Category Archives: Sport

Bolivia’s Morales keeps up comeback hopes as Copa Evo kicks off

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Some see youth football tournament as former president’s latest attempt to remain in running for 2025 elections

Politics and football have long mixed in South America, but not perhaps to this extent. On Sunday the Copa Evo, an international youth football tournament arranged by and named after Bolivia’s former president Evo Morales, kicked off in the country’s coca-growing tropics.

The buildup was dominated by political scraps, with the opposition questioning the involvement of the national football federation in a tournament that bears Morales’s name.

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Women’s Euros final set for a female flypast and a full house at Wembley

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Famous fans get behind England for a gripping contest against Germany that is expected to set records

An all-female RAF flypast will grace the skies above Wembley on Sunday in celebration of a women’s football team that this weekend received good-luck messages from the prime minister, the leader of the opposition and the royal family before the Women’s Euro 2022 final against Germany.

“Your passion for the game, your tenacity in tricky spots and above all your astounding talent on the pitch have already created a summer of fantastic memories for millions of us,” Boris Johnson wrote in a letter to the England team.

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Tennis star Ash Barty marries longtime partner Garry Kissick

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Retired Australian grand slam winner posts a picture from her wedding day online with the caption ‘husband & wife’

Retired tennis superstar Ash Barty has married her longtime partner Garry Kissick.

The 26-year-old exchanged vows in a private ceremony in Queensland earlier this month.

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Nathan Cleary facing five-week ban after send-off for dangerous spear tackle

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  • Penrith star sent off for dangerous throw in 34-10 loss to Parramatta
  • Cleary unlikely to return until semi-finals of Panthers’ title defence

Star playmaker Nathan Cleary will go into Penrith’s finals campaign cold after receiving a five-game suspension for his spear tackle on Parramatta’s Dylan Brown.

Cleary was sent off for the first time in his career in Friday’s 34-10 loss to the Eels and won’t play again during the regular season. He was handed a grade-three dangerous throw charge by the NRL’s match review committee on Saturday morning.

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Liz Cambage’s WNBA future unknown after split with LA Sparks

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  • Australian centre and her club agree to ‘contract divorce’
  • 30-year-old is yet to announce her future plans

Liz Cambage’s basketball career is in limbo after the polarising Australian star agreed a “contract divorce” with her WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks as they fight to secure a playoff spot.

“It is with support that we share Liz Cambage’s decision to terminate her contract with the organisation,” Sparks managing partner Eric Holoman said in a statement.

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Manly players to boycott NRL match over club’s pride jersey

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Sea Eagles face the prospect of being without several players for the Roosters clash, but the strip has sold out online

The NRL has given its backing to Manly over its decision to wear a pride jersey this week as the club prepares to lose up to seven players due to a reported boycott over the inclusivity initiative.

Manly announced on Sunday they would sport a rainbow jersey in Thursday night’s clash with the Sydney Roosters but according to reports on Monday, several players opted against wearing the one-off design.

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Final whistle for the ‘pink ’un’: British football’s last-surviving matchday newspaper closes

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After 119 years, Portsmouth’s Saturday evening Sports Mail has printed its last issue. A dedicated reader bids this singular British institution a fond farewell

It’s been the slowest of deaths, but yesterday the “Saturday final” edition of a singular British institution will be just that. While in the last 20 years beloved pink ’uns and green ’uns (and the occasional blue ’un and buff ’un) have disappeared from towns and cities across the country, Portsmouth’s Saturday evening Sports Mail, 119 years old, held out as the last remaining dedicated matchday newspaper. It was first closed down in 2012 but quickly resurrected at the impassioned demand of fans of Pompey, the island city’s club. This time, the obituary is to be believed.

With it goes a century of a particular collective memory: that Saturday evening ritual of heading up to the local newsagent at 5.30 or 5.45 to await the mundane miracle of a stack of fat papers slung from the back of a van reporting from all across the city what had ended only an hour before, ink still smudgeable on banner headlines.

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Olympic organisers for Paris 2024 ‘in a cold sweat’ as problems mount

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Fears over financing, security and staffing threaten to take the shine off a showcase event and a national triumph for Emmanuel Macron’s presidency

Two years almost to the day before the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, organisers are reportedly “in a cold sweat” over security, financial, venue and staffing concerns that could take the shine off Emmanuel Macron’s promised “national triumph”.

The reformist French president, who holds a meeting with key ministers on Monday for a progress report, has personally invested in the success of the Games, having energetically backed the city’s successful bid to host them for the first time in a century as an opportunity to showcase the best of modern France.

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How England Lionesses’ coach Sarina Wiegman developed a ruthless, winning formula

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Wiegman has transformed the fortunes of the women’s football team and got them to the Euro semi-finals – with no fear of making tough calls along the way

For any of the 7.6 million BBC One viewers who tuned in to watch England’s dramatic extra-time defeat of Spain in the quarter-finals of the Euros on Wednesday night, the sight of an animated blond Dutch woman on the touchline will not have gone unnoticed.

Sarina Wiegman, England’s manager, is fast becoming a talking point. Less for her antics – although watching her being lifted aloft in a bear-hug from centre-back Millie Bright after the full-time whistle was a treat – and more for the 11-month transformation of the Lionesses from disjointed and confidence-drained to contenders on the biggest of stages.

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Peter Bol chases historic gold as first Australian to run in 800m worlds final

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  • Tokyo Olympics hero scrapes into 800m final by 0.09 seconds
  • Bol is the first Australian to reach a world championship 800m final

A model of consistency and self-belief, Peter Bol looks every chance to win Australia’s first-ever 800 metre world championships medal in Eugene. But by his own admission, Bol was lucky to get through to the title race after finishing third and outside the automatic qualifying spots in the opening semi-final.

But having dodged a bullet and advanced as the second non-automatic qualifier by just 0.09 seconds, Bol has again made history, becoming the first Australian man or woman to ever reach a world championships 800m final.

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Javelin star Kelsey-Lee Barber joins Cathy Freeman in history with world title

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  • 66.91m throw makes Barber first woman to defend javelin world title
  • Barber joins Cathy Freeman as only Australians to defend a worlds title

Javelin superstar Kelsey-Lee Barber has joined the great Cathy Freeman as the only Australians to successfully defend a world athletics title.

Barber further embellished her reputation as a supreme big-event competitor at Hayward Field on Friday evening with a huge third-round throw of 66.91 metres.

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Jock Campbell handed Wallabies call-up as Rory Arnold returns for Argentina Tests

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  • Full-back on 36-man list for next month’s two-match tour
  • Lock Arnold one of three overseas-based players in squad

Full-back Jock Campbell has earned his first call-up while lock Rory Arnold returned to the Wallabies fold for their two-Test Rugby Championship tour of Argentina. Coach Dave Rennie will reveal a 36-player squad on Thursday ahead of their first Test against the Michael Cheika-coached Pumas in Mendoza on 7 August (AEDT), with the second in nearby San Juan a week later.

The Australians are looking to rebound after losing the three-Test series against England, going down 21-17 in the decider last Saturday in Sydney.

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AC Milan player Tiémoué Bakayoko speaks out after police held him at gunpoint

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The French midfielder and a male passenger were stopped by Italian police in Milan after he was mistaken for someone else

AC Milan footballer Tiémoué Bakayoko has spoken out against Italian police who held him at gunpoint after mistaking him for someone else.

The French midfielder and a male passenger were stopped as they drove in the Porta Garibaldi area of Milan on 3 July as police searched for suspects involved in an alleged shootout the night before.

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Florida star Anthony Richardson drops ‘AR-15’ nickname after mass shootings

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  • Quarterback wants to distance himself from gun violence
  • Assault rifles have been used in number of mass killings

College football star Anthony Richardson has announced he is dropping his ‘AR-15’ nickname after the recent wave of mass shootings in the US.

The Florida quarterback was given the nickname as a reference to an assault rifle which has been used in a number of recent shootings. The 21-year-old made the announcement he was dropping the name in a statement on his website.

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Daria Kasatkina comes out as gay and speaks out against Russian attitudes

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  • Russia’s No 1 female tennis player is in relationship with woman
  • Kasatkina: ‘Living in peace with yourself is all that matters’

Daria Kasatkina, Russia’s highest-ranked female tennis player, has come out as gay in a video interview posted online on Monday.

The current world No 12 told Russian blogger Vitya Kravchenko that she is in a relationship with a woman and found “living in the closet” impossible. Kasatkina, who is not currently based in Russia, also posted pictures on Instagram with her girlfriend, the figure skater Natalia Zabiiako.

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Australia’s top end ODIs will not trumped by the Hundred

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  • Stoinis, Abbott, Maxwell and Zampa to return for series
  • Six ODIs scheduled against Zimbabwe and New Zealand

Pat Cummins will be rested for Australia’s ODIs against Zimbabwe and New Zealand but the Hundred will not take precedence for four other star players.

Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Glenn Maxwell and Adam Zampa are all set to cut their Hundred campaigns in England short after been included in a 14-man squad to play six ODIs in August and September in Townsville and Cairns.

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Fan who appeared to urinate from SCG roof given life ban by Rugby Australia

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Wallabies fan who made his way to roof during third Test against England charged by police and condemned for ‘deplorable’ behaviour

Rugby Australia has condemned the “deplorable” behaviour of a Wallabies fan who climbed up the big screen during Saturday’s third Test against England and appeared to urinate from the roof of the SCG.

The intruder, who made his way to the roof of the Bill O’Reilly stand during the second half of the series decider, was charged by police after the game in Sydney and on Monday RA handed him a lifetime ban.

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Eddie Jones in furious row after Australia rugby fans call him a traitor

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  • Videos emerge of two incidents during England series decider
  • Rugby Australia condemns fans as ‘totally unacceptable”

Eddie Jones was embroiled in angry exchanges with Australian supporters, who accused the England head coach of being “a traitor”, following the series decider in Sydney on Saturday. Rugby Australia has condemned the behaviour as “totally unacceptable” after videos emerged on social media in which Jones reacted furiously to the insults.

Videos of two incidents came to light after England’s 21-17 win in Sydney to clinch the series. In one of the incidents, a supporter, who is seen holding a beer, can be heard being urged to “spray” Australia-born Jones before pointing at the former Wallabies head coach and saying: “You’re a traitor.”

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Lleyton Hewitt, ultimate ‘competitor’, inducted into Tennis Hall of Fame

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  • Hewitt, 41, is the 34th Australian to be inducted into Hall of Fame
  • Two-time grand slam champion spent 80 weeks as ATP world No 1

When asked for one word to describe how he wanted to be remembered in tennis, Lleyton Hewitt paused for a moment: “Competitor,” the 41-year-old replied.

Speaking ahead of yesterday’s induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Adelaide boy, and youngest ever ATP world No 1 (at 20 years, eight months and 26 days) said his famously counter-punching, never-say-die style was his greatest legacy.

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Michael Matthews brings the heat with epic win at Tour de France

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  • Australian rider claims first Tour de France victory in five years
  • Matthews braved 40 degree heat to fight back and win late duel

Australian cycling star Michael Matthews believes he’s reprised the story of his distinguished career with one epic triumph of rare courage and heart at the Tour de France.

The man from Canberra, known throughout cycling as “Bling” for his love of shiny baubles, produced his most glittering victory on Saturday on an exhausting, undulating 192.5km slog from Saint Etienne to Mende.

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