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.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
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