[attach id=465288 size="medium"][/attach]
Table Tennis: Precocious 12-year-old Japanese paddler Tomokazu Harimoto (picture, right) faces the most daunting of prospects after becoming the youngest player to qualify for the main draw of an International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) world tour event. Harimoto, ranked 286th in the world, will take on China’s world number one, Olympic and world champion Ma Long in the first round of the Polish Open. Harimoto’s prize came after he beat 32-year-old Croatian Tan Ruiwu in a tight seven-game match in Warsaw on Thursday.
Formula One: The start of second practice at the US Grand Prix was cancelled last night as rain lashed down amid thunder and lightning. With marshals unable to work due to the proximity of lightning and the track undriveable in any case, big screens around the circuit advised fans to seek shelter in their cars or indoors. The forecast for today, when qualifying for tomorrow’s potentially title-deciding race is scheduled, was no better with heavy rainfall likely in the Austin area. Yesterday’s first session was also rain-affected, with Germany’s Nico Rosberg fastest for Mercedes.
Winter Sport: US Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy, who won a silver medal at last year’s Sochi Winter Games, came out as gay in a cover story for ESPN The Magazine published on Thursday, making him the first openly gay action sports athlete. The 24-year-old top-ranked freeskier in the world said he knew he was gay since he was five and that family and friends were supportive when he told them two years ago, according to the article which will hit the news stands next Friday. Kenworthy was part of an American podium sweep in the inaugural slopestyle event at the Olympics and a regular in the Winter X Games.
Basketball: Euroleague holders Real Madrid celebrated their first win of the season in the continent’s premier club competition after a 98-71 home rout of Red Star Belgrade. Having lost in the opening round at Russians Khimki following a curtain-raising Spanish league defeat by Valencia, Real finally fired on all cylinders. The winners of a record nine titles led 56-20 at half-time after hitting seven three-pointers, with 16 assists to Red Star’s four, with American guard Jaycee Carroll scoring 12 points in the opening period. The third quarter was also one-way traffic as Real took their foot off the pedal in the final 10 minutes, allowing the visitors to salvage some pride.
Snooker: Ding Junhui won his first title for 16 months by beating Ricky Walden 4-3 in the final of the Haining Open Asian Tour event in China, yesterday. It’s a welcome return to form for China’s top player, who won five ranking titles during a record-equalling 2013/14 campaign, but then struggled to match the same heights last season, with his only victory coming at the Yixing Open in June 2014. World number four Ding, 28, will hope that this success in Haining, earned by winning seven matches, will give him the confidence to return to the very top. Both players now head to Daqing, in the north of China, for next week’s International Championship, where Walden will be defending the title having won the £125,000 top prize last year.