On Tuesday night the BBC will honour the heroes. But here are the year’s best dark, devious and downright dumb sporting stories
It has been something of an annus horribilis for Xiangqi, the ancient sport known in the west as Chinese chess. Its troubles started a year ago, on the very day that last year’s anti-Spoty shortlist was published, when Yan Chenglong secured victory in the National Chinese Chess King tournament and headed to his hotel room with a few friends to celebrate.
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