ATHLETICS
Fraser-Pryce wins title
World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce on Friday won the Jamaican women’s 100m title, clocking 10.71 seconds to confirm her spot on the team headed to the Tokyo Olympics next month. Fraser-Pryce, who earlier this month set a world-leading 10.63 seconds, shook off a semi-final loss to double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson-Herah with a masterclass of sprinting, getting out to her customary bullet start and holding off a quality field that had six of eight women running under 11 seconds this year. It was Fraser-Pryce’s fourth 100m national title and sixth overall. Shericka Jackson, who had run a personal best 10.77 seconds in the semi-finals, was second with 10.82 seconds and Thompson-Herah third in 10.84 seconds. Tyquendo Tracey was a surprise winner in the men’s final, running a season-best 10.00 seconds to beat Yohan Blake at 10.01 seconds, with Oblique Seville taking third with a personal best 10.04 seconds. Tracey won the national title in 2018. Commonwealth Games champion and World and Olympic finalist Janieve Russell won her third national 400m hurdles championships, running a season’s best 54.07 seconds, fourth-best in the world. Ronda Whyte was second in 54.94 seconds and Leah Nugent was third in 54.98 seconds. Two-time world under-20 champion Jaheel Hyde ran a personal best 48.18 seconds, under his previous 48.52 seconds set in 2017, to win his first national senior title in the men’s 400m hurdles.
RUGBY UNION
Australia to move Test
Australia’s series-opening Test against France is to be shifted out of Sydney due to a COVID-19 lockdown of the nation’s biggest city, Rugby Australia (RA) said yesterday. Authorities in New South Wales state, of which Sydney is the capital, announced a two-week hard lockdown in and around the city. Australia were to play France on July 7 at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but are now looking at other options, an RA spokesman said. These include Newcastle and Brisbane, which is to host the third and final Test on July 17, Australian media reported. The second Test is scheduled for Melbourne on July 13. Australia’s major winter sports leagues were also facing disruption. The National Rugby League, which features nine Sydney-based teams, is likely to shift championship matches outside the city over the next two weeks. The Australian Football League moved the Sydney Swans’ match against West Coast Eagles on Sunday next week to Geelong, while the Greater Western Sydney Giants are to remain in Melbourne for a second week in a row to play the Melbourne Demons on Saturday.
BOXING
Joshua-Usyk bout announced
Anthony Joshua is to defend his heavyweight titles against Oleksandr Usyk in London on Sept. 25. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, made the announcement on Friday. Joshua, holder of the WBA, IBF and WBO titles, was to have an all-British showdown with Tyson Fury this summer, but a legal ruling in the US wrecked a proposed unification fight in Saudi Arabia on Aug. 14. An arbitration hearing upheld a claim from fellow heavyweight Deontay Wilder that he was contractually owed a third fight with WBC champion Fury. They are to meet on July 24 in Las Vegas. Usyk is a former cruiserweight world champion from Ukraine who stepped up to heavyweight in 2019. He has an 18-0 (13 KO) record. He has not fought since October last year. Joshua is 24-1 (22 KO) after knocking out Kubrat Pulev in December last year.
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
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