Dutchman Boom takes Tour of Britain lead

LONDON: Dutch rider Lars Boom took the overall lead in the Tour of Britain after winning Thursday's stage five time trial.

The Lotto NL-Jumbo rider, who won the race in 2011, timed 19min 2sec around the 16-kilometre route in the coastal town of Clacton-onSea in southeast England.

Team-mate Victor Campenaerts of Belgium was second in the time trial, six seconds slower. He is eight seconds behind Boom overall, in second place.

The highest-placed Briton is Team Sky's Geraint Thomas, who is ninth overall after coming eighth on Thursday.

Friday's 187km sixth stage will run from Newmarket to Aldeburgh.

The race ends in Welsh capital Cardiff on Sunday. - AFP KULA LUMPUR: Senior national paralympic ping pong player Ting Ing Hock is determined to contribute at least two gold medals at the 9th ASEAN Para Games in 2017 before he draws the curtains over his illustrious 14-year career.

The 52-year-old from Kuching, Sarawak, said after being picked as a coach in the National Sports Council's (MSN) development programme in 2015, his focus was more on producing more paralympic ping pong players.

The man who won five gold medals in the 2005 ASEAN Para Games in Manila said it was not an easy task to juggle being a coach and an athlete at the same time.

"This may be my last appearance after 14 years of being an athlete, and I want to make sure I can contribute something to the country.

"It is understood that no Malaysian has ever participated in the ASEAN Para Games holding two positions (of a coach and athlete). It's not an easy task, because I need to be able to divide the time to train the players and do my own training as well," he said.

Ting looks to end playing career with two Para ASEAN golds