HANGZHOU (XINHUA) – China defeated Japan 3-0 to clinch its fifth consecutive women’s team title in table tennis at the Hangzhou Asian Games yesterday.

China swept aside Thailand 3-0 to advance into the final, while Japan triumphed 3-1 over South Korea in the other semifinal on Monday.

China raced ahead in the final as world number one Sun Yingsha beat Hina Hayata 3-1 (11-6, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9). “My teammates gave me much support when I played on the field, and we become more and more united,” Sun said after the match.

Olympic champion Chen Meng rallied from a 1-2 deficit to edge Miu Hirano in full games (12-10, 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-5) to move China further ahead, and the hosts secured the title following Wang Manyu’s 3-1 (6-11, 11-4, 11-7, 13-11) victory over 15-year-old Miwa Harimoto.

“It was one of the fiercest matches recently against Japan. My team embodies the spirit of unity and struggle. I believe they will be better in the next games,” said head coach of China’s women’s team Ma Lin.

“We all tried our best to play against the powerful team China, but it’s a pity to lose the games, and we’ve got very valuable experience today,” Hayata commented.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Morocco and Algeria are favoured to be named hosts of the 2025 and 2027 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments respectively, with an announcement to be made in Cairo today.

Both are seeking to stage the 2025 edition of the premier African sport event, along with Zambia and a joint Nigeria-Benin bid.

Algeria also entered the 2027 contest, as did Botswana, Egypt, Senegal and a combined Kenya-Tanzania-Uganda challenge.

After a number of deadlines passed without the hosts being revealed, a senior African Football Confederation (CAF) official told AFP “the two hosts will definitely be named on September 27”.

Executive committee members will vote after studying independent appraisals of each 2025 and 2027 candidate, but politics and a promise of regional rotation have complicated matters.

North African neighbours Algeria and Morocco have an adversarial political relationship, which entered the football arena this year.

A ban on Moroccan aircraft flying over Algeria led to the withdrawal of the team representing the kingdom from the 2022/2023 African Nations Championship (CHAN) for home-based players.

Morocco had won the previous two editions and when their request to fly directly to Algeria was denied, they boycotted the tournament, robbing it of one of the title favourites.

Both countries boast superb stadia and infrastructure and football-loving populations, and are capable of delivering world-class Cup of Nations tournaments. But both would like to be the 2025 hosts with leading Moroccan and CAF official Fouzi Lekjaa causing a mid-year stir when he told local politicians that the kingdom would be chosen.

Domestic media quoted him saying “the Fes stadium will have the honour of hosting CAN (Cup of Nations) 2025 matches when Morocco wins the organisation”.

CORDOVA, SPAIN (AFP) – Spain forward Mariona Caldentey said on Monday she hopes the women’s team can compete at the Olympic Games next year, as long as it is under “the conditions we think we deserve”.

A players’ strike threatened to derail the team’s hopes of reaching the Paris Games in 2024, after disgraced former president of the Spanish football federation Luis Rubiales, kissed a player following La Roja’s Women’s World Cup triumph in August.

Rubiales resigned from his post earlier in September after unprecedented outrage but many players called up for Nations League games remained on strike, demanding further changes within the federation, until a deal was struck last week between the two sides and the Spanish government.

The former federation chief is facing sexual assault charges after his kiss on the lips of midfielder Jenni Hermoso, who was not included in the squad.

“We want things to keep advancing, to keep improving, we’ll keep fighting for the same thing,” Caldentey told a news conference. “We don’t want what happened to repeat, these have been very hard days with a lot of stress, we want to win… and be at the Olympic Games, but in the conditions we think we deserve.

“The federation, the CSD (Spain’s sports council) and the players have pledged to make these changes to keep advancing, we hope it all comes off, that we’re on a calmer path and we can keep enjoying football.”

DÉCINES-CHARPIEU, FRANCE (AFP) – Rugby World Cup minnows Uruguay and Namibia clash in Lyon tonight in their own personal “final” where the winner takes home the glory and the loser faces four years of frustration.

Plumped into a tough Pool ‘A’ with three-time champions New Zealand, hosts France and Tier 1 Italy, this match always presented the most realistic hopes for both sides to win a game at the tournament.

And even more so for a Namibia side playing in its seventh World Cup that still searching for a first victory after 25 defeats in as many matches.

Head coach Allister Coetzee has been forced into making eight changes from the team demolished 96-0 by France last time out, with regular captain Johan Deysel suspended after his red card for a headbutt that broke France captain Antoine Dupont’s cheekbone.

But Coetzee also has a host of players missing through injury.

“It’s tough to play four matches in 18 days for any Tier II country, we don’t have a lot of depth,” complained the South African.

“But I must say our players have really stepped up. I call them warriors because it’s really not easy, some teams get 12 days or 13 days off between games.”

There is an extra motivation to finally end their World Cup hoodoo after their best chance of winning a match four years ago in Japan was taken away when their game against Canada was cancelled due to a typhoon. The importance of this match is not lost on either coach or players.

“The players know that a game like this and what a win means for the country can change a lot,” said Coetzee.

“So we’ll pitch up tomorrow (tonight). It’s important for us to get over that final hurdle, there’s a lot at stake for us.”

Winning will not be straightforward against a Uruguay side that has impressed in France.

While Namibia shipped a total of 219 points in their first three matches, the South Americans were competitive in defeats to France (27-12) and Italy (38-17).

“Uruguay has only won three games in all the history of the Rugby World Cup, and this adds perhaps some pressure on our side,” said captain Andres Vilaseca.

“We must accept this as there are a lot of people talking about the good performances we are having at this Rugby World Cup.

“We’ve received very nice messages too, but the truth is that if we do not win against Namibia we wouldn’t confirm this great progress.

“For us it is a final and for them too, it is going to be a very interesting match.”

The two sides have met five times before with Uruguay winning four of those, including a World Cup warm-up in August.

SYDNEY (AFP) – Former Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock has said “the worst thing” Rugby Australia can do is sack embattled head coach Eddie Jones, despite the team’s poor World Cup campaign.

Two-time champions Australia are on the verge of being knocked out in the pool stage of a World Cup for the first time after being routed 40-6 by Wales on Monday and following a shock defeat to Fiji.

Jones was appointed head coach in January, and Australia have lost seven of their eight games since.

The hammering by the Welsh saw Australia drop to their all-time lowest ranking of 10th in the world. Mortlock described Monday’s defeat as a “train wreck”, but urged rugby chiefs to back Jones to take the young Wallabies squad through to the next World Cup, hosted by Australia in 2027.

“As a coach and a leader, he’s unaccountable and he says that,” Mortlock told the BBC’s Rugby Union Daily podcast. “I respect him, in every sense of the word, that he wears it.

“The worst thing that Australia could do is suddenly get rid of him and say ‘no, you’re not the best man for the job’ only after six months or whatever it has been.

“Back your man – you picked him for a reason.

“It was all about building for an amazing runway in the next four years,” Mortlock added, with Australia hosting the British and Irish Lions in 2025 before a World Cup two years later on home soil.

Following the defeat to Wales in Lyon, Jones apologised for the result but denied Australian media reports claiming he had been interviewed by the Japan Rugby Union about coaching their team after the World Cup.

Jones has been criticised for bringing an inexperienced Wallabies squad to France.

“He rolled the dice with youth for this World Cup campaign. I actually respect that,” added Mortlock, 46, who played 80 Tests for Australia, 29 as captain.

“But the flip side is, it doesn’t work quickly, which it normally doesn’t with young players.

“You need time to play together to build up combinations and cohesion.”

PARIS (AFP) – Fly-half Jack Crowley said Scotland will not be taken lightly by Ireland even if the Irish are expected to beat them in their final Pool ‘B’ match on October 7 and secure their place in the quarter-finals.

Crowley is likely to be captain Johnny Sexton’s understudy again – in preference to the more experienced Ross Byrne – after impressing in cameo appearances in the 82-8 romp against Romania and the 13-8 win over South Africa last Saturday.

The Irish top the pool with 14 points but could still lose out on a last-eight spot if they end up in a three-way tie with Scotland and the Springboks.

The statistics are stacked in Ireland’s favour – they are on a record run of 16 successive Test wins and have won their last eight meetings with the Scots.

“I suppose they are going to grow throughout the competition aren’t they?” said Crowley.

“We have come up against them in the Six Nations and they have been one of the toughest competitors you come up against because of the way they play as well, so the game plan again is going to be different compared to the South Africa game.

“So our eyes are firmly on them. Recovering this week, preparation is massive from Wednesday to Sunday and then back into the game week.” The 23-year-old Munster playmaker has been marked out for great things by both Irish legend Ronan O’Gara and Australia’s 1999 World Cup-winning fly-half Stephen Larkham.