ATHLETICS
Teen bolts to finish line
Teenager Letsile Tebogo on Tuesday attracted comparisons to Usain Bolt after showboating his way to the Under-20 100m world title in a record time with a scorching run in Colombia. The 19-year-old Botswanan clocked 9.91 seconds to improve the junior world record of 9.94 seconds he set in the heats of the senior World Athletics Championships last month, but clearly could have gone even faster. Tebogo made a blistering start at Cali’s Pascual Guerrero Stadium and coasted through the final 20m, turning to gesticulate at silver medallist Bouwahjgie Nkrumie with a huge smile on his face as he cruised to the line. The early celebrations were a deliberate echo of Bolt’s when the Jamaican great won the first of his eight Olympic sprint gold medals in a world record time of 9.69 seconds at the 2008 Beijing Games. “If somebody took it as disrespect, I’m really sorry,” Tebogo told the World Athletics Web site. “[It was so] everybody watching at home can enjoy the race — to remind them a little bit about what Usain Bolt did back in the day. He’s my idol — the person I look up to.”
TENNIS
Raducanu a Slytherin fan
Emma Raducanu may be undecided on who her next permanent coach should be, but the British teen has no uncertainty when it comes to selecting which house she identifies with at the mythical Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. House Slytherin is one of the four houses at Hogwarts in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels. “I’d be in Slytherin, for sure,” Raducanu said on Tuesday, after her 6-4, 6-2 win over qualifier Louisa Chirico at the Citi Open. “I just think that, they haven’t got a great rep, but I just think they are really, hmm, cool. But they have like super — they’re pretty, in a way, brutal, but — I don’t know. They have got a, just mysterious sort of side to them, and I like that.”
SOCCER
Four nations, one World Cup
Four South American countries on Tuesday launched an unprecedented joint bid to host the centenary 2030 FIFA World Cup in the hopes of bringing the global showpiece back to its first home. “We are in this iconic place where history began,” said Alejandro Dominguez, president of South American soccer’s governing body CONMEBOL, from the Estadio Centenario in Montevideo where the first World Cup final was held in 1930. Uruguay won that, beating Argentina 4-2, but now the neighbors have joined together — alongside Paraguay and Chile — to bid for the right to host the global showpiece under the “Juntos 2030” (Together 2030) slogan. “This is not the project of a government, but the dream of a whole continent,” Dominguez said.
SOCCER
England women crash site
An unprecedented demand for tickets to watch the England women’s team play against the US at Wembley on Oct. 7 led to the Football Association’s Web site crashing on Tuesday and fans being held in lines online of more than 45,000 people. The FA announced at 2pm that England, the newly crowned UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 champions, were in line to host the US, the FIFA World Cup holders, prompting a surge to buy tickets. Supporters able to access the Web site were given an estimated wait time of more than an hour.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
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