Category Archives: Sport

UK urged to resettle fleeing Afghan women’s football team

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Leeds United have offered support but players face return to Taliban regime unless accepted soon

The UK government is being asked to urgently resettle female players from Afghanistan’s junior football team who fled the Taliban and have been offered a new life with Leeds United.

The 35 young women – many of whom are in their teens – their families and football coaches are in Lahore, Pakistan, on 30-day visas. But the 136-strong group face returning to Afghanistan unless they are accepted by a third country soon – they have to leave Pakistan by 12 October.

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‘Anything I do, I want to be the best’: Usain Bolt

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Can the fastest man on the planet become a chart-topping reggae star?

Hang on,” I can’t help thinking as I wait for Usain Bolt – the Usain Bolt, Fastest Man In The World Usain Bolt – to magically appear on the laptop screen in my kitchen. Bolt has released a reggae album with his childhood friend and manager Nugent “NJ” Walker, and I’ve been granted an interview. Except… has there been some terrible mix-up? Am I interviewing some other Usain Bolt, some lesser-known reggae artist who just happens to share his name? Why on earth would a man widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time, a three-time world record holder, be releasing a reggae record?

But, nope, there he is, beaming at me from a nondescript kitchen somewhere in the world. (He’s actually in the UK, ready to play for the World XI against an England XI at Soccer Aid at Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium; days later, a clip will circulate of the long-retired Liverpool and England footballer Jamie Carragher beating him in a foot-race for a through ball.) He’s got the Bolt brand logo – a black bolt of lightning inside a yellow B – on the left breast of his black T-Shirt. There’s no mistaking it.

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‘We buried our sportswear’: Afghan women fear fight is over for martial arts

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Female taekwondo and karate trainers are forced to practise in secret since the Taliban takeover and fear they may never compete again

On the morning of 15 August, when the Taliban were at the gates of Kabul, Soraya, a martial arts trainer in the Afghan capital, woke up with a sense of dread. “It was as though the sun had lost its colour,” she says. That day she taught what would be her last karate class at the gym she had started to teach women self-defence skills. “By 11am we had to say our goodbyes to our students. We didn’t know when we would see each other again,” she says.

Soraya is passionate about martial arts and its potential to transform women’s minds and bodies. “Sport has no gender; it is about good health. I haven’t read anywhere in Qur’an that prevents women from participating in sports to stay healthy,” she says.

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Lewes’ Kelly Lindsey: ‘In Afghanistan I had to build trust with the players’

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Club’s head of performance talks about coaching the Afghan women’s national team and being ‘100% herself’ in her new role

“We’re eager to do something that the world doesn’t believe is possible, to take this little club and become champions on the world stage and make sure we do it with all the right values,” says Lewes’ new head of performance and former head coach of the Afghanistan women’s team, Kelly Lindsey.

Few people could talk of such lofty ambitions for the south coast team, whose men play in the Isthmian League Premier Division and women in the Women’s Championship, and be taken seriously. Lindsey, though, comes with strong credentials on and off the pitch and feels like the missing piece in the developing project at Lewes, bringing elite performance know-how to the community-owned club that funds its women’s and men’s teams equally.

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Paul Merson: ‘Gambling is a horrible addiction. Your career passes you by’

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The former Arsenal and England player talks about his ‘worst addiction’, as detailed in his often harrowing new book

A few minutes before Paul Merson tells the surreal story which makes him cry, in a beautiful but broken memory, he looks at me intently. “It’s been 36 years of pure madness,” Merson says as he reflects on the gambling disorder which, coupled with alcoholism and a brief but ruinous addiction to cocaine, has scarred his life.

Merson won two league titles and three cups with Arsenal, while playing some visionary football which he produced again for Aston Villa. He won 21 caps for England, played in the 1998 World Cup and, now, at the age of 53, he is a much-loved, or often cruelly mocked, member of Sky Sports’ Saturday Soccer panel alongside his close friend Jeff Stelling.

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Pelé recovering having re-entered intensive care unit in São Paulo

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  • Former player posts: ‘I am still recovering very well’
  • Reports say Brazil legend readmitted due to acid reflux

Pelé has said he is “recovering very well” following reports he had re-entered an intensive care unit at São Paulo’s Albert Einstein Hospital in an apparent deterioration of the three-time World Cup winner’s health, after he left the unit earlier this week.

ESPN Brasil reported on Friday that Pelé was readmitted to the ICU due to acid reflux. The 80-year-old had a colon tumour removed this month and stayed in the hospital for further monitoring.

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Simone Biles says ‘burdens’ of Nassar abuse remained with her at Olympics

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  • Gymnast gives searing testimony at US senate hearing
  • FBI accused of failing to investigate abuse properly

Simone Biles offered emotional testimony on Tuesday at a US senate hearing into the Larry Nassar abuse scandal, an episode that rocked the world of gymnastics and involved some of the most famous young athletes in America.

Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics team doctor, is serving an effective life sentence after abusing dozens of athletes under his care. Biles and other Olympic gold medalists such as Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney are among the survivors of the abuse. On Tuesday, they appeared in front of a senate committee to give searing testimony at the hearing into the FBI’s failed 2015 investigation into the case.

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Emma Raducanu’s Chinese heritage praised by China’s state media

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News outlet points out that US Open champion once attributed her winning confidence to ‘Chinese style of inner faith’

Chinese state media has said the “Chinese style of inner faith” gave British player Emma Raducanu the confidence to win the US Open over the weekend, but some of the country’s internet users asked: why are we calling her Chinese?

Raducanu, 18, became the youngest grand slam winner since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004. The pride in her success was simultaneously shared in China, where her mother was born.

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Super teens: Raducanu and five other young people reaching career heights

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The 18-year-old’s US Open victory puts her among a super-successful group of under-20s

Emma Raducanu’s remarkable victory in the US Open was, among other things, a victory for the fearlessness of youth. The Guardian has picked out six teenagers, including Raducanu, who despite their tender years have already had a huge impact.

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Novak Djokovic v Daniil Medvedev: US Open men’s final – live!

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End second set: *Djokovic 4-6 4-6 Medvedev (* denotes next server)

A service winner and an ace put Medvedev up 30-0.

Second set: Djokovic 4-6 4-5 Medvedev* (* denotes next server)

Djokovic finally makes the “drop shot-and-volley” tactic work as it did against Zverev, though he’s a bit fortunate that Medvedev’s lob attempt is weaker than it should’ve been. Medvedev lobs again at 30-30 and doesn’t miss by much. Djokovic again gets to the net at 40-30 and is able to smash his way to a crucial hold. But can he break?

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‘I don’t feel pressure’: Emma Raducanu loving life after US Open triumph

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  • British teenager beat Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in final
  • ‘I’m still only 18 years old. I’m just having a free swing’

Emma Raducanu has vowed to keep her free-swinging and carefree approach to tennis after pulling off one of the great sporting feats with victory at the US Open – just the British 18-year-old’s second ever major tournament, in which she won 10 matches after coming through qualifying, all of them in straight sets.

Related: Emma Raducanu: British 18-year-old makes tennis history with US Open final win

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‘Kids need two things – love and education’: how Ian Wright and Musa Okwonga are inspiring young people through fiction

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The football star, with help from the author, has turned his experiences of triumph over adversity into a novel for pre-teens, Here the friends discuss fathers, racism and the redemptive power of sport

Sometimes the detail of a single life story can stop half a nation in its tracks. One such arresting moment was the footballer Ian Wright’s extraordinary Desert Island Discs interview with Lauren Laverne in February last year. I had the radio on in the kitchen in the background while I was working to a tight deadline. As soon as Wright started to talk about his childhood, though, I gave up all hope of finishing what I was writing and gave the broadcast my fullest attention. I texted Lisa, my wife, and my daughters to tell them to stop what they were doing and turn it on. By the end, I was crying nearly as much as Wright was.

In recent weeks, when I’ve mentioned to various friends that I was due to talk to Wright for this piece, they have, unprompted, recalled a similar reaction to hearing him as a castaway: a couple of them remembered blubbing and that compulsion to call loved ones to tell them they had to listen too.

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Emma Raducanu makes tennis history with US Open final win

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  • 18-year-old Briton beats Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-3
  • Victor came through qualifying and did not lose a set

There are so many basic milestones that Emma Raducanu has not yet recorded in a professional tennis career that only began in full three months ago. She has never been a direct entrant to a grand slam main draw, she is yet to play a tour-level three set match and she has not even won a match at a WTA tour event.

Yet sometimes a special player comes along and renders convention irrelevant. After three weeks and one of the most astonishing breakout runs in living memory, Raducanu marked herself as a grand slam champion for ever. She ended the US Open where she started it: fearlessly dominating from inside the baseline as she defeated Leylah Annie Fernandez 6-4, 6-3 in a match of the highest intensity to win the title without dropping a set.

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‘This girl means serious business’: the making of Emma Raducanu

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Even from a young age, those around the latest British tennis star suspected she had something special

Emma Raducanu’s unprecedented run to the US Open final so soon after committing to the sport is not the first time she has burst through and demanded attention.

In November 2015, only three days after her 13th birthday, which meant she could finally compete in international under-18 tournaments, Raducanu travelled up to Liverpool for the Nike Junior International tournament. Five matches later, she had won the event.

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England v India fifth Test called off at last minute over Covid concerns

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  • Cloud of uncertainty hangs over result of Test series
  • ECB staring at a £30m financial black hole after decision

England’s summer of Test cricket has ended in dramatic fashion after their series finale against India at Old Trafford was cancelled on the first morning of the match following the recent Covid-19 outbreak among the touring party.

The England and Wales Cricket Board believed the fifth Test would go ahead on Thursday evening after India’s players cleared a full round of emergency PCR tests in response to a fourth member of their backroom staff contracting the virus.

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Emma Raducanu roars past Sakkari to set up US Open final against Fernandez

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When Emma Raducanu arrived at Flushing Meadows this year, she did not have the faintest idea of where to go. So unfamiliar was she with her surroundings, she needed help from her fellow players just to navigate the tournament’s vast grounds.

Her growth over the past three weeks since those timid first steps has been astounding as she outplayed everyone put in front of her. And under the lights of the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night she went even further, producing yet another brilliant performance to reach her first grand slam final.

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Chaos as Brazil v Argentina match abandoned after officials storm pitch in Covid-19 row – video

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Brazil’s World Cup qualifier with Argentina in São Paulo was suspended after just seven minutes as health authorities entered the field of play amid farcical scenes at Neo Química Arena. Three Premier League players - the Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso - were on the pitch while a fourth, Aston Villa’s Emiliano Buendía, was in the stands. The quartet had apparently violated Brazilian regulations stating that travellers who have been in the UK, South Africa or India during the previous 14 days are forbidden from entering the country. The bizarre scenes saw officials, accompanied by police officers, march on to the pitch and bring proceedings to a halt.

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Brazil v Argentina abandoned as health authorities invade pitch

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  • Argentinian quartet accused of lying when entering Brazil
  • Match abandoned after 10 minutes by Brazilian health officials

A World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Brazil was abandoned amid farcical, confused scenes after four Premier League players apparently violated Brazilian regulations designed to contain a Covid outbreak that has killed more than 580,000 Brazilians.

The Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo Celso were all on the pitch at São Paulo’s Neo Química Arena on Sunday afternoon when federal police and officials from Brazil’s health agency, Anvisa, took to the field to halt play after just seven minutes.

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Tearful Naomi Osaka questions future after US Open loss to Leylah Fernandez

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  • Osaka says she will take a break ‘for a while’ after stunning loss
  • Fernandez earns career-best 5-7, 6-7 (2), 6-4 win in third round

Naomi Osaka’s defense of her US Open championship is in tatters and her immediate future on the women’s professional tennis tour in doubt after a shocking third-round defeat to the unseeded Leylah Annie Fernandez, a Canadian teenager ranked 74th in the world.

The third-seeded Osaka, a four-time major champion and the best hard-court player in the world by some distance, lost her composure while serving for the match, came apart during the ensuing tiebreaker and couldn’t right the ship in the third during a 5-7, 6-7 (2), 6-4 loss in 2hr 4min on Friday night.

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Raheem Sterling on target as England rise above abuse to rout Hungary

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It was an evening when, yet again, England had more than mere footballing problems thrown at them. It started with a hail of plastic cups, first for Raheem Sterling and then Luke Shaw, from the diehard Hungary supporters behind one of the goals, and it escalated to a firework – which was hurled in the wake of Harry Maguire’s header for 3-0.

England’s players were celebrating as a group and it was a mighty relief that it missed its target, fizzing for a while before burning out. And then in the closing stages came the low point that everybody had dreaded.

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