SOCCER
No away trips for fans
AS Saint-Etienne fans will be banned from their side’s away games until the end of the year after some Les Verts supporters caused chaos before a Ligue 1 match last weekend, the French League (LFP) said on Wednesday. On Sunday, nine people were injured when Saint-Etienne fans threw seats at home supporters at OGC Nice’s Allianz Riviera stadium, prompting police to clear the away stands. The sanction means Saint-Etienne fans will not be allowed to attend the trips to Stade Rennais and Montpellier Herault in Ligue 1 and Paris Saint-Germain in the League Cup.
SOCCER
Player may leave Qatar
Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, has finally allowed a French player to leave the country after being stuck there for 17 months because of a pay dispute with his club, France’s ambassador said on Wednesday. Al-Jaish player Zahir Belounis has obtained an exit visa, which is usually controlled by employers in the Gulf state under its controversial kafala, or sponsorship system, ambassador Jean-Christophe Peaucelle said. The French-Algerian player, 33, had been stuck in Qatar since June last year after he filed a complaint against Al-Jaish over a payment dispute. The club insisted he would not be granted the exit permit unless he dropped the case. The global players’ union FIFPro said it would start a four-day visit to Qatar yesterday for talks with Qatari soccer authorities and organizers of the 2022 World Cup. The association said it would “not sit idly by as the rights of the players are being abused.”
CRICKET
Nepal reach Twenty20 finals
Nepal qualified for their maiden ICC World Twenty20 finals with a five-wicket win over Hong Kong at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Nepal survived a last-over scare to score the required 13 runs, with 10 coming from the first two deliveries and a last-ball misfield producing the winning runs. Joining Nepal at next year’s tournament in Bangladesh are the United Arab Emirates, who return to the global stage for the first time in 17 years. The UAE qualified courtesy of successfully defending a modest score of 118 to beat the Netherlands by 10 runs.
CRICKET
Veteran Chanderpaul shines
Veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul top-scored for a makeshift West Indies side in a tour match against a New Zealand XI in Lincoln, New Zealand, yesterday, just missing out on a century. Chanderpaul, who notched up 150 Tests in India this month, hit 89 from 106 balls as the tourists took a narrow first-innings lead over the New Zealanders. The West Indies declared on 230-6 after Anurag Verma bowled Chanderpaul, putting them just three runs ahead of the New Zealand XI. Blacks Caps openers Hamish Rutherford (61) and Peter Fulton (32) made a good start in New Zealand’s second innings, cruising to 103 without loss at stumps.
RUGBY UNION
Trio nominated for award
New Zealand’s Ben Smith and Kieran Read and Wales’ Leigh Halfpenny have been nominated for the players’ player of the year award, the International Rugby Players’ Association said on Wednesday. The trio, along with South Africa’s Eben Etzebeth and Italy’s Sergio Parisse, have also been shortlisted for the International Rugby Board’s world player of the year award.
A seven-year-old horse had to be euthanized on Friday after breaking its back on the final fence of a Grand National steeplechase race that it won despite sustaining the serious injury. It follows the death of four horses at the Cheltenham Festival last month — including one after the prestigious Gold Cup. Gold Dancer was competing in the Mildmay Novices’ Chase during Ladies Day at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. The horse managed to cross the finish line approximately four lengths ahead of runner-up Regent’s Stroll. “The winner of our second race of the day, Gold Dancer, was pulled up after
Hans Niemann declares he would become a “stone cold killer” in a Netflix documentary released on Tuesday about his feud with five-time classical world champion Magnus Carlsen, a pledge that injects new edge into the lingering fallout from the cheating scandal that shook elite chess. “I’m gonna be a stone cold killer the rest of my life,” the US’ Niemann says in the film. “I’m going to become the best player in the world, and no one is going to believe that now, but this clip will play over and over again in 10 years — just wait.” “I just
OBJECTIVE REACHED: ’Now for us, it’s about getting healthy, making sure everybody is ready to go, and we can ramp up,’ the Atlanta Hawks’ C.J. McCollum said after the game The Atlanta Hawks on Friday secured an NBA playoff berth with a 124-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers as the Boston Celtics locked up the Eastern Conference second seed with a lopsided win of their own. C.J. McCollum scored a game-high 29 points for the Hawks, who came into the contest at sixth in the East and still in danger of falling into the play-in tournament that would see the seventh-through 10th-placed teams battle for the last two playoff berths in each conference. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson scored 18 points apiece, and Dyson Daniels added a triple-double of 13
Taiwanese “boxing queen” Chen Nien-chin today won the women’s 65kg division final at the Asian Boxing Elite Championships in Ulaanbaatar, securing Taiwan’s first gold medal in that weight class at the tournament. Chen defeated North Korea’s Hwang Hyo Sun 4-1, after the two were tied through the first two rounds. Chen won bronze in the 66kg division at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
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