SOCCER
Bournemouth beat Spurs
AFC Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola was pleased to spoil the night for yet another major Premier League side — with his team on Thursday securing a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur — but he remained grounded on his expectations from the season. Iraola’s side, who finished 12th last season, were ninth in the table with 21 points ahead of the rest of the weekend’s games. “Luckily, we finished the job, but there were moments when we thought that if we did not kill them, they would punish us,” Iraola told Amazon Prime after the win. “Our defensive performance was most pleasing. We did not give them many chances at all. Everyone defensively was very good.” Elsewhere, Fulham beat Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1.
Photo: AFP
OLYMPICS
New stadium sought
Brisbane Olympic chief Andrew Liveris has weighed in on the debate over the venues for the 2032 Summer Games, saying he would “love” a purpose-built arena as the main stadium for the event. Queensland State Premier David Crisafulli last week announced a seven-member board would conduct a second review of the venue options and report within 100 days. Liveris said that a revamped 30,000-capacity athletics stadium at the QSAC venue would present revenue issues and a rebuilt Gabba would be restricted by the size of the site, leaving Victoria Park as the best solution if the transport links were right. “What better visual than to have a new stadium at Vic Park?” he asked on the Toward The Games podcast. “I would love it, to be perfectly frank. If a stadium like that appears at Victoria Park, that fits the future of cricket and [Australian rules] football perfectly, and has private-sector funding that gives it a return model like Optus Stadium out in Perth, of course Andrew Liveris would say at that: ‘Wow, what a great answer for the Olympics.’”
RUGBY UNION
Springboks bid announced
A group comprising four companies made a rival 6.7 billion rand (US$372 million) bid to buy a stake in the commercial rights of South Africa’s Springboks, the reigning world champions, Business Day reported. AltVest Capital, EasyEquities, 27four Investment Managers and RainFin expressed interest in buying as much as 40 percent of the rights through a entity called Saru Commercial Rights Co, the newspaper reported, citing a letter to the leaders of the South African Rugby Union.
BASKETBALL
NBA to return to China
The NBA is to return to China for the first time in six years with two pre-season games in Macau between the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns in October next year, reports said yesterday. No NBA games have been held in China since two pre-season contests in 2019 after a post on social media from then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. In the fallout the NBA lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of it being yanked off Chinese television until 2022. ESPN, citing unnamed sources, said that the relationship between the NBA and China had improved with the aid of NBA China chief executive officer Michael Ma, who was hired in 2020. Reports said the games in Macau would be played at the Venetian Arena on Oct. 10 and 12.
Tallon Griekspoor on Friday stunned top seed Alexander Zverev 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/4) in the second round at Indian Wells, avenging a devastating loss to the German at Roland Garros last year. Zverev, the world No. 2 who is heading the field of the prestigious ATP Masters event with No. 1 Jannik Sinner serving a three-month drugs ban, is the first Indian Wells men’s top seed to lose his opening match since Andy Murray in 2017. It was a cherished win for Griekspoor, who had lost five straight matches — including four last year — to the German. That included a five-setter
Donovan Mitchell on Wednesday scored 26 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers punched their ticket to the NBA playoffs with a hard-fought 112-107 victory over the Miami Heat. A seesaw battle in Cleveland saw the Heat threaten to end the Cavs’ 11-game unbeaten streak after opening up a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Cavs clawed back the deficit in the closing minutes to seal their 12th straight victory and a place in the post-season. The Cavaliers improved to 52-10, maintaining their stranglehold on the Eastern Conference with 20 games of the regular season remaining. Mitchell was one of six Cleveland
VALUABLE POINT: Relegation-threatened Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico. “There were a lot of things that
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
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