which you could already see in the ITTF Strategic Plan launched in May 2018. To just mention a few:
Governance (the first of our five strategic priorities)
So yes, it is time to accomplish the second phase of our Constitution review and, certainly, put the athletes higher in the agenda. The ITTF will be approaching their members in the coming months with some proposals.
Entrepreneurialism (implicitly part of our fourth and fifth strategic priorities)
Back to the report of ASOIF, it is quite “symbolic” that the page 40, speaking about the recommendations for a Well Governed Entrepreneurial IF, features our sport in the picture.
Furthermore, it is good to mention that, during his speech, Andrew Ryan quoted this sentence from Simon Morton, COO of UK Sport:
And if we reflect on the recent actions that our AGM, BoD and EC have accomplished in the last two years:
- Ensuring a new model of the World Table Tennis Championships to be more aligned to the modern-day society, which immediately had the positive effect of the ITTF being able to take the event to a new market, Houston, USA.
- Conducting an open and transparent public tender for the ITTF’s 2021 Commercial rights to find private investment into the sport. The tender has been very well received in the sports business world with 45 companies expressing their interest to be involved to collaborate with the ITTF’s new commercial vehicle World Table Tennis.
- Collaborating with T2, initially a potential competitor and, today, an ITTF partner, what has proved to be a smart move, and we look forward to the T2 events in 2019.
- Adapting our World Ranking to support our events. It seems obvious, but now our best players are playing our events and we can prove to the market that our products are even seen to be valuable by our internal stakeholders.
- Putting more focus on the players and athletes – starting with some support on marketing and also pushing now to have even closer relationships through attempting rule changes to ensure they are treated as the real stars of the show. Not to mention an eventual move towards more high-performance support through our High Performance and Development programs.
Besides the formal General Assemblies of ASOIF, GAISF and IMGA, our delegates had numerous meetings with different cities, regional and national representatives present in Gold Coast, as well as with some technology companies and partners.
All in all, a productive week where the ITTF also shared with the colleagues the progress being made and actually was referenced by ASOIF leadership at their GA.
What is next?
Well, another of the enthusiastic projects the ITTF in embarking on is seeking the global Home of Table Tennis. A place where the ITTF staff works under the same roof, connected with a training hall where the High Performance Director can work daily with talents from different corners of the world, and then returning to the offices to seat and discuss planning of the calendar with the Competition Director and the Marketing Director. Identically, the ITTF is thinking of establishing an I+R area, where we can bring in-house all the expertise on the different materials, racket coverings, balls, nets, tables, flooring, etc.
A center of knowledge, a center of investigation, helping the ITTF to better position itself for the future in the ever more competitive global sport field.
Editorial
Wales' next coach Wayne Pivac has suggested defence coach Shaun Edwards' decision to leave after the World Cup was a financial one.
Edwards held talks about joining Pivac's new-look backroom staff but will leave the Welsh Rugby Union and is tipped to join up with France.
"We had some talks with Shaun and they were productive, but we did not quite get it over the line," said Pivac.
"It is an individual choice and probably a financial one."
Scarlets defence coach Byron Hayward is being tipped to be in Pivac's backroom staff with Stephen Jones and Jonathan Humphreys already confirmed.
Pivac said he would discuss the Wales coaching issue next week after his final game in charge of the Scarlets, who face the Ospreys for a Heineken European Champions Cup play-off place at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday.
Warren Gatland steps down after the World Cup in Japan when forwards coach Robin McBryde will join Leinster.
Backs coach Rob Howley has held talks to become the new Munster attack coach, leading Gatland to raise fears about Wales losing the "intellectual property" of their top coaches.
Pivac believes his new-look team can add some insight of its own.
"It happens," said Pivac. "Everyone has their tenure and they have had had a fantastic tenure.
"The last 18 months has been tremendous to watch with the growth of the team. That's the exciting part of going in now and seeing whether we can add value to that.
"It is not a case that intellectual property goes and the new one comes in.
"Within that intellectual property a group of players is a part of it so there will be a lot of information shared early.
"Making sure we are not going in there and rip things apart because it is not broken."
Du Preez twins join brother Rob at Sale for next season
South African twins Dan and Jean-Luc du Preez will join older brother Rob at Sale Sharks next season after agreeing a loan deal with the Premiership club.
The 23-year-olds will return to South Africa to play in Super Rugby for Natal Sharks in 2020.
Back row Jean-Luc made six appearances earlier this season for Sale during a previous loan spell until January.
Fellow back row Dan has played four times for his country, the last against England in Cape Town last June.
"Both lads are huge men with a commanding physical presence," said Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond.
Sale already have twins in their squad in 20-year-old flankers Tom and Ben Curry.
On Monday, South Africa prop Coenie Oosthuizen also agreed a move to Sale.
Franco Smith is to take over from Conor O'Shea as head coach of Italy after the 2019 Rugby World Cup, according to his employers in his native South Africa.
Bloemfontein's Pro14 side the Cheetahs confirmed their head coach is leaving to take charge of Italy in January.
In a statement, the club wished Smith "the best of luck with the opportunity to coach on an international level until the next World Cup in 2023".
The Italian Rugby Federation have yet to comment on the coaching change.
Former Ireland international O'Shea has been in charge of Italy since 2016. It remains to be seen what role, if any, he will have with the Azzurri next year.
The Cheetahs say Smith, 46, will remain in charge for their Currie Cup campaign until the end of November, before joining Italy on 1 January 2020.
Smith, who won nine caps for the Springboks, finished his playing career in Italy with three seasons at Benetton Treviso before spending six years as head coach of the Italian outfit from 2007 to 2013.
Saracens win Champions Cup: What lies ahead for Mark McCall
He's one of the most successful coaches in English rugby history - but Mark McCall remains something of an enigma.
Saracens' Champions Cup victory over Leinster was their third European title in four seasons, making it seven major trophies for McCall since he took charge of the club in 2010.
Known as the 'Silent Assassin' by his players, former Ireland centre McCall is a leader happy in the shadows. But why is the Northern Irishman rarely discussed when it comes to a major international role?
With England looking for a new coach post-Eddie Jones, should McCall's name be in the frame? And would he even want it?
The Rugby Union Weekly team of former England winger Ugo Monye, BBC Sport rugby union correspondent Chris Jones and England scrum-half Danny Care are joined by Saracens and England hooker Jamie George to discuss what McCall does next...
CJ: I don't really get why he's not considered one of the greatest coaches in rugby. Surely if you're the RFU you've got to be thinking this is a man who knows the players, knows the system, knows the pathways, has a great record in one-off games and he deals with all that tension and expectation.
JG: I'm happy with him where he is. It's surprising he's not talked about, as he's got a proven track record and he played international rugby as well. He would be amazing if he stepped into an international role, but we'll try and keep him where he is for now.
CJ: I don't know if he'd want to be the England coach. Unlike loads of coaches out there he never talks about himself, ever. You can't get him talking about his background, his playing career, his hopes or ambitions, anything. It's not about him, it's about the players. We don't know whether he has 'higher' ambitions and wants to coach international rugby. But the contract extension he signed to stay at Allianz Park until at least 2022 would suggest not.
JG: He's a quiet guy but he's also very relaxed around the camp. But when he gets into the rugby side of things he's a very intense man and it's true we call him the 'Silent Assassin'. He's probably the most competitive person I've ever come across and that's infectious for us. He's very clever as well in terms of the messages he gives to the group and he's loved by every single person in that squad.
UM: It's a shame that we even have to ask the question of whether he'd want to coach at the highest level with England. For as big a job as it is, and the honour that comes with it, there's a lot of baggage that would make it less desirable for coaches to want to leave their successful Premiership sides.
DC: Rob Baxter has said it before, he loves being the Exeter coach. If he enjoys it and he's successful, then why can't he do that for the next 20 years? Mark McCall is the most successful coach ever, would he really want to leave? Or would he want to get five stars on the jersey and win even more Premiership titles? The players and fans love him and he's obviously doing something incredible there. If you were in his shoes would you want to leave a legacy, being the best team in England and Europe.
UM: If you look at the age demographic of this Saracens squad: Mako Vunipola, Billy Vunipola, Ben Spencer, Jamie George, Owen Farrell... this team hasn't even peaked and that's frightening for everyone. For Mark McCall, who has laid the foundations and created so much success, I think he'd want to see these guys reach their heights and I'm not sure they're aware of where they can go. It's success from top to bottom and I think he'd want to see the job through. But as for that end date, you just never know...
DC: There's so much pressure with being an international coach and if you don't perform come a World Cup, usually those coaches are shown the door. For Paul Gustard, one big thing for him coming back to club rugby at Harlequins was to work with players every day. With England, he found it hard to have a stint of six weeks to work with players and make them better but then he wouldn't see then for five months. He loves being there on the training park every day and trying to win things. Maybe that's what Mark McCall likes doing.
CJ: English rugby has tried everything with their head coach. They've tried the company man, the number two, the great former player, the big-hitting foreigner, they've never tried the best club coach in the land. But maybe Danny is bang on and it's more trouble than it's worth, and that's why it's suited to a Warren Gatland who knows all about international rugby. But it's a bit of a shame that people like Rob Baxter and Mark McCall don't seem to be in the conversation when maybe they should be.
YUMA, Ariz. – A race car driver was killed following a crash Saturday evening at Cocopah Speedway.
Mike Corning was competing in a modified event at the three-eighths-mile track when he struck a berm in the infield, rolling his race car between four and five times according to a report from 10news.com.
According to his family, Corning was on his way to a local hospital with his father and a family friend when he suffered a stroke. It was later discovered that he had developed a blood clot, leading to the stroke.
He was later airlifted to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, Calif., where he died as a result of his injuries.
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help Corning’s family with expenses.
KNOXVILLE, Iowa – The 30th annual National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction festivities will be held Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1 in Knoxville, Iowa.
Pre-ordering banquet tickets will save you $5. Tickets are $25 in advance, or $30 at the door.
One of the highlights of the weekend includes the attendance of previous National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductees, making the Friday, May 31, festivities at the museum a must attend event.
This year, that will be elevated with a screening of the documentary, “The Legend of Stan Bowman” in the museum’s theater on the second floor. Stan Bowman rose to quick prominence, winning with USAC at Eldora, before tragedy struck in Terre Haute. Several of his contemporaries including Johnny Rutherford and Mario Andretti are featured.
The film is tentatively scheduled to screen at 5 p.m. John Lucas, one of the makers of the piece, and author of “The Bravest of them All – The Legend of Stan Bowman” will be in attendance.
In celebration of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame’s 30th year, refreshments will be provided follow the screening. At 7 p.m., the annual past inductees round-table discussion will begin on the museum’s second floor. The reception and gathering of previous inductees always includes an open mic discussion with plenty of stories, true or fabricated! The reception is free and open to the public.
Fans will again be treated to a night of stories from some of the greats of the sport. Tom Bigelow, Shane Carson, Ray Lee Goodwin, Lynn Paxton, Bill Utz and Steve Stapp are just a few of our Hall of Fame inductees who have expressed their intention on attending.
June 1 will mark the 30th annual National Sprint Car Hall of Fame induction banquet. The banquet will begin at Noon, and again be held at the Dyer-Hudson Hall on the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville.
Those individuals being inducted for their career achievements include: Drivers – Richard Griffin, Jason Johnson and Stevie Smith; Owners-Mechanics-Builders-Manufacturers-Car Sponsors – M.A. Brown and C.K. Spurlock; Promoters-Officials-Media Members-Event/Series Sponsors – Thomas J. Schmeh and Greg Stephens; and Pre-1945 Era – “Wild” Bill Endicott.
Hall of Fame inductee Pat Sullivan, and Dave Hare, from BAPS and the EMMR, will emcee the event. Following Saturday’s induction, inductees’ families and friends are invited back to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame & Museum’s second floor for the unveiling of the new inductees’ plaques.
Tickets for Saturday’s induction banquet are $25 and can be ordered by contacting Lori DeMoss at 641-842-6176 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Walk-up banquet tickets will cost $30. The banquet will again be held at Noon in the Dyer-Hudson Hall on the Marion County Fairgrounds in Knoxville, Iowa. Festivities will get underway with a catered luncheon from Rib Shack.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Speedway Motorsports Inc. has gone public with its plan to bring NASCAR national series racing back to Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville.
The plan, revealed by Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Executive Vice President Jerry Caldwell to members of the local fair board, featured ideas for a 30,000-seat facility with an expanded concourse, premium seating, pedestrian tunnels and a sound barrier according to The Tennessean.
While funding for the project was seen as a challenge, Caldwell said the proposed $60 million renovation would be financed through bonds and a revenue stream created through alternate uses of the speedway property.
Another remaining hurdle is an apartment building, which is located 20 feet from the track’s entrance. The building and its parking lot impede the flow of traffic on and off speedway property.
At this point no decision on the return of NASCAR to Nashville has been made. Local political officials and Speedway Motorsports officials are continuing to discuss the potential idea. The earliest NASCAR could return to Nashville is 2021. NASCAR’s current contracts with race tracks expires in 2020.
Even if Speedway Motorsports gets the funding and approvals from the city and updates are made to the track, it is up to NASCAR to grant Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville a race date.
The track held at least one Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race a year from 1958 until 1984. The NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series competed there in the 1990s, with the last event for each tour taking place at the track in 2000.
Though NASCAR national racing hasn’t been back to the track since 2000, regional NASCAR tours have competed there in the years since.
The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East competed there from 2007 to 2008, the defunct NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southeast competed there from 1991 to 2006 and the defunct NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour held an event there in 2007. The ARCA Menards Series, which was purchased by NASCAR in 2018, has competed at the track since 2015.
Tony Formosa and his company, Formosa Productions, has operated Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville since 2010. Formosa sanctions weekly racing at the facility as well as the annual running of the All-American 400 for super late models, which will take place on Nov. 2-3.
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