Digest

MOTOR SPORTS

China's off-road racers roar back into action

The inaugural Sanbaishan Cup, the opening stop of the 2020 China Off-Road Professional League, ended on Sunday in Anyuan, Jiangxi province.

The three-day competition was one of the earliest sporting events to resume in China following the shutdown of sports in the country, with organizers making health and safety a top priority.

Over 200 drivers from 18 provinces and municipalities vied for a total prize pool of 518,000 yuan ($73,172) and over 51 trophies across seven groups of races: Super modified vehicle, modified vehicle, production car A, production car B, Jeep Wrangler, UTV, and a race for female drivers.

The competition was not just a long-awaited chance for off-road lovers to return to the sport they love, it was also an opportunity to boost Anyuan's local tourism and economy after a difficult start to the year due to the pandemic, with the event receiving great support from local government.

SNOOKER

Yan fails to make semis of elite tournament

China's Yan Bingtao missed out on a place in the semifinals of the Tour Championship after a 9-6 defeat to three-time world champion Mark Selby in Milton Keynes, England, on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old Yan had qualified for the elite eight-man tournament by finishing sixth in the one-year world ranking list. He was level with Selby at 4-4 after the match's afternoon session but saw the Englishman move up the gears in the evening frames.

"Overall, I'm happy with the way I played," Selby told the World Snooker Tour's website. "The first few frames were obviously quite ropey, but after that I felt I played alright considering we've not had that much match practice and aren't that sharp."

Selby, 37, will face either Shaun Murphy or Mark Allen for a place in the final. The other semifinal will see world No 1 Judd Trump lock horns with Stephen Maguire.

Maguire replaced Ding Junhui after the Chinese No 1 pulled out of the competition to avoid extensive travel from China to the UK. The 39-year-old Scot ousted Australia's Neil Robertson on Saturday.

BASKETBALL

Zhou shows his class as Xinjiang batters Bayi

Zhou Qi was in dominant form as the Xinjiang Flying Tigers swept past the Bayi Rockets 102-82 as part of the CBA's regular-season resumption in Qingdao on Monday night.

"Xinjiang give us major pressure on defense and players on the court kept losing their positions in transition, I hope we can learn from the lesson and don't take any steps backwards," said Bayi head coach Wang Zhizhi.

Team China international Zhou collected 21 points and 17 rebounds, with his two third-quarter 3-point jumpers piling the pressure on Bayi. Five straight points from Tang Caiyu then stretched Xinjiang's lead to 21.

With the second-ranked Flying Tigers home and dry, the final quarter had a training-session feel, with both sides giving young players some minutes on the court.

Arslan, the son of Xinjiang head coach Adiljan, scored 19 points for Bayi. "His work paid off during tough times before, and I'm glad to see he shows more tenacity now," said proud father Adiljan.

Footage of Kobe school games to be auctioned

Kobe Bryant's time in high school will be showcased when around 22 hours of footage of the late hoops legend will be sold on July 23 by auction house Profiles in History.

The footage is from the media library of Stu Ross, who produced High School Sports Show, a syndicated weekly television series seen in 35 cities.

About 60 percent of the Bryant footage is of games involving the Lower Merion Aces from the Philadelphia suburbs.

Ross' library includes 130 hours and more than 700 athletes, including LeBron James, Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Ryan Braun, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal. The footage will be sold in one lot, and the auction house estimates the price will be $250,000 to $350,000.

Bryant, a five-time NBA champion and 18-time All-Star, died in a helicopter crash on Jan 26 at the age of 41.

Bertans opts to give NBA restart a miss

Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans will skip the Disney-based resumption of the NBA season, making him the first known example of a healthy, eligible player sitting out.

Bertans can become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and is expected to command a big contract as one of the league's top 3-point shooters.

Bertans' decision was first reported on Monday by ESPN and confirmed to Associated Press by a source familiar with his plans, speaking on condition of anonymity because neither the player nor team had made an announcement.

In his first season with Washington after being acquired from the San Antonio Spurs as part of a three-team deal in July 2019, the 6-foot-10 (2.09 meter) forward from Latvia was averaging 3.7 made 3s per game, tied for fourth in the NBA when play was suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak. He was shooting 42.4 percent from beyond the arc.

PANDEMIC

Polish ski-jump great Malysz tests positive

Poland's legendary ski jumper Adam Malysz said on Monday that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Malysz won four Olympic medals during the course of his career, standing on the podium twice at both Salt Lake City in 2002 and Vancouver in 2010. He also took four gold medals at the Nordic World Championships and now serves as sporting director of Poland's national team.

On Monday, the 43-year-old informed the media that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

"I had no symptoms at all so I thought I was healthy. I had been sure that the result of the test would be negative. I had felt really great and I got such an unpleasant gift," Malysz was quoted as saying by Polish site Onet Sport.

"I contacted a person who tested positive but I might as well have been infected elsewhere. I always followed the safety rules."

Poland's national team has since asked all its ski jumpers to be tested for the virus.

China Daily - Agencies