Snooker: Ding Junhui was China’s flag bearer at the Asian Indoor Games opening ceremony in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday. The Games will feature 45 nations competing in 12 different sports including kickboxing, short course swimming, futsal and cue sports. There will be ten gold medals available in cue sports including snooker. Players competing will include Ding, Cao Yupeng, Xiao Guodong, Iran’s Hossein Ayouri, India’s Aditya Mehta and Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham.
Tennis: Mo Farah did not know he was breaking Wimbledon rules when he filmed play from the Royal Box on his mobile phone. The double Olympic gold medallist uploaded footage which he posted on Twitter on Wednesday following a visit to the tournament. Farah said: “I didn’t realise that I had done anything wrong... I was just sharing some of the things I was up to.” The day ended on a lighter note for Farah, though. Having used Novak Djokovic’s Twitter question and answer session to ask the world no.1 who he would like to face from another sport, he was told: “I would like to play you. We could play a little tennis and then we run. We can see how that goes.”
Boxing: Frankie Gavin added the Commonwealth welterweight title to his British belt with an impressive seventh-round stoppage of Denton Vassell in Liverpool late Friday. The Birmingham southpaw extended his unbeaten record to 16 fights, with 12 inside the distance, and ended Vassell’s at 20 after leaving the Mancunian with a suspected broken jaw. Vassell had defended his Commonwealth title three times in his three-year reign, the most recent against the previously undefeated Ronnie Heffron last November, but had no answers on Friday in the face of a blistering performance from 27-year-old Gavin.
Cricket: England and Wales will host the inaugural World Test Championship in 2017, the ICC announced yesterday. Following the annual conference of the sports governing body in London, the ICC confirmed that the new competition will replace the 50-over Champions Trophy. The ICC had hoped to launch a world test championship this year but broadcasters locked into lengthy deals curtailed those plans and it was postponed. The success of the recently completed Champions Trophy in England and Wales, won by India, had led to calls for the event to be retained.
Ice Hockey: Three men have been arrested by Swedish police after Winnipeg Jets defenceman Tobias Enstrom was attacked and robbed in his home town of Ornskjoldsvik, local media reported. A witness told newspaper Ornskjoldsviks Allehanda that the 28-year-old was seen withdrawing money from a cash machine just before midnight. When the witness returned five minutes later, Enstrom was lying on the ground. Enstrom, who turned down the chance to be part of Sweden’s recent world championship-winning team, played 22 games for the Winnipeg Jets last season, scoring four goals and making 11 assists.
Swimming: Olympic champion Missy Franklin clinched her fourth title when she swam the fastest time of the year to win the women’s 100 metres backstroke at the US National Championships on Friday. The Indiana meeting is doubling as trials for the World Championships in Barcelona from July 28-Aug. 4. Franklin, who came from behind at the turn to beat Elizabeth Pelton in 58.67 seconds, had already qualified in the 100 and 200 freestyle, the 200 backstroke and earned a place in both the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relay squads.