China's men beat Germany in table tennis



China trounced Germany 3-0 to win the gold medal in the first Olympic men's team table tennis event today. The men's victory followed the Chinese women's success a day earlier, the first two of the four-gold sweep that China are targeting in their national sport. Unlike the women, who were briefly thrown off their game by the pressure of playing at home, the men revelled in the raucous atmosphere and the outcome never appeared in doubt. China lost only two games along the way.

"This is the first time that the team event has been included in the Olympics and we were really happy to claim the first one for China," said world number one Wang Hao. "We really prepared a long time and gave up a lot waiting for this final today." With the top four players in the world all Chinese, the team competition had long been expected to be an anointment for China, leaving the rest of the world to fight for silver.

"We have a proverb in Germany, 'the final must be won'. We tried to put that in our mind before the final," said the German coach Richard Prouse. "We tried everything to find out the weak point of the Chinese players. It was difficult to find them. On the other hand, they found some weak points in the German team," he said. Wang pounced on Germany's Dimitrij Ovtcharov from his first serve, claiming the opening game in less than four minutes. His rasping topspin pushed Ovtcharov further and further off the table. Wang won 11-4 11-8 and 11-7.

Germany's top player Timo Boll managed to wrest a game off Ma Lin in the second match. Ma looked more energised than rattled by the German's stand and, playing just off the baseline, harried Boll into mistakes, taking the match 11-7 8-11 11-4 and 11-7. Boll won another game in the doubles, partnered by Christian Suss, the lowest-ranked player in the contest by some distance at 40th in the world.

Their opponents, Wang Hao and Wang Liqin, responded by layering smash on top of smash to win three straight games and the contest. "We are really happy. This (silver) is at this moment the maximum that you can reach in the team event because China is too dominant. They are the best team in the world," said Ovtcharov. Struggling Ryu Seung-min discovered his form in time to lead South Korea to the Olympic bronze with a 3-1 win over Austria. * Reuters

LUKA CHUPPI

Director: Laxman Utekar

Producer: Maddock Films, Jio Cinema

Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Kriti Sanon​​​​​​​, Pankaj Tripathi, Vinay Pathak, Aparshakti Khurana

Rating: 3/5

Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
By Dave Lory with Jim Irvin

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Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

QUALIFYING RESULTS

1. Max Verstappen, Netherlands, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1 minute, 35.246 seconds.
2. Valtteri Bottas, Finland, Mercedes, 1:35.271.
3. Lewis Hamilton, Great Britain, Mercedes, 1:35.332.
4. Lando Norris, Great Britain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.497.
5. Alexander Albon, Thailand, Red Bull Racing Honda, 1:35.571.
6. Carlos Sainz Jr, Spain, McLaren Renault, 1:35.815.
7. Daniil Kvyat, Russia, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:35.963.
8. Lance Stroll, Canada, Racing Point BWT Mercedes, 1:36.046.
9. Charles Leclerc, Monaco, Ferrari, 1:36.065.
10. Pierre Gasly, France, Scuderia Toro Rosso Honda, 1:36.242.

Eliminated after second session

11. Esteban Ocon, France, Renault, 1:36.359.
12. Daniel Ricciardo, Australia, Renault, 1:36.406.
13. Sebastian Vettel, Germany, Ferrari, 1:36.631.
14. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:38.248.

Eliminated after first session

15. Antonio Giovinazzi, Italy, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.075.
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Finland, Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari, 1:37.555.
17. Kevin Magnussen, Denmark, Haas Ferrari, 1:37.863.
18. George Russell, Great Britain, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.045.
19. Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazil, Haas Ferrari, 1:38.173.
20. Nicholas Latifi, Canada, Williams Mercedes, 1:38.443.

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UAE v Gibraltar

What: International friendly

When: 7pm kick off

Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City

Admission: Free

Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page

UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs

A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.

The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.

Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.

Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.

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