Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Wheelchair tennis: Hold your horses. Reid breaks back, coming to the net and punching a classy forehand volley past Kunieda. That was some lovely play from the Brit with his back to the wall. There was a beautiful, deft drop shot off the half-volley earlier in the game. He’s trying to gee up himself. It’s 4-2. Reid to serve.
Wheelchair tennis: It’s going to be tough for GordonReid from here. The Brit is now down a second break, trailing 4-1 against Shingo Kunieda of Japan.
Brazilian former football star denies a report of a more serious health issue and says he is in ‘very good health’
Brazilian footballing legend Pelé has said that he was undergoing routine exams in hospital and that he was in good health, denying a report of a more serious health issue.
“Guys, I didn’t faint and I’m in very good health. I went for my routine exams, which I had not been able to do before because of the pandemic,” Pelé, who is 80, wrote on Twitter.
Road cycling: Sarah Storey eclipsed all competition to win her second gold medal in the C5 time trial on Tuesday morning. In doing so she also drew level with the swimmer Mike Kenny as the most successful British Paralympian of all time.
The Dame finished a minute and a half clear of teammate Crystal Lane-Wright and, at points, was catching the tail of the men’s race at the Fuji International Speedway circuit, so dominant was her performance. That is standard for Storey, who spoke afterwards of the “single-mindedness” that has brought her 16 gold medals to this point and the prospect of another, a record-breaking 17th, in two days’ time.
Athletics: Another Aussie success on Tuesday morning for James Turner, who won the men’s 400m (T36). Turner finished well ahead in 52.80 seconds, pushing himself so close to the limit he required medical attention afterwards (all was fine).
“I’m quite emotional right now,” he said. “A lot of work has been done by a lot of people to get me here. The last 50 of a 400 is always hard – the heat and the effort. My muscles started tightening up, I started losing control of them, but I was able to hold it together with my training.”
A dedicated crew of people helped the women’s national football team and others to flee the Taliban over two remarkable weeks
“We have been working like fingers on one hand, with different roles, and we came together as a big strong punch,” says the former captain and one of the founders of the Afghanistan women’s national football team, Khalida Popal. She is talking about the small team that pulled off the mission to evacuate 100-200 Afghan athletes and a number of individuals connected to them from the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul.
Across a two-week period those fingers worked tirelessly around the clock and across numerous time zones, tracking the real-time movements of the Taliban and military personnel on the ground to pull off what seemed completely impossible: to get a group of female football players, many teenagers, and a host of others, including family members, into the airport and on to planes.
Wheelchair rugby: Japan lead 45-36 at the final break and it’s very difficult to see Australia recovering in the time they have left. The Steelers were never on the front foot against the host nation and barring some kind of outrageous late drama it looks as if the Steelers will leave a Paralympics without a medal for the first time since 2004 and just the third time since the sport was introduced in 1996.
Wheelchair rugby: The Steelers are in a hole. A big one. Japan lead 41-33 with two minutes to play in the third quarter and Australia’s defensive errors are letting them down.
Clubs also banned from using government-owned stadiums Claims that recording device was placed in women’s toilets
The Mauritius government has suspended financial support to local clubs and given the country’s Football Assocation until November to resolve its “governance issues” over the handling of voyeurism allegations at its headquarters.
Administrative secretary, Mila Sinnasamy, has claimed that a mobile phone in recording mode was discovered on 30 July was concealed in a blue basket placed in the water tank of the women’s toilet at the MFA’s headquarters in Trianon, 15 km from the capital, Port Louis. Police have confirmed that a file on the allegations of voyeurism will be submitted to the office of the director of public prosecutions, with Bindou Kistnairain, who works as a cleaner at the MFA, claiming that she also saw a phone in the toilets during her shift in May and did not report it due to fears of “being fired and any retaliation”.
Powerlifting: Another Chinese gold with Liu Lei lifting 198kg in the men’s -65kg division. Amir Jafari Arangeh (Iran) takes silver, Hocine Better (Algeria) bronze.
Men’s 100 metres: The T47 category follows immediately, with a Brazilian gold-bronze double. Petrucio Ferreira dos Santos wins, outside his own world record time of 10.53, with Washington Junior third. Between them is Michal Derus of Poland.
Manager was abused for encouraging young people to get jab
Southgate says some players have ‘really suffered’ with Covid
Gareth Southgate has revealed that he received more abuse for recording a video urging young people to have a Covid-19 vaccination than he did for his management of England during their run to the final of Euro 2020.
England’s manager, who handed Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford his first call-up when he named his squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers against Hungary, Poland and Andorra, admitted he is worried about misinformation on social media convincing some footballers not to have the jab.
France defender remanded in custody by Cheshire police
Mendy also charged with one count of sexual assault
Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy has been charged with four counts of rape, Cheshire Constabulary has confirmed. City have also suspended the France international pending an investigation.
In a statement, the force said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Cheshire Constabulary to charge a man in connection with allegations of sexual assault. Benjamin Mendy, aged 27, has been charged with four counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
World Cup host has not properly investigated fatalities, rights group says, citing concerns over heat stress and safety
World Cup host Qatar has failed to investigate the deaths of thousands of migrant workers in the past decade, according to a new report by Amnesty International.
The human rights organisation said themajority of migrant worker deaths in Qatar are attributed to “natural causes”, cardiac or respiratory failure; classifications which are “meaningless” without the underlying cause of death explained, according to one expert cited.
Some handy background reading on Australia’s early gold medal hopes who are due to compete in not too long:
Australia has the chance to snare the first two gold medals of the Tokyo Paralympics after Paige Greco and Emily Petricola posted new cycling world records to qualify for their respective finals.
Thanks Geoff. I will indeed travel with you. To the track, for sure. But first, to other destinations yonder in the Paralympics field of dreams. But before that, and because Tokyo 2020 isn’t really Tokyo 2020 without a Covid scare, this from the Guardian’s man on the ground Paul MacInnes:
Two more athletes have tested positive for Covid 19 in the Paralympic village, with officials awaiting information to confirm if a cluster of infection has broken out.
The news comes as ParalympicsGB confirmed a member of their coaching staff, part of the wheelchair tennis team, has been confirmed as having the virus and is now in isolation.
Daily results published by the Tokyo Paralympics organising committee found that 16 positive cases had been recorded amongst the extensive testing programme. Five of those individuals were in the Village, where athletes, coaching and support staff are supposed to be within a Covid secure bubble.
The rest of the positive results were found amongst contractors and games personnel, while one member of the media tested positive.
Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Masa Takaya said the results would now be referred to specialists.
“It seems that those with the positive cases come from different sports and different countries”, he told Inside the Games. “Whether or not there is a cluster should come from the advice from the specialists. We will continue to listen to the advice and try to provide accurate information to the media.”
ParalympicsGB said that a staff member had tested positive for the virus before arriving at the village after testing negative upon arrival in Japan and at a training camp.
The GB chef de mission, Penny Briscoe, said “we fully respect and continue to adhere” to the Tokyo 2020 Covid protocols. British officials are now tracing the individual’s recent contacts.
ParalympicsGB also confirmed that a member of the table tennis team, David Wetherill, has been deselected for breaching his team’s code of conduct. The organising body said they would be providing no further information while an arbitration process was conducted.
Cleaner Bindou Kistnairain wrote letter to human resources
Police to submit file on voyeurism to public prosecutors
A cleaner who works at the Mauritius Football Association has claimed she found a mobile phone in recording mode in the women’s toilets at its headquarters three months before a complaint was lodged with police by another employee.
Two board members have stepped down over the MFA’s handling of accusations made this month by the administrative secretary, Mila Sinnasamy, that the mobile phone discovered on 30 July was concealed in a blue basket placed in the water tank of the women’s toilet at the MFA’s headquarters in Trianon, 15 km from the capital, Port Louis.
The mood lifts and so does the tempo as volunteers in bright costumes dance their way through a colourful routine. It’s quite a sight. The performers are, apparently, invoking the Japanese tradition of karakuri.
The flag is raised as the national anthem of Japan plays.
The tone has been one of quiet reflection so far, which is fitting given what we have been through over the last 18 months and given the situation in Japan at the moment – as my colleague Justin McCurry has been reporting this week:
There will be a sense of the familiar when the Paralympics begin on Tuesday. Senior Games officials, including the International Paralympic Committee president, Andrew Parsons, and a returning Thomas Bach will witness the start of the second instalment of the most controversial Games in recent history. In his role as honorary patron, Emperor Naruhito will declare the event officially open at a near-empty national stadium in Tokyo.
But less than a month after the delayed 2020 Olympics ended in sporting success for the home country and repeated claims by government and organisers that they had passed off “safely and securely”, the Japan preparing to greet 4,400 Paralympians will be very different from the one that reluctantly welcomed the Olympic family in late July.
Nilofar Bayat begins rebuilding her life in Spain after days of fear for her life under Taliban rule
When the Taliban entered Kabul, Nilofar Bayat, the captain of Afghanistan’s female national wheelchair basketball team, knew she had to get out.
“There were so many videos of me playing basketball. I had been active in calling for women’s rights and the rights of women with disabilities,” she said. “If the Taliban found out all of this about me, I knew they would kill me.”
More than 9,000 Covid infections were linked to Euro 2020 football games monitored for the government’s mass events test scheme, and scientists have said the tournament generated “a significant risk to public health”.
An analysis of the third and final stage of the research programme, released on Friday, found that more than 85% of all the infections connected to the 49 days of various outdoor sport, music and entertainment events came from the eight Euros games involved, and mainly the semi-final and final.
The six-time gold medallist is campaigning for WeThe15 – a global human rights movement that will feature at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics
Ellie Cole is a bonafide Australian sporting champion. Yet as other women athletes, or sportspeople of colour, or other minorities can attest, success is no shield sometimes.
Reporter accused Osaka of using media when it suits her
Osaka: ‘I’m figuring it out at the same time as you are’
Naomi Osaka broke down in tears in her first press conference since withdrawing from the French Open for mental health reasons. The four-times grand slam champion pulled out of Roland Garros on 31 May after being threatened with expulsion over refusing to fulfil media duties.
The 23-year-old missed Wimbledon but returned to action for the Olympics in her native Japan, and agreed to take part in her first press conference in almost three months on Monday.
Müller scored the winning goal in the 1974 World Cup final
Oliver Kahn: ‘He will forever be a part of the history of Bayern’
Legendary German striker Gerd Müller has died aged 75. The forward scored 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany, including the winning goal in the 1974 World Cup final against Holland.
During 15 years at Bayern, Muller netted a record 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games and 66 goals in 74 European matches.
The Springboks’ tour and the protests that ensued 40 years ago helped set the fight for Māori rights on a stronger path
The 1981 Springbok rugby tour of New Zealand will always have a special place in any narrative about the international fight against apartheid in South Africa.
The protests against the Springboks reverberated around the world – delivering a savage psychological blow to South Africa’s white regime while giving a resounding boost to the oppressed majority.