RUGBY UNION
Lambie earns ’Boks call-up
Twenty-year-old Patrick Lambie played the match of his life on Saturday to earn a call-up to the 30-man Springbok team for their tour of the UK and Ireland next month. There were also recalls for fullback Francois Steyn and scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar as under-fire coach Peter de Villiers named six uncapped players to face Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England on consecutive weekends. Lambie earned selection after scoring 25 points in a man-of-the-match performance for the Natal Sharks, who beat Western Province 30-10 in the Currie Cup final at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday. Lambie is joined by another 20-year-old flyhalf, Elton Jantjies, while there are also Springbok call-ups for the Sharks trio of wing Lwazi Mvovo, backrowers Keegan Daniel and Willem Alberts, as well as Free State front-rower Coenie Oosthuizen.
RUGBY LEAGUE
Kangaroos through to final
Australia overcame a sluggish start to outclass England 34-14 at AAMI Park in Melbourne yesterday to set up a Four Nations final with old foes New Zealand. The Kangaroos scored six tries to two and had the contest well won early in the second half to coast to victory in steady rain. Australia will first have to go through a “dead rubber” with New Zealand next weekend, before they meet again in the tournament final in Brisbane on Nov. 13. Following their 24-10 loss to New Zealand last week, England had to beat the Kangaroos to stay alive in the tournament, but will now finish their participation with a match against Papua New Guinea next Saturday.
BOXING
N’Dam outpoints Khurtsidze
France’s undefeated Hassan N’Dam unanimously outpointed Georgia’s Avtandil Khurtsidze to take the vacant WBA interim middleweight title in Paris on Saturday. The 26-year-old N’Dam, a Cameroon-born fighter recently granted French citizenship, received winning scores of 117-111, 115-114 and 115-114 from the judges to improve his record to 25-0. The 31-year-old Khurtsidze lost for the second time in 26 fights. N’Dam became the interim WBA champion. Kazakhstan’s Gennady Golovkin is the recognized titleholder. “He is a formidable opponent and he came here to win,” said N’Dam, who finished with cuts above both eyebrows. “He is very small and I received a lot of head butts, but I did my job, it was a fight between a bullfighter and a bull.”
VOLLEYBALL
Brazil win third straight
Beijing Olympic gold medalists Brazil overwhelmed the Netherlands to remain unbeaten with three straight wins at the World Women’s Volleyball Championship yesterday. Brazil, the runners-up to Russia at the previous championship in 2006, rallied to a straightforward 25-19, 25-18, 25-14 victory in Pool B round in Hamamatsu, Japan. Defending champions Russia, the 2006 bronze medalists Serbia, European champions Italy, Japan, the US and South Korea also remained unbeaten.
MOTOGP
Lorenzo wins in Portugal
Yamaha’s newly-crowned world champion Jorge Lorenzo of Spain won his third consecutive Portuguese MotoGP yesterday. The 23-year-old got the better of a close battle with the man he dethroned as champion, his teammate Valentino Rossi, with Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso grabbing third on the line. Lorenzo claimed his first MotoGP title after finishing third to Rossi in Malaysia earlier this month. The MotoGP season concludes in Valencia next Sunday.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
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