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

  • 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

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

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!

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

  • 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

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

  • 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

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

  • 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

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

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

  • 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

  • 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

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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Tokyo Paralympics 2020 day 9: road cycling and table tennis medals, taekwondo starts, and more – live!

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 Gordon Reid from here. The Brit is now down a second break, trailing 4-1 against Shingo Kunieda of Japan.

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Pelé in hospital in Brazil for routine exams

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.

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Tokyo 2020 Paralympics day 7: road cycling, athletics, basketball and more – live!

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.

Related: Sarah Storey closes on outright British Paralympic record after time trial gold

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.”

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‘This is our final’: the team who led athletes’ escape from Afghanistan | Suzanne Wrack

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.

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Tokyo Paralympics 2020 day five: triathlon, rowing, swimming, wheelchair rugby and more – live!

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.

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Mauritius government suspends funding over MFA’s handling of voyeurism claims

  • 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”.

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