● Zhang Yining has done it yet again. The ruling World No. 1 has won another women’s singles event at the World Table Tennis Championships last week after she defeated defending champion Guo Yue to retain the title she won in 2005. The belle from China hit back from two games down and went on to wrest a 10-12, 3-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 victory over the world No. 2 in the all-Chinese final. The Beijing Olympics gold medallist brought China its 18th women’s singles title at the world championships. Clearly, she is the undisputed queen so far as table tennis goes.

calling the shots

● The Indian hockey team has a new coach. And it’s none other than Spaniard Jose Brasa, the master coach of the International Hockey Federation. Brasa is here to supervise and train the Indian team for the Asian Games that are due in November this year. He is now in Malaysia with the Indian team for the Asia Cup. Though Harendra Singh is the coach for this event, Brasa is there with the players to understand them and their playing styles. He is the second foreigner to coach the Indian hockey players after German Gerhard Rach. Brasa has also shown a keen interest in learning Hindi.

back in action

● Michael Phelps will be back doing what he does best — swim. He returns to competitive swimming after facing a three-month ban that was imposed by the USA Swimming after pictures of him smoking a marijuana pipe were printed in a London tabloid. His first competition after the ban will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. This will be his first competition after winning a record 14 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last year.

back on top

● After Manchester United marched into the ongoing Champions League final following a crushing 3-1 victory over Arsenal, Sir Alex Fergusson, the manager of the team, said that they were ready to reign over Europe. The star of the league, Christiano Ronaldo, said that he was sure that his team would make it to Rome this season. He feels optimistic about Man U becoming the first team to retain the trophy since the European Cup became the Champions League in 1992. Well, with the dream run that the Red Devils have had so far, that sure seems likely.

You can’t get through this week without…

…watching the last few league matches of the Indian Premier League. With Kolkata Knight Riders making an early exit, Calcuttans can now conce ntrate on other favourites. Don’t miss the match between the Deccan Chargers and Dare Devils this evening.