I Dig Sports
Day Two: Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge Serbia Open
Published in
Table Tennis
Saturday, 04 May 2019 04:00
Anna Bikbaeva maintains form
Required to qualify Russia’s Anna Bikbaeva continued her outstanding run of form; she beat Hungary’s Dora Madarasz, the no.9 seed (11-5, 11-7, 11-9, 11-5) to reserve her quarter-final place.
Alas for India’s Krittwika Roy, also a qualifier, it was the end of the road; despite a spirited recovery, she was beaten by Szandra Pergel, the no.7 seed (11-7, 11-1, 11-9, 9-11, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5).
Mentally strong
Minnie Soo Wai Yam, the no.2 seed, booked her quarter-final place courtesy of success against Japan’s Sakura Mori, the no.15 seed (7-11, 13-11, 11-9, 12-10, 11-7) in a round that witnessed a more than satisfactory outcome for Hong Kong.
“I feel pretty satisfied with my performance. My body condition is not in top form but I was mentally very strong. I just finished the World Championships. I think that I am better tactically from day to day.” Minnie Soo Wai Yam
Zhu Chengzhu, the no.28 seed, suffered at the hands of Russia’s Polina Mikhailova (11-7, 11-9, 11-8, 11-6); however, Ng Wing Nam, the no.3 seed, overcame Stéphanie Loueillette of France, the no.10 seed (15-13, 11-9, 10-12, 5-11, 11-6, 11-6).
“When I lead 2-0, I thought I had opportunities to finish the match. I was little bit too relaxed and I lost next two game. She had a pretty good service and I had to adapt my game. I became more effective in returning her service; finally won this match.” Ng Wing Nam
Ng Wing Nam now faces Polina Mikhailova in the quarter-finals in a quest to restore Hong Kong honour; Minne Soo Wai Yam opposes Italy’s Li Xiang, the no.17 seed. In round three she beat Audrey Zarif of France, the no.20 seed (11-4, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8).
Eyes on the prize
The hot favourite to lift the women’s singles trophy in Belgrade, Hina Hayata took another step in the right direction on her quest for silverware as she overcame fellow Japanese compatriot Airi Abe across five games (11-9, 7-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-6).
“I am glad that I won this match. I never played against Abe before so I had to adapt my game through this match. My plan is to take it step by step until the end…” Hina Hayata
No drama for Slovakian star
A major contender for women’s singles success in Belgrade the Slovak Republic’s Barbora Balazova has extended her stay in the competition, producing a fine 4-0 victory over Hong Kong’s Zhang Wenjing (13-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6).
“I am glad that my match went quite well. I prepared for this match, especially from a mental aspect, because I hadn’t played against her before; I watched some videos of her games. I had to adapt myself for her game and I did so successfully!” Barbora Balazova
Latin American hopes take serious hit but hope remains
Three pairs consisting of players from Latin America suffered elimination at the opening hurdle of the men’s doubles but there is still a glimmer of hope for the continent with the Puerto Rican duo of Brian Afanador and Daniel Gonzalez prevailing in their encounter against Sweden’s Simon Arvidsson and Elias Ranefur (11-4, 11-6, 11-7).
Hong Kong qualifiers stay on course
Unseeded and required to compete in qualification action, Hong Kong’s Li Ching Wan and Zhu Chengzhu are through to the last eight of the women’s doubles draw after posting a 3-1 win over no.5 seeds Bernadett Balint and Mercedes Nagyvaradi (11-2, 1-11, 11-8, 11-6).
There was also success for Ng Wing Nam and Minnie Soo Wai Yam, who accounted for Italy’s Li Xiang and Russia’s Polina Mikhailova in a five-game thriller (7-11, 17-15, 11-6, 7-11, 11-4).
“I am playing with my colleague from national team, we are the number one seeds, and we will try to win this tournament.” Minnie Soo Wai Yam
Tom Jarvis sinks top seed
The top seed of the Under 21 men’s singles event, Tobias Hippler has fallen at the quarter-finals stage of play in Belgrade with the German competitor losing out to England’s Tom Jarvis, seeded fifth, by a convincing 3-0 margin (11-8, 11-5, 11-7).
Home favourite falls
One of Serbia’s leading names but Sabina Surjan has missed out on a spot in the Under 21 women’s singles semi-finals, falling to fourth seeded Russian opponent Maria Malanina in straight games (11-6, 11-3, 11-9).
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A total of 13 hours, the venue for the whole proceedings and the ensuing tournament was the Marrara Indoor Stadium; the premises proving more than adequate for both the seminar and classification.
Notably, seven new para players received their initial classification; two existing players had their classification reviewed. Furthermore, two trainee classifiers in the guise of Carli Harris and David Gutman attended the seminar.
“The small number of trainees allowed ample opportunities for one on one teaching. Australia already has a thriving para table tennis programme and provides assistance to the islands in the Oceania region to develop their para table tennis programmes.” Sharad Pandit
Both Carli Harris and David Gutman responded to the efforts of Pablo Perez and Sharad Pandit and are undoubtedly valuable additions in a part of the world where understandably, the standard of play in the small Pacific islands is much lower than in main land masses of Australia and New Zealand.
“Carli works as a physiotherapist in Melbourne, Victoria and is actively involved both as a player and coach in women’s netball. She demonstrated excellent understanding of the principles of classification and will definitely be a valuable addition to the classifier family in years to come. David Gutman who comes from Perth in Western Australia brings long years of coaching experience and passion for the sport and will definitely add value to the classification process.” Sharad Pandit
A successful initiative was realized, two valuable classifiers appointed.
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The allocation of the tournament to the region completes the full circle; basically qualification for the event is through four distinct regions of the continent, those being North America, South America, the Caribbean and Central America.
In 2016, the inaugural edition was staged in the west coast Canadian city of Burnaby, the following year, Buenos Aires was the destination, before last year Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic played host. Now it is the turn of Central America.
Overall, as is the tradition, a total of 16 teams will compete in each of the boys’ team and girls’ team events. Basically the allocation is four from each of the Caribbean, Central America and South America plus two from North America, being Canada and the United States. One from the Pan American Junior Ranking plus one from the host nation completes the list.
Should the full complement of teams from any region not be filled, the extra places are allocated as per Pan American Junior Ranking.
In addition, for the individual events, players listed in the top 16 of the Pan American Junior Ranking but not already qualified via the team events, receive invitations.
Overall, a national association is limited to four boys and four girls, doubles pairs must be from the same national association; seeding as per the latest available under 18 world ranking lists, in realistic terms June 2019.
Notably the team events will be organized on the World Championships format (A v X, B v Y, C v Z, A v Y, B v X); moreover, three boys’ team and three girls’ teams will qualify for the 2019 World Junior Championships to be staged later in the year in Bangkok.
Qualified Teams
South American Junior Championships
Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Chile
Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay
Central American Junior Championships
Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, El Salvador
El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Belize
Caribbean Junior Championships
Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Barbados, Jamaica
Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico
North America
Canada, United States
Canada, United States
Pan American Junior Ranking
Paraguay
Peru, Argentina, Panama
Host Association
Mexico
Mexico
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ALTAMAHAW, N.C. – Josh Berry overcame an early spin to win Friday’s CARS Late Model Stock Tour 125-lap feature at Ace Speedway.
After starting eighth, Berry spun on the third circuit in an incident that also involved Taylor Gray and Tommy Lemons Jr. Berry sustained little damage in the incident, but he was forced to restart from the tail of the field.
Berry slowly worked his way back to the front and narrowly avoided disaster when Leland Honeyman grazed his right-rear tire before making contact with Bradon Pierce to bring out another caution on the 30th circuit.
Eventually Berry moved his way up to second before a caution for a spin by Mini Tyrrell on lap 89 allowed him to close the gap on race leader Bobby McCarty. McCarty held the lead on the restart, but Berry used his bumper in the fourth corner on the same lap to move McCarty out of the way to take the lead.
Once out front Berry pulled away, easily earning his first CARS Late Model Stock Tour triumph of the season for JR Motorsports.
Ryan Millington, who started from the pole, finished second. Deac McCaskill, McCarty and Adam Lemke completed the top-five.
The finish:
Josh Berry, Ryan Millington, Deac McCaskill, Bobby McCarty, Adam Lemke, Zack St. Onge, Bradley McCaskill, Mini Tyrrell, Sammy Smith, Stacy Puryear, Craig Moore, Jonathan Findley, Camden Gullie, Tyler Matthews, Ronald Hill, Brandon Pierce, Jessica Cann, Trevor Ward, Taylor Gray, Layne Riggs, Cameron Bowen, Tommy Lemons Jr., Justin Carroll, Leland Honeyman, Jason York.
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GAFFNEY, S.C. — Eleven races into the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series season and the series saw its first first-time winner Friday night at Cherokee Speedway. Ross Bailes claimed victory in front of his home state crowd.
Brandon Sheppard yet again scored another second-place finish, after starting fifth and chasing Bailes throughout the latter part of the race. Don O’Neal had a solid showing as well, coming from ninth and climbing to third after battling with Chris Madden and Brandon Overton.
It was almost a perfect night for the Clover, S.C.-native, as he picked up the PFC Brakes Fast Time Award, won his Drydene heat race, redrew the outside pole and led all 50 laps. But it certainly was no cakewalk, as Bailes had the Rocket1 Racing ride of Sheppard knocking on his door for over half of the race.
Sheppard started out steady, passing a car for position here and there before finally making the move around Madden for second on lap 17. It was at that moment Sheppard began to track down the Bailes Construction No. 87. Several restarts presented opportunities for Sheppard to make the move, but to no avail. Until the final 10 laps …
Bailes said he initially didn’t see the No. 1 of Sheppard stick his nose underneath. A late restart put Sheppard right on the Barry Wright house car’s rear bumper, and despite “The Rocket Shepp’s” best efforts, Bailes rode the high line and hold off Sheppard’s heavy pressure.
“I had a guy spotting for me and he’s the one who told me to move up top,” Bailes said. “I thought when he told me to move up, Sheppard was five or six car lengths back, but I guess he was underneath me. I didn’t know exactly where he was, but I knew he was closing in on me and I knew just had to hit my marks.”
Lapped traffic is usually always something the leaders run into over the course of 50 laps, and tonight was no exception. Early on in the longest wave of traffic the leaders faced, Bailes was moving through swiftly. Sheppard then began to close the gap rapidly, actually trimming Bailes’ lead to under one second before the caution came back out. But the real story behind his triumph may have been a collective decision made by the driver and crew before they even hit the race track.
“We went with a softer tire, I thought it was the right call, my team thought it was the right call,” Bailes said. “We got [the harder compound] ready but I never once thought I was going to need it. And I’m glad we did go with the softer tire because it allowed me to get that jump and get out front.”
Look back on the season, Bailes has had so far through the first three months of the racing season, and it’s not hard to see the giant wave of success Bailes is now riding. Since becoming the face of the Barry Wright Race Cars house ride over the winter, Bailes scored a big win at the 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn., back in early April and picked up another win exactly one week ago at the Laurens County Speedway in South Carolina.
“This is the most confident and comfortable I’ve felt in a car this early in the year,” Bailes said. “We’ve won three races, but we started up front almost every single race, so I feel like I let a few go that we should have won. But we’ve just been fast all year.”
Saturday’s event at the Lavonia Speedway has been postponed to October 3, due to impending inclement weather.
The finish:
Morton Buildings Feature (50 Laps) – 1. 87-Ross Bailes [2][$10,000]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard [5][$5,000]; 3. 5-Don O’Neal [9][$3,000]; 4. 2-Brandon Overton [7][$2,500]; 5. 44-Chris Madden [1][$2,000]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb [13][$1,700]; 7. 22-Chris Ferguson [4][$1,400]; 8. 101-Casey Roberts [15][$1,300]; 9. 18-Chase Junghans [23][$1,200]; 10. 75-Donald Bradsher [17][$1,100]; 11. 25-Shane Clanton [18][$1,050]; 12. 7-Ricky Weiss [12][$1,000]; 13. 29-Darrell Lanigan [16][$950]; 14. D89-Dustin Mitchell [22][$900]; 15. 99B-Boom Briggs [27][$150]; 16. 2c-Joey Coulter [11][$800]; 17. 97-Cade Dillard [26][$110]; 18. B1-Brent Larson [25][$110]; 19. 1m-Devin Moran [14][$730]; 20. 8-Jacob Hawkins [8][$700]; 21. 9-Johnny Pursley [6][$700]; 22. 57-Adam Yarbrough [21][$700]; 23. 14-Josh Richards [3][$700]; 24. 88-Trent Ivey [10][$700]; 25. 79-Michael Brown [20][$700]; 26. 18h-Brett Hamm [19][$700]; 27. 36v-Kyle Hardy [24][$700]; Hard Charger: 18-Chase Junghans[+14]
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CHICO, Calif. — Justin Sanders won the 30-lap Brownell Memorial at the Silver Dollar Speedway on Friday night.
The Aramos, Calif., driver led all 30 laps after starting on the pole in the North County Plastering/Andy’s Construction yellow No. 121. Sanders fended off several challenges from Shane Golobic who had to settle for the runner-up spot.
Tim Kaeding would charge from the eighth starting spot to finish third just ahead of Mitchell Faccinto. Bud Kaeding’s No. 0 finished fifth after starting deep in the field.
Dominic Scelzi spun in the fourth turn on the opening lap forcing a complete restart. Sanders had passed polesitter Geoff Ensign but the start was negated. With Scelzi put to the rear of the field, Ensign got a poor restart and Sanders was able to take the lead.
His yellow No. 121 started lapping the back markers by lap five. The race was slowed however two laps later when Richard Brace Jr.’s engine let go in the fourth turn. He would be the first car out the race.
Golobic had moved his Matt Wood Racing No. 17w into the second spot but another spin by Scelzi would bring out the yellow flag again. The lap-seven slowdown allowed Ensign to pit and return for repairs but Sean Watts’ night was over. Sanders got a poor restart allowing Golobic to momentarily slip past him but Sanders regained the lead with a slide job in the third and fourth turns.
The track would go red for a flip by Jason Stalter who sailed off the third turn with a series of hard rolls. After the restart, the two Kaeding Brothers, Tim and Bud, put on a show as once again Sanders took advantage of a clear track for a few laps.
Golobic would make it a close race, but could only get to Sander’s rear bumper as the two crossed the finish line, nose to tail.
Thirty-two 410 sprint cars filled the pit area.
The finish:
Justin Sanders, Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding, Mitchell Faccinto, Bud Kaeding, D.J. Netto, Sean Becker, Dominic Scelzi, Willie Croft, Cole Macedo, Ryan Bernal, Andy Forsberg, Geoff Ensign, Kyle Offill, Blake Carrick, Colby Copeland, Stephen Ingraham, Jason Statler, Sean Watts, Richard Brace Jr.
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HAUBSTADT, Ind. – A morning rain shower and persistent precipitation throughout the week created saturated grounds at Tri-State Speedway, forcing World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and track officials to postpone Saturday’s race until Sunday.
The event’s schedule is being moved up an hour. Qualifying for the $10,000-to-win event is now set to start at 5:30 p.m. and racing will start at 6:30 p.m.
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FREMONT, Ohio – Despite a valiant effort by the track crew at Fremont Speedway, track officials have been forced to cancel the Open Wheel Shootout scheduled for Saturday because of rain.
“We worked throughout the afternoon and evening Friday and got right back at it early Saturday morning but a constant mist and steady drizzle prevented us from making any head-way. It’s a darn shame because I think we would have had a fantastic all sprint car show,” said Ryan Schiets, Chair of the Fremont Speedway promotions team.
Fremont Speedway will be back in action May 18 on Kistler Engines Night with the Fort Ball Pizza Palace 410 Sprints, Fremont Federal Credit Union 305 Sprints and Burmeister Trophy Dirt Trucks in Action.
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Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily: 'Bunch of Jerks' complete sweep
Published in
Hockey
Saturday, 04 May 2019 06:10
Better believe in the "Bunch of Jerks." The Carolina Hurricanes punched their ticket to the Eastern Conference final, completing a sweep of the New York Islanders on Friday night. Meanwhile, the Dallas Stars pushed the St. Louis Blues to the brink of elimination.
Here's a recap of last night's action (check out replays of every playoff game on ESPN+) and what to watch for tonight, in today's edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily:
Jump ahead: Last night's games | Three stars
Play of the night | Today's games | Social post of the day
About last night ...
Game 4: Carolina Hurricanes 5, New York Islanders 2 (Hurricanes win the series, 4-0). The Hurricanes don't always make the postseason, but when they do, they go big. (They've made the playoffs four times since 2002, all four times they've reached the Eastern Conference final). Journeyman goaltender Curtis McElhinney (age 35!) is a win or two away from becoming the stuff of legend this postseason. With another offensive outburst, the Canes are trending toward wagon status, while the Islanders had a hard time mustering any offense, yet again, knowing they'd have to win four straight to stay alive.
Game 5: Dallas Stars 2, St. Louis Blues 1 (Stars lead the series, 3-2). A timely (and pretty) goal from Jason Spezza got things going for the Stars early in the first, as he buried a one-time feed from behind-the-net Tyler Seguin. Esa Lindell also scored, and that was all the offense Dallas needed to take hold of this game, and the series. It's now win or go home time for St. Louis, as they hit the road for Game 6. The Blues need to improve their power play, which went 0-for-4 on Friday and is now 2-for-16 in the series. Their third power play was particularly brutal, and the the crowd in St. Louis let them know it with some boos.
1:39
Stars take Game 5 vs. Blues
Jason Spezza opens the game with a quick goal and Esa Lindell adds another in the 2nd period as the Stars top the Blues 2-1 for a 3-2 series lead.
Three Stars
1. Ben Bishop, G, Dallas Stars
What a start for Bishop in front of his hometown crowd. He shoveled away 38 saves to record the win.
2. Teuvo Teravainen, LW, Carolina Hurricanes
His goal to open the second period -- which proved to be the game-winner -- began the surge. The Finn finished with a goal and assist.
3. Curtis McElhinney, G, Carolina Hurricanes
A journeyman goaltender gets his moment; he was solid to earn the win for the home crowd and had a few beauty saves.
THIS ONE'S GONNA BE ON A LOOP pic.twitter.com/vVCL01F4n3
- Carolina Hurricanes (@NHLCanes) May 4, 2019
Play of the night
Roope Hintz is having quite the playoff run. This backcheck to breakup a shorthanded chance highlights the Finn's speed.
Hintz with the �� skates on the backcheck on a Pietrangelo shorthanded chance. pic.twitter.com/32EJ4HRZ0h
- Hockey Playoff Szn Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) May 4, 2019
Dud of the night
Robin Lehner wasn't the dud here. His team broke down in front of him and that's why the Islanders lost. The dud is how his spectacular season ended. What's worse: after Lehner was pulled in the second period, he had to watch the game, isolated, ways away from his team, thanks to cruel arena construction.
The goalie, however, shows unrelenting class:
Not the ending we wanted. I'm so proud of this group. This organization has a bright future! From the bottom of my heart me and my family want to thank the islanders fans for the great support. Never gonna forget this year of my life. Good luck too Carolina. Great team.
- Robin Lehner (@RobinLehner) May 4, 2019
On the schedule
Columbus Blue Jackets at Boston Bruins, Game 5, 7:15 p.m. ET (Series tied, 2-2)
Welcome news for the Boston Bruins: the stars are OK. After combining for just one goal in the first three games, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak helped account for thee of the goals in Game 4. And after letting Sergei Bobrovsky hog the headlines early, Tuukka Rask looked terrific in Game 4 (saving 39 of 40 shots, though it probably should have been a shutout, given that the Jackets' lone goal came after the puck hit the netting). The Blue Jackets like how they played in Game 4 (minus taking so many penalties) and probably won't change much for Game 5; Columbus believes this is going to be a series decided by special teams.
Colorado Avalanche at San Jose Sharks, Game 5, 10 p.m. ET (Series tied, 2-2)
The Nathan MacKinnon lovefest will continue (and rightfully so). MacKinnon is the most dominant star remaining in these playoffs; he and Mikko Rantanen are a scary good duo right now, combining for 11 goals and 26 points in nine games. Tyson Barrie is also having a monster playoffs. Meanwhile, don't be surprised if you see some new looks from the Sharks' power play; they need to get something going there (1-for-9 so far this series). One obvious area for improvement: winning the possession battle with the man advantage. The Sharks haven't won nearly enough power-play faceoffs.
Social post of the day
What do we have here? A rare case of an NHL player ... trolling an opponent?
Dougie Hamilton head tapping Nelson in the handshake line ��. pic.twitter.com/1EWhOBnmx6
- Paul Bissonnette (@BizNasty2point0) May 4, 2019
Quotable
The kid knows how to stay in the zone.
Exchange in #stlblues dressing room this morning with goalie Jordan Binnington:
Scribe: "Montgomery said yesterday you lost your cool."
JB: "Who's Montgomery?"
Scribe: "The Dallas coach."
JB: "Oh."
#nhlstars- Mike Zeisberger (@Zeisberger) May 3, 2019
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Kuang, 14, fires 69 to climb into top 50 at Volvo China Open
Published in
Golf
Saturday, 04 May 2019 02:20
SHENZHEN, China – First he made the cut, now he's inside the top 50. There's no holding back 14-year-old Chinese golfer Yang Kuang in his first-ever European Tour event.
With a 3-under 69 that featured five birdies in his first 10 holes, Kuang moved into a tie for 44th place after the third round Saturday in his historic appearance at the Volvo China Open.
On Friday, he became the youngest person to make the cut at a regular European Tour event – outside the majors – at 14 years, 6 months, 12 days.
Kuang is 12 strokes behind the leader, France's Benjamin Hebert, who shot 8-under 64 to move 17 under overall. Hebert is three shots clear of Mikko Korhonen(65) and Jorge Campillo (68).
Second-round leader Wu Ashun dropped to fourth place after an even-par 72.
Kuang qualified for the China Open by winning the China Junior Match Play Championship in December, and has been playing in China-based events in the PGA Tour Series. He is still at school and says he manages to get in only about 15-20 hours of practice a week. He said he was underprepared heading into the China Open because he only recently completed his midterms.
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