Basketball, NBA: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade combined for 79 points as the Miami Heat prevailed 141-129 in a double overtime marathon against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. James scored 40 points, a career-high 16 assists and eight rebounds while Wade tacked on 39 to rescue the Eastern Conference leading Heat (41-14) and give them a league-high 12th consecutive victory.

Table Tennis: China has put the grand slam winning duo of Liu Guoliang and Kong Linghui in charge of maintaining the country’s for-midable dominance in world table tennis, the country’s media said yesterday. Liu, who won both the singles and doubles gold medals at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, has been appointed China’s general head coach while retaining the same position with the men’s team, the Xinhua news agency reported. Kong, who partnered Liu in Atlanta and won the singles gold in Sydney four years later, would be in charge of the women’s team.

Snooker: Ding Junhui delighted the home crowd at the Haikou Open by beating Michael Holt in a final-frame decider to reach the second round. The Chinese favourite led 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 but was made to battle all the way by the world number 27 before getting over the line with a 50 break in the ninth frame. There was no such joy for Ding’s 15-year-old compatriot Lu Haotian, who was beaten 5-0 by world number two Mark Selby.