Category Archives: Sport

Lockdown spurs 11-year-old skateboarder to make history with first 1080-degree turn

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  • Gui Khury lands holy grail of skating while in lockdown
  • Brazilian surpasses previous record first set by Tony Hawk

The closure of schools in Brazil due to the coronavirus pandemic gave 11-year-old prodigy Gui Khury plenty of time to perfect his skateboarding skills as he became the first person to land a 1080-degree turn on a vertical ramp.

More than two decades after Tony Hawk completed the first 900-degree turn, Khury shattered a long-standing record by flying off the top of a ramp and completing three full spins in the air before landing cleanly and skating off. The manoeuvre has long been one of the holy grails of skateboarding.

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No guarantee Tour de France will go ahead, says French sports minister

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  • Roxana Mărăcineanu made the comments to France Television
  • Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España will overlap in October

The French sports minister Roxana Maracineanu has delivered a stark warning to cycling, declaring that there is “no guarantee” that the Tour de France will go ahead this year.

The Tour has already been rescheduled from June to a 29 August start because of the Covid-19 crisis, but the minister could offer little assurance that the race would be given the green light. With crowd-drawing events banned in France until the end of August, special arrangements might have to be made for the start of the Tour in Nice, the sports ministry said last month.

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Hafthor Bjornsson, Game of Thrones’ ‘Mountain’, breaks world deadlift record

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  • Icelandic strongman lifts 1,104 lb at Thor’s Power Gym
  • 31-year-old starred as Ser Gregor Clegane in HBO series

Icelandic actor and strongman Hafthor Bjornsson set a world record for the deadlift on Saturday when he lifted 1,104 lb (501 kg) at Thor’s Power Gym in Iceland.

Bjornsson, best known for his portrayal of Ser Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane on Game of Thrones, broke the record previously held by Briton Eddie Hall who in 2016 became the first man to lift 500kg.

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Jair Bolsonaro wants football to start up again despite Covid-19 deaths in Brazil

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  • President calls for resumption of football despite crisis
  • Brazil has more than 5,900 deaths due to the coronavirus

Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro wants to see football competitions restart soon despite the country’s high number of coronavirus cases, arguing that players are less likely to die from Covid-19 because of their physical fitness.

Bolsonaro is one of the few world leaders that still downplays the risks brought by the coronavirus, which he has likened to “a little flu”.

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Haiti FA president accused of sexually abusing young female players

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  • Claims of abuse by Yves Jean-Bart at national centre
  • Jean-Bart denies all allegations made against him

The president of the Haitian football federation has been accused of sexually abusing young female footballers at the country’s national training centre.

Yves Jean-Bart, known as “Dadou”, the president of the Fédération Haïtienne De Football (FHF) since 2000, denies accusations that he coerced several players at the Centre Technique National in Croix-des-Bouquets into having sex. The alleged incidents are understood to have taken place within the last five years.

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Holding Tokyo Olympics in 2021 ‘difficult’, Japan medical association chief warns

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Yoshitake Yokokura is the latest expert to cast doubt on plans to hold the Games in Tokyo next year

The head of the Japan Medical Association (JMA) has added his voice to speculation that the Tokyo Olympics, now due to be held next summer, could again be delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Unless an effective vaccine is developed I think it will be difficult to hold the Olympics next year,” JMA president Yoshitake Yokokura told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday. “I’m not saying at this point that they shouldn’t be held. The outbreak is not only confined to Japan ... it’s a worldwide issue.”

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F1 set to bankroll British Grand Prix to follow season opener in Austria

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  • July start may include two Silverstone races without fans
  • French GP cancelled but F1 aims to stage up to 18 races

Formula One Group is likely to provide the financial backing to enable the British Grand Prix to go ahead behind closed doors this year. F1 announced on Monday that the French GP had been cancelled and it would reschedule the start of the 2020 season for Austria on 5 July with the first few races, including Silverstone, not taking place in front of fans.

The Northamptonshire track relies upon the income from racegoers in order to pay for the race. Without it the track would be unable to meet either hosting fees or the expense of putting on the race if it is allowed to take place by the government.

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Stirling Moss took high place among the greats with dash and elan | Giles Richards

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Recognised as the best driver never to win an F1 world championship, Moss was revered and feted by his peers

That Sir Stirling Moss, who died on Sunday, remained one of the most well-known British racing drivers of any generation was in no little part down to the affection and admiration he engendered, which extended beyond motor racing and across the public consciousness. This was partly, of course, because he was the inspiration for the 1960s policemen’s inquiry to speeding drivers: “Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?”

Related: Sir Stirling Moss, F1 great, dies aged 90

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Sir Stirling Moss, F1 great, dies aged 90

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  • Legendary driver and broadcaster dies after long illness
  • Lewis Hamilton: ‘I am grateful for special moments with him’

Lewis Hamilton led the tributes to Sir Stirling Moss after the much-loved and respected former racing driver’s death at the age of 90 was confirmed by his wife.

Moss, who was widely acknowledged as one of the greatest drivers never to have won the Formula One world title, died at his London home in the early hours of Sunday morning following a long illness. “It was one lap too many,” said Lady Moss. “He just closed his eyes.”

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World Cup likely to stay in Qatar despite new bribery accusations in US

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  • US prosecutors say three Fifa officials took bribes during voting
  • Qatar supreme committee denies any allegations of wrongdoing

The 2022 World Cup is highly unlikely to be moved from Qatar despite the latest criminal indictment by the US Department of Justice accusing three senior Fifa officials of receiving bribes for voting in favour of the Gulf state hosting the tournament.

The indictment, the latest in the long-running US prosecution of football officials for alleged corruption, accuses Nicolás Leoz, the Paraguayan then president of Conmebol, South American football’s governing body, and the former Brazil federation president Ricardo Teixeira of being paid bribes to vote for Qatar at the decisive Fifa executive committee (exco) meeting in December 2010. A third then very senior member of the exco under the former president Sepp Blatter, who is not named but is identifiable as Julio Grondona, the then president of Argentina’s FA, is also accused of being paid to vote for Qatar, but Grondona, who died in 2014, was never criminally charged.

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Former Fox executives indicted in Fifa bribery scheme

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Multimillion dollar scheme involved kickbacks to Fifa officials for broadcast rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup

Two former senior executives at Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox corporation have been indicted over their alleged role in a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving kickbacks to Fifa officials in exchange for broadcast and marketing rights to some of the world’s biggest football tournaments.

The US Department of Justice announced on Monday that Hernan Lopez, the former chief executive of Fox International Channels and Carlos Martinez, the former president of Fox Latin America, have been charged with wire fraud and money laundering offenses, marking another series of indictments in the US government’s sprawling investigation of corruption in world football.

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Spring-heeled: concept that could see Usain Bolt rocket to 50mph

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Prototype of revolutionary running device being worked on by scientists at US university

A wearable spring-based contraption that attaches to the legs has the potential to boost human running speeds by 50%, according to researchers who hope to build the first prototype over the next year.

Scientists came up with the concept after computer models showed that it was possible to dramatically increase the amount of energy people put into each running step by enabling them to do work when their feet are in the air.

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Lockdown ‘leads gamblers from sports bets to riskier choices’

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Gambling website 888 Holdings sees increased online casino activity amid coronavirus crisis

Gamblers are switching from wagers on sport to far riskier online casino and slot games amid lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19, according to one of the UK’s biggest gambling websites.

In an update to the stock market, 888 Holdings said it had been affected by the postponement or cancellation of events such as the Premier League and Grand National, cutting income from sports betting, which accounts for about 16% of its revenues.

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Tokyo Olympics organisers considering options to delay – reports

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As thousands flock to the Olympic flame in Japan, the organising committee is reportedly drafting plans to postpone the Games

As huge crowds defied coronavirus fears to queue for hours to see the Olympic flame in northern Japan, a report emerged that organisers of Tokyo 2020 have begun drafting alternatives to holding the Games this summer.

In contrast to the official line from the Japanese government and the IOC, two sources familiar with the talks have told news agency Reuters that options for postponing the Games are now being drawn up.

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Swimming under the ice: ‘There’s nothing. You are completely alone’

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Freediver Johanna Nordblad first took to cold water as a cure for pain after a severe injury. This month she attempts to break the world record for swimming beneath ice

Evening is falling and the cold winter light is bleeding out of a steel-coloured sky. Soon the short Scandinavian afternoon will give way to night here on the edge of Lake Sonnanen in the south of Finland. Not a single gust of wind moves the pine branches; not a single ripple disturbs the water’s surface. Nothing disturbs this infinite expanse of trees, ice and snow enveloped by absolute silence.

It’s here, in a simple hunter’s lodge 170km northeast of Helsinki, that freediver Johanna Nordblad and her sister and personal photographer, Elina, spend most of their free time. With urban rhythms left far behind, their days are occupied by shovelling snow, gathering firewood and spending long hours after dinner chatting by candlelight.

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Abe insists Olympics to go ahead as planned despite Covid-19

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Japan’s prime minister say country will host the Games ‘without problem, as planned’

Japan is still preparing to host the Olympics, Shinzo Abe has said, despite growing concern about the viability of the summer Games because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Japan’s prime minister and his government have been adamant that the Olympics will go ahead, even as other global sporting events have been put on hold. Speculation about a delay of the July start date has grown since the Donald Trump said organisers should consider a one-year postponement.

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England rugby players’ ex-soldier father stuck in Fiji because of immigration rules

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Ilaitia Cokanasiga, who was prevented from watching his son Joe play in the World Cup last year, says he feels betrayed

A former British army sergeant whose two sons are English rugby internationals is stuck in Fiji, prevented by immigration rules from returning to the UK to rejoin his wife as she undergoes cancer treatment.

Ilaitia Cokanasiga, who over almost 14 years in the armed forces served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, told the Guardian that his immigration difficulties had stopped him from travelling to see his 22-year-old son, Joe Cokanasiga, play for England in the World Cup in Japan last year. He is devastated at being stranded 10,000 miles away from his family, unable to support his wife as she waits for an operation on a brain tumour.

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England’s Manu Tuilagi a saint and sinner in narrow defeat of Wales

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• England 33-30 Wales
• Try-scorer Tuilagi sent off late in Twickenham match

Manu Tuilagi’s late red card for a dangerous tackle on George North was the one blemish for England on an afternoon when they won the triple crown after systematically destroying the defending champions, who went down to a third successive defeat in a Six Nations campaign for the first time since 2007. The scoreline suggested a close contest but two late tries by Wales when England were down to 13 players did not mask the deep divide between the sides.

Wales are in transition after 12 years under the relentless regime of Warren Gatland. If there is a sense of liberation in the way they are playing under Wayne Pivac, they have lost their pragmatism and become careless and disjointed. They were willing but wanting here, not just overpowered by opponents who base their game on forcing opponents into physical submission but outplayed.

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Anger as F1 teams get go-ahead to drive on Dutch nature reserve

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Teams allowed to take beach route to get to Netherlands’ first F1 grand prix in 35 years

The return of Formula One to the Netherlands after 35 years has become mired in controversy after two racing teams got the green light to drive across a beach nature reserve to ensure their staff avoid traffic on the way to the circuit.

The teams of Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri will be allowed to drive from their hotels along two miles of beach within the Noordvoort reserve, a popular resting spot for seals and breeding birds located between the Zandvoort racetrack and the North Sea.

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Iranian chess referee who fled to UK could face arrest if she returns

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Shohreh Bayat warned after images circulated appearing to show her without a headscarf at Shanghai tournament

A chess referee from Iran has fled to the UK after being warned that she could be arrested for being in breach of Iran’s strict dress codes during an international tournament in China.

Shohreh Bayat, 32, has sought asylum in Britain after a photograph of her at the women’s world chess championships in Shanghai last month was circulated on social media. It appeared to show her without a headscarf, although she has insisted the scarf was in place but loose over her hair.

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