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#Rio2016: Team China sweeps all table tennis medals in male singles

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8 years ago

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Raising high a heart-shaped gesture with both hands, Ma Long celebrated his first Olympic gold medal in a quiet but unique style.

The world No. 1 completed his Grand Slam request and came out the fifth male paddler to do so in table tennis after winning an All-Chinese final over defending champion Zhang Jike here on Thursday at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

“To win a gold medal at Olympic Games has long been my dream ever since I started my career as a table tennis player,” said Ma after the 37-minute final.

“Today I live up to my dream,” he added. “But most importantly, Jike and I played a high-level game and showed the very best of table tennis. I think that’s more important than winning a medal, in sake of the sport and its future.”

Ma made short work of teammate Zhang 14-12, 11-5, 11-4, 11-4. It has been Team China’s 11th gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, while Zhang added a silver.

The victory puts the reigning world champion, 27, in the same league of such legendary players as his coach Liu Guoliang, China’s women’s national coach Kong Linghui, Sweden’s Jan-Ove Waldner and his opponent of the final Zhang Jike.

“There’s a very long list for me to thank, and I’d like to put Jike’s name on it,” said Ma. “He’s been one of the best paddlers in the world for the past few years and I regard him as a rival, a friend and a model to chase after.”

“I’ve been very motivated with Zhang competing against and playing alongside with me,” he added.

Already a Grand Slam winner four years ago after being crowned at the world championships, world cup and Olympic Games in just 15 months, Zhang made too many unforced errors and failed to perform his trademark backhand Thursday evening to easily surrender.

The first set was his best chance, though the 28-year-old suffered a slow start as usual to trail 8-4 after opening it in style.

Coming back to his normal level of play, Zhang pulled five points in a row to take the lead 9-8, but the Qingdao native again stumbled before losing it 14-12 with two unforced errors in the end.

The following games thus went in favor of Ma, who led 6-2, 10-4 in the second set with fast and perfect reaction and kept it that way.

“I’m happy that I well carried out my task of defeating all none-Chinese players to set up a final with my teammate Ma,” proclaimed Zhang.

“No regrets, nor surprise for me, though I failed to defend the title. This is life and this is what competitive sports look like. It’s cruel but exciting,” he said.

“There’s any kind of match and any kind of result. You can’t win every single time. And being unpredictable is what made a competitive match perfect,” he added.

Earlier in the evening, Jun Mizutani won the first ever Olympic men’s as well as singles medal of table tennis for Japan after beating 40-year-old Belarus veteran Vladimir Samsonov 4-1 in the third-place play-off.

“I’m huge exciting and obviously happy about it,” said Mizutani, talking about the history he’s just made. “It proved the level of us in terms of Japanese team’s improvement.”

“Running up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Game, we’ll keep it in our mind that we want to be the strongest in the world. And we’ll be training very hard for this to the very end.”

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Iheanacho, Ndidi promoted back to EPL with Leicester City

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2 days ago

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April 27, 2024 3:14 pm

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Leicester City gained promotion back to the English Premier League (EPL) on Friday night.

The 2016 EPL champions were relegated last season. The Foxes’ promotion was confirmed following Queens Park Rangers’ 4-0 win over promotion-chasing, second-placed Leeds United.

Leeds United’s defeat means Leicester have an unassailable points haul that ensured they have picked up one of the two automatic promotion tickets.

The Midlands club earlier put their foot at the door with a 5-0 win over Southampton on Tuesday night in a match where Wilfred Ndidi, the Super Eagles of Nigeria midfielder, scored a goal.

Ndidi, who will return to the EPL with Kelechi Iheanacho, his international teammate, also congratulated the club via a post on X.

“Congratulations to me, the boys, the staff the club and the amazing fans.. 2 more to go!!! We back!! 😁,” the 27-year-old midfielder wrote.

Enzo Maresca’s team tops the championship table with 94 points and is well-placed to win an eighth championship title.

The King Power side have a four-point lead with two matches left in the 44-game season.

Leicester can now claim the championship title on Monday with a victory at Preston if third-placed Ipswich fail to beat Hull City on Saturday.

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No talks with Peseiro over Eagles return, says sports minister

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2 days ago

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April 27, 2024 10:31 am

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John Enoh, minister of sports development, says there is no ongoing negotiation to return Jose Peseiro as Super Eagles head coach.

On Thursday, there were reports that the minister had contacted Peseiro and was negotiating a potential return of the Portuguese to the helm of Nigeria’s men’s national team.

Reacting to the claims in a statement signed by Diana Mary-Nsan, his media aide, the minister described the reports as “entirely false” and “fabricated to create sensation”.

The statement added that Enoh “does not interfere or influence critical decisions of the federations” and “ensures that the federations meet the required expectations and standards in the discharge of their duties”.

Peseiro exited the Eagles role in February after leading the team to a silver medal-winning campaign at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d’Ivoire.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is yet to announce a permanent replacement for the Portuguese since then.

The federation had called for public applications from interested and qualified candidates to fill the role, but little has been let out after.

On April 19, Enoh announced that a new coach would be named within the next two weeks.

Finidi George was the Eagles’ interim head coach for two international friendlies against Ghana and Mali in March.

Finidi led the Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Ghana in his first game at the helm but lost 2-0 to Mali in the second game.

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Juventus ordered to pay Ronaldo €9.7m unpaid salaries

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2 weeks ago

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April 18, 2024 10:01 am

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Juventus must pay Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo 9.7 million euros ($10.4 million) in back wages for the 2020-21 season, the Italian courts announced on Wednesday.

The Court of Arbitration, to which Ronaldo appealed, “orders Juventus Turin to pay the sum of 9,774,166.66 euros”, plus interest and procedural costs, it stated in its decision.

The sum equates to the difference between the salary actually received by Ronaldo and that which he should have received after tax and other deductions.

Ronaldo, who spent three seasons in Italy with Juventus (2018-21) before joining Manchester United (2021-22) and then the Saudi club Al Nassr, was claiming 19.5 million euros but the arbitration panel reduced that by 50 per cent.

Contacted by AFP, Juventus declined to comment, but said it would be issuing a statement “shortly”.

According to the rankings drawn up by the American business magazine Forbes, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was the world’s highest-paid sportsman in 2023, with $136 million, including $46 million in wages.

Juventus, who are listed on the stock exchange, recorded losses of 123.7 million euros in the 2022-23 financial year, which ran to the end of June, it announced in October.

No provision has been made in the accounts of Italian football’s most successful club, currently third in Serie A, for the payment of this wages backlog.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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