Category Archives: Sport

Chess’s cheating crisis: ‘paranoia has become the culture’

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As the game enjoys a boom online, players ranging from grandmasters to preteens are getting caught ‘computer doping’

In one chess tournament, five of the top six were disqualified for cheating. In another, the doting parents of 10-year-old competitors furiously rejected evidence that their darlings were playing at the level of the world No 1. And in a third, an Armenian grandmaster booted out for suspicious play accused his opponent of “doing pipi in his Pampers”.

These incidents may sound extreme but they are not isolated – and they have all taken place online since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Cristiano Ronaldo tests positive for coronavirus, Portugal confirm

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  • Juventus forward is ‘without symptoms, and in isolation’
  • Remaining Portugal players all tested negative on Tuesday

The Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo has tested positive for coronavirus, the Portuguese Football Federation has confirmed.

The 35-year-old is said to be “doing well, without symptoms, and in isolation”, with no further positive tests reported in the squad before Portugal’s Nations League match against Sweden on Wednesday.

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Rafael Nadal demolishes Novak Djokovic to win 13th French Open title

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  • World No 2 thrashes No 1 seed 6-0, 6-2, 7-5
  • Spaniard equals Roger Federer’s haul of 20 grand slam titles

Novak Djokovic drove Rafael Nadal to almost unprecedented heights of excellence but was powerless to stop his old rival winning his 13th French Open and the 20th major he needed to match the record of their absent friend, Roger Federer.

Nadal’s 100th win at Roland Garros was almost flawless – 6-0, 6-1, 7-5 in two hours and 41 minutes in front of a drastically reduced audience because of the pandemic at a rescheduled grand slam under a new roof at Court Philippe Chatrier – yet it was a final of rolling contradictions, too.

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Transfer deadline day 2020: Telles signs for Man Utd, Guendouzi joins Hertha – live!

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How many properly good centre-backs are there in the entirety of the Premeer League? The current standard is remarkably low.

Chelsea/West Ham: Meanwhile West Ham are interested in Fikayo Tomori on loan. Chelsea really need to shift a centre-back now that Rudiger is staying.

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Former England boxer turns pro after winning fight with Home Office

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Kelvin Bilal Fawaz, who was trafficked as a child and has won right to stay in UK, signs with top promoter

The former England amateur boxer Kelvin Bilal Fawaz, who won his 16-year legal battle with the Home Office for the right to remain in the UK, is launching his professional career after being signed by MTK Global, one of the world’s largest boxing management agencies.

Fawaz, who has represented England six times and was once an amateur champion, has spent his adult life struggling to establish his nationality and immigration status after being trafficked from Nigeria to the UK as a child and kept in domestic servitude.

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NFL great Joe Montana and wife Jennifer save grandchild from kidnapping

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  • Police confirm incident on Saturday in Malibu home
  • Woman has been charged with kidnapping and burglary

It appears that NFL hall of famer Joe Montana is a crimefighter as well as the winner of four Super Bowls.

The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback foiled a kidnapping in his Malibu home on Saturday evening. Law enforcement confirmed on Sunday that a woman, named as Sodsai Dalzell, entered the house and snatched one of Montana’s grandchildren from a playpen. Montana and his wife Jennifer then tried to deescalate the situation before a tussle ensued, during which Jennifer grabbed the child.

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Kissing cowboys: the queer rodeo stars bucking a macho American tradition

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Photographer Luke Gilford couldn’t believe his eyes when he first stumbled across a gay rodeo. He set out to capture the joyous, tender, authentic world he saw there

Luke Gilford was at a Pride event in northern California in 2016 when he was drawn to a stand by the sound of Dolly Parton singing 9 to 5. What he found there would change his life. Members of the local chapter of the Golden State Gay Rodeo Association were promoting what they do, and how they live. Gilford looked on in astonishment. “I grew up around this world,” he says. “I had no idea this existed. I really didn’t think it was real.”

A sought-after film-maker and photographer, to whom Barbara Kruger is a mentor and Pamela Anderson and Jane Fonda muses, Gilford cuts a striking figure. A New York Times profile that same year recounted how you could often catch a glimpse of him downtown, in a hand-me-down cowboy hat, football-style shoulder pads over his bare torso.

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Some wipeout: Hawaii big wave surfer’s board floats 8,000km to Philippines

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More than two years after disappearing in a huge swell at Waimea Bay, Doug Falter’s board was found near the remote island of Sarangani

When big wave surfer Doug Falter lost his board in a wipeout in Hawaii, his best hope was for a local fisherman to pick it up. He never imagined it would be found more than 8,000km (5,000 miles) away in the southern Philippines.

But more than two years after watching his pale blue custom-shaped board disappear in the huge swell of Waimea Bay, Falter was alerted via social media that it had been found near the remote island of Sarangani.

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Iranian champion wrestler Navid Afkari executed despite global outcry

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Afkari had been convicted of killing security guard during anti-government protests in 2018

Iran has executed a champion wrestler convicted of murdering a security guard during anti-regime protests in 2018, state media said on Saturday, despite an international campaign to spare his life.

Navid Afkari, 27, was executed “this morning after legal procedures were carried out at the insistence of the parents and the family of the victim”, the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted the head of the justice department in the southern Fars province as saying.

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Novak Djokovic disqualified from US Open after hitting line judge with ball

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  • Title favourite defaulted during first set after losing serve
  • Player dismissed after discussions with tournament officials

Novak Djokovic was thrown out of the US Open in sensational circumstances on Sunday night when he inadvertently struck a line judge with a dead ball towards the end of the first set of his fourth-round match against the Spaniard Pablo Carreño Busta.

The world No 1, who appeared to hit the ball away casually and with no great force, was distraught as he comforted the woman after she had collapsed in a coughing fit holding her throat. He then engaged in a fruitless 10-minute discussion on court with the tournament referee, Soeren Friemel.

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Lionel Messi confirms he will stay at Barcelona ‘to avoid legal dispute’

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  • Argentina forward reverses decision to leave Camp Nou
  • Messi far from happy: ‘I told the club I wanted to go’

Lionel Messi is staying at Barcelona. Ten days after he served official notice of his determination to walk out of the Camp Nou, he finally announced that he would not be going after all – not because he had changed his mind,but because he had been left with no choice.

Unwilling to go to court against the club who insisted he had missed the deadline allowing him to rescind his contract and threatened him with legal action if he departed unilaterally, he has been forced to continue.

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Cricketer left in need of windscreen repairs after smashing own car with huge six

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  • Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien scores direct hit in T20 game
  • Self-inflicted damage comes from one of eight sixes

“O, O, Ooooo… O’Brien,” goes the annoyingly catchy advert for Australia’s best-known car windscreen replacement company. But it was a case of “Oh, oh, no” for Kevin O’Brien after the Irish cricket star smashed the back window of his own car with a trademark six.

Related: Shane Warne's $1m baggy green finds permanent home next to Bradman

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NBA joined by MLB teams in boycott to protest police shooting of Jacob Blake

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  • Bucks’ home of Milwaukee is close to site of shooting
  • George Hill says team is ‘tired of killings and injustice’
  • MLB and WNBA teams also boycott in solidarity

On an extraordinary day for the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake, leading the NBA to reschedule all other Wednesday night playoff games.

Milwaukee’s baseball team, the Brewers, also confirmed they would not play their game scheduled for Wednesday evening.

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Lionel Messi tells Barcelona he wants to leave but faces legal battle over clause

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  • Argentina forward sent fax to Barça informing them of decision
  • Club insist free transfer clause in Messi’s contract has expired

Lionel Messi has told Barcelona that he wants to leave the club immediately – and on a free transfer. The Argentinian, who according to RAC1 radio had told the new manager, Ronald Koeman, that he felt “more out than in”, has sent a fax to Barcelona informing them of his desire to go.

Messi’s camp believes that a clause in his contract means he can walk away for no fee. Barcelona, by contrast, insist that he is still bound by a €700m (£629m) buy-out clause. The bombshell dropped on Tuesday evening with the news that Messi had told the club on Tuesday afternoon.

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Harry Maguire given suspended prison sentence after guilty verdict in Greece

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  • Maguire found guilty of aggravated assault, attempted bribery
  • England defender will appeal 21-month suspended sentence

Harry Maguire has been found guilty of aggravated assault, resisting arrest and attempted bribery by a three-member misdemeanours court convening on the Greek island of Syros.

The £190,000-a-week Manchester United and England defender had denied all charges and said he would appeal. Maguire was given a prison sentence of 21 months and 10 days that was suspended on account of the charges being misdemeanours and and the court’s acknowledgement of his clear criminal record. His two co-defendants, who included his footballer brother Joe, were handed suspended 13-month sentences.

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‘I was the king of sabotage’: Ronnie O’Sullivan on controversy, comebacks and becoming a carer

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The greatest, most charismatic snooker player of all time prefers long-distance running. He discusses drugs, breakdowns, victory – and his unexpected new career path

Ronnie O’Sullivan is driving over from Essex and says he’s bringing a friend. “Gloria’s with me. She’s brilliant. She picks me up when I’m properly on the floor.” It’s only two days since he won the World Snooker Championship – his sixth triumph in the sport’s biggest contest. Why would he be on the floor?

“You must be happy,” I say, when he arrives at my house – he pocketed £500,000 along with the trophy. He laughs. “You know what? I got up this morning and I felt a bit low. And I remembered every time I win a big tournament it puts me on a low. But I’ve accepted it. It’s just part of any high.” Typical Ronnie.

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Fantasy Premier League winner disqualified over ‘player comments’

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Aleksandar Antonov made remarks about footballer believed to be Raheem Sterling in private group chat

With millions of players around the world, the Fantasy Premier League is meant to recreate the competitive excitement and experience of managing a football team in England’s top division.

Instead, it has triggered an off-pitch row after this year’s champion was disqualified for allegedly offensive comments made “in a moment of frustration” about a Premier League player, understood to be the Manchester City striker Raheem Sterling.

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Home advantage prevails despite absence of fans, study finds

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  • Academics review matches in England, Spain and Italy
  • Referees found to be more lenient to away teams

The absence of fans did not cause footballers to doubt themselves but did make referees think twice, a study of behind-closed-doors football has found.

According to researchers from Reading University, playing matches without supporters had a minimal effect on the phenomenon of home advantage but it did correspond with officials showing fewer yellow cards to away teams.

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‘How did none of us think of this before?’: sports bra scheme breaks down entry barriers | Samantha Lewis

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By providing access to basic equipment, a not-for-profit is helping normalise women’s involvement in sports at every level

Five years ago, Sarah Dwyer-Shick – a youth football coach from the United States – spent time visiting friends and colleagues scattered across Africa. Along with mosquito repellent and sunscreen, she carried with her a small bundle of sports bras as gifts for young players in rural Namibia.

When she arrived, Dwyer-Shick found that her gifts were coveted by older players, too – including those on the Namibian women’s national team. Many of them, she realised, had never owned a sports bra before.

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