Saudi Arabia sole bidder to host 2034 World Cup, FIFA says

Saudi Arabia sole bidder to host 2034 World Cup, FIFA says
In this photo, taken on October 13, 2016, a sign of the FIFA is seen at the entrance of the world football's governing body headquarters in Zurich. (AFP/File)
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Updated 01 November 2023
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Saudi Arabia sole bidder to host 2034 World Cup, FIFA says

Saudi Arabia sole bidder to host 2034 World Cup, FIFA says
  • FIFA had invited bids from Asia and Oceania for the tournament by October 31
  • Australia said on Tuesday it would not be bidding, leaving Saudi Arabia as sole candidate

LAUSANNE: Saudi Arabia was the only football association to present a bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup before the deadline closed, soccer’s global governing body said on Tuesday.

FIFA had invited bids from Asia and Oceania for the tournament by Oct. 31, and Saudi Arabia announced it would bid only minutes after the announcement on Oct 4.
Australia said on Tuesday it would not be presenting a bid to host the tournament, leaving Saudi Arabia as the only candidate.
“As established in the Bidding Regulations approved by the FIFA Council, the FIFA administration will conduct thorough bidding and evaluation processes for the 2030 and 2034 editions of the FIFA World Cup, with the hosts to be appointed by FIFA Congresses expected to take place by Q4 2024,” FIFA said.
FIFA also confirmed that the sole confirmation of interest in hosting the 2030 World Cup came from Morocco, Portugal and Spain with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay hosting celebratory games.
On Oct. 4, FIFA announced that the combined bid of Morocco Spain and Portugal would host the 2030 World Cup subject to the completion of a successful bidding process. 


First group of Pakistan cricket team arrives in Australia for ODI and T20I series

First group of Pakistan cricket team arrives in Australia for ODI and T20I series
Updated 27 sec ago
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First group of Pakistan cricket team arrives in Australia for ODI and T20I series

First group of Pakistan cricket team arrives in Australia for ODI and T20I series
  • The first group includes seven key players, including Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi
  • Pakistan will kick off their tour with a series of white-ball matches in Australia, followed by fixtures in Zimbabwe

ISLAMABAD: The first batch of Pakistan’s national cricket team has arrived in Australia for the upcoming ODI and T20I series, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed on Tuesday, including some of the most prominent bowlers and batters.
The Pakistan team has delivered underwhelming performances in recent international tournaments and tours, with their outings at the Asia Cup and the ICC World Cup last year leaving fans disappointed due to inconsistent displays and significant defeats.
Despite these setbacks, Pakistan’s recent Test series victory against England at home has rekindled hope among fans as the team sets out for tours of Australia and Zimbabwe.
“Members of the Pakistan ODI squad for the Australia series arrive in Melbourne,” PCB announced in an Instagram post, sharing pictures of Haris Rauf, Babar Azam, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi at airport in Australia.
“The remaining ODI players will depart for Melbourne today,” it added.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBsqNIlIiG_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The first group includes seven key players, while the second batch has white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan and others.
Pakistan will kick off their tour with a series of white-ball matches in Australia, followed by fixtures in Zimbabwe later in November.
The team is set to play three ODIs and three T20Is in Australia before heading to Zimbabwe for another white-ball series.


50 years after Ali fought Foreman in Congo, the ‘jungle’ hasn’t stopped rumbling

50 years after Ali fought Foreman in Congo, the ‘jungle’ hasn’t stopped rumbling
Updated 34 min 39 sec ago
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50 years after Ali fought Foreman in Congo, the ‘jungle’ hasn’t stopped rumbling

50 years after Ali fought Foreman in Congo, the ‘jungle’ hasn’t stopped rumbling
  • Mobutu Sese Seko had partnered with promoters to bring the contest to the country, putting up a $5 million purse for the fight
  • Alfred Mamba: ‘Ali had surprised everyone with his hook technique. And how he was boxing on the ropes. And voila, this is how he won the fight’

KINSHASA, Congo: Alfred Mamba remembers the frenzy that gripped the main soccer stadium in Zaire, now known as Congo, as the fierce heavyweight title bout unfolded through eight rounds between the underdog Muhammad Ali and the seemingly invincible George Foreman.
“It was a big party,” Mamba said as he recalled his father, one of the co-founders of the boxing federation in Congo, taking him to the fight as a 15-year-old.
As Mamba flipped through a pile of photos he said were taken at the fight, he remembered the stadium erupting as Ali and Foreman stepped out for the much-anticipated “Rumble in the Jungle” as the contest was famously known.
“When Foreman was throwing punches, the audience was screaming,” Mamba, now a boxing referee, remembered. “But Ali had surprised everyone with his hook technique. And how he was boxing on the ropes. And voila, this is how he won the fight.”
The crowd’s hysteria trailed the series of punches until Ali’s last blow. It also created a new generation of fighters and fans that became inspired to keep this country on the global boxing stage.
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Ali vs. Foreman fight, boxers and fans from across Africa have been in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, for the just-concluded 21st African Amateur Boxing Championships that saw the Stade des Martyrs stadium and major roads lit up.
Landry Matete Kankonde, who represented Congo in the men’s heavyweight division, lost to Senegal’s Karamba Kebe but said he is still dreaming about becoming the next Ali, crediting the 1974 bout with putting Congo on the map.
“The next superstar will be me,” the 24-year-old Kankonde said, a wide grin flashing across his face.
But in this impoverished country of 110 million mostly young people, people like Kankonde are fighting against the odds to get to the highest levels.
While Congo is one of the most decorated African nations in boxing, it still lacks adequate sporting infrastructure such as a gym for its national team, leaving many to train in open spaces, Mamba said.
In its eastern region, where a deadly security crisis has resulted in one of the world’s biggest humanitarian disasters, many can only dream of getting out of conflict zones and displacement camps to make it to official contests in the faraway capital.
Even in Kinshasa, amateurs often train by the roadside and on the streets with no gear, ducking and weaving as their hands roll punches.
“Congo is a country where people are motivated by the suffering that we know here,” Kankonde said. “Every time a Congolese boxer gives his all, seeing all that we endure here, it pushes us.”
The 1974 fight was one of boxing’s most memorable moments.
Mobutu Sese Seko, the Congolese dictator who was seeking to put the central African nation in the spotlight, had partnered with promoters to bring the contest to the country, putting up a $5 million purse for the fight.
Just before dawn on Oct. 30, 1974, with machine gun-carrying soldiers watching the crowd from ringside and a huge portrait of Mobuto towering over the Stade des Martyrs stadium, spectators from across the world watched the bout between the 32-year-old Ali — seeking a comeback after being stripped of the world title for refusing to be drafted for the Vietnam war — and the then-undefeated 25-year-old Foreman.
Many believed Ali didn’t stand a chance against Foreman, having been out of the ring for years after the sanction.
“People were praying before the fight that Ali doesn’t get killed,” Bill Caplan, who was Foreman’s public relations man in Zaire, has said.
“I think it was one of the top-10 upsets in boxing,” Ed Schuyler Jr., the longtime boxing writer for The Associated Press who was in Congo to cover the fight, has said of Ali’s victory.
The fight ended with Ali putting Foreman on the canvas in the eighth round, but that was only the beginning of a passion for the sport among many Congolese. After that, everyone wanted to learn boxing, said Mamba. He himself was inspired by both the contest and his father, also a referee.
And for fifty years, Congo has continued to rumble, producing boxing greats like Sumbu Kalambay, the Congolese-Italian champion who held the World Boxing Association (WBA) world middleweight title in the 1980s and Junior Ilunga Makabu, who held the WBC cruiserweight title in the early 2020s.
And people are still falling in love with the sport in the country, including Josue Loloje, who was among the spectators at the Kinshasa stadium for the African championship.
“The Ali vs. Foreman fight is the foundation (for) these talents emerging in Congolese boxing,” Loloje said in between the contests. “It all started there.”


World No. 1 Jannik Sinner out of Paris Masters with ‘virus’

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner out of Paris Masters with ‘virus’
Updated 29 October 2024
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World No. 1 Jannik Sinner out of Paris Masters with ‘virus’

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner out of Paris Masters with ‘virus’
  • World number one replaced in the draw by Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, who was drafted in from qualifying
  • Organizers say Jannik Sinner was ‘suffering from an intestinal virus contracted before he arrived in Paris’

PARIS: World number one Jannik Sinner has withdrawn from the Paris Masters indoor event due to an “intestinal virus,” the tournament organizers announced on Tuesday.
Sinner, assured since mid-October of finishing the year top of the rankings for the first time in his career at the age of 23, has been replaced in the draw by Frenchman Arthur Cazaux, who was drafted in from qualifying.
Cazaux will face either his compatriot Corentin Moutet or American Ben Shelton in his second round opener on Tuesday.
Organizers said Sinner was “suffering from an intestinal virus contracted before he arrived in Paris.”
The major objective at the end of his season, the Masters in Turin, which brings together the eight best players of the year, is scheduled for November 10-17.
He is then expected to take part in the Davis Cup finals the following week in Malaga, Spain. Italy are the defending champions.
Sinner enjoyed a sparkling 2024 season, winning his first two Grand Slam titles, at the Australian Open and the US Open.
In all, he has won seven tournaments since the start of the season, including three Masters 1000 titles, in Miami, Cincinnati and Shanghai.
However he is under the threat of suspension in a doping case that came to light several weeks ago, following an appeal by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Sinner has a chequered history with the Paris indoor tournament — a year ago, he withdrew before his second match.


Sevilla FC and Future Falcons partner to develop young Saudi talent

Sevilla FC and Future Falcons partner to develop young Saudi talent
Updated 29 October 2024
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Sevilla FC and Future Falcons partner to develop young Saudi talent

Sevilla FC and Future Falcons partner to develop young Saudi talent
  • A delegation from the Saudi Arabian Football Federation initiative was received by the La Liga club’s president

SEVILLE: A collaboration agreement between Sevilla FC and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s Future Falcons project will develop young Saudi talent and grow the La Liga club’s brand in the region.

“Sevilla FC signs this agreement with Future Falcons because, as part of our strategic plan, one of our most important pillars is the internationalization of the Sevilla FC brand, making ourselves known to the world,” said the club president, Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco.

“Saudi Arabia is an emerging and increasingly influential market in the world of football, and for us, this is a very important strategic alliance.”

Romeo Jozak, technical director of Future Falcons, said European clubs with which the organization wanted to collaborate and work were carefully selected.

“Sevilla FC is undoubtedly one of them,” he said. “It’s not only a giant in Spanish football but also a global football powerhouse. We’re thrilled to be here today and to have received such a warm welcome from the club and its president. This exchange provides tremendous mutual benefit and the opportunity to collaborate in the best possible way. Future Falcons will gain significant advantages through this partnership with Sevilla FC.”

Future Falcons is an academy project, managed by the SAFF, which trains the most promising young Saudi footballers at a high-performance center in Salou. The agreement means Sevilla FC will take part in the organization’s prestigious youth tournament alongside some of Europe’s top youth academies, including Benfica, Juventus and Sporting CP.

“This is very positive,” Carrasco said. “We’re convinced that the training process they undertake, both in sports and personal development, is very similar to what we implement in our youth academy, which has been a cornerstone of our club’s history.

“Participating in their tournament with Sevilla’s youth players will provide a formative experience akin to what we’ve had in the past four seasons in the Youth League. It’s a tournament that features the best teams from different parts of the world, and this is highly beneficial in the players’ formative journey and for Sevilla FC.”

Jozak also emphasized the benefits of this tournament: “Within the Saudi Arabian national team, the majority of players have trained with Future Falcons and have played and competed in this tournament, where Sevilla will also be present.

“I think this will be mutually beneficial in the future due to the exchange of cultures, coaching methods, knowledge and experiences. Everyone knows Sevilla FC is a big club, having won seven Europa League titles and developed numerous players. This collaboration is a blessing for Future Falcons.”

Sevilla FC will actively participate in training talented players and Saudi coaches through its innovation center and some of its training initiatives. The club’s commitment to technological advancement in sports will also allow it to share knowledge and tools, focusing on talent development and recruitment.


Elite field set for inaugural Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship

Elite field set for inaugural Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship
Updated 29 October 2024
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Elite field set for inaugural Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship

Elite field set for inaugural Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship
  • Over 40 of the biggest names in triathlon, including world champions, Olympic medalists and rising stars take part in competition which is part of Dubai Fitness Challenge

DUBAI: With less than one month to go, the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final is set to ignite the city with a high-stakes showdown between the world’s best.

The competition, marking the culmination of the inaugural T100 World Tour, will see a strong field of male and female athletes battling for ultimate supremacy on Nov. 16 and 17.

The T100 Triathlon World Tour is a seven-race series, designed to push triathletes to their limits across a mix of iconic global destinations and a unique competition format — a 2 km swim, 80 km bike, and 18 km run.

Throughout the season, athletes have accumulated points across races in Miami, Singapore, San Francisco, London, Ibiza and Las Vegas.

The grand final in Dubai is the last chance for the top PTO World Ranked athletes to win additional points as they vie to be crowned the inaugural T100 World Champion.

The sum of each athlete’s three best point-scoring performances across the season plus their score from the Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final will give each their total score.

In addition to crowning the first T100 World Champions, the final will determine the split of the record $7 million prize pot.

Sitting 19 points clear at the top of the men’s field is three-time Olympian, Marten Van Riel. The Belgian claimed his maiden T100 victory earlier this year in a dramatic three-way sprint finish with Kyle Smith and Germany’s Rico Bogen on the iconic “Escape from Alcatraz” course in San Francisco.

He followed it up with a spectacular win in Ibiza, becoming the first male two-time T100 champion. Another world-class performance in Las Vegas earlier this month saw him take silver spot on the podium, securing him pole position in the overall men’s rankings.

In his last visit to Dubai in 2022, Van Riel won the IRONMAN 70.3 Dubai. “It’s amazing to claim the top spot in the rankings after an incredible race in Vegas this weekend,” said Van Riel.

“Winning the T100 series would be a huge moment in my career, but I know there’s still a long way to go and there’s plenty of fast guys ready to push me to the limit in Dubai next month.

“I’ve had some great results racing in Dubai in the past, and I love the energy of the city so I’m excited to come back and give it everything I’ve got.”

With just five points separating the rest of the top-five athletes, it is all to race for. Second in the rankings is Danish superstar Magnus Ditlev, who has had a phenomenal season with victories at both the first leg of the 2024 T100 World Tour event in Miami and Challenge Roth.

Third in the rankings, New Zealand’s Kyle Smith will also toe the line in Dubai. A wildcard into the 2024 T100 series, Smith has proved he deserves his spot in the star-studded lineup.

This follows an incredible sprint finish in the San Francisco T100 Triathlon where he was pipped into second place by Van Riel, and another second-place finish at the London T100.

Crowd-favorite Alistair Brownlee from Great Britain will also line up in Dubai. He is the only triathlete in history to complete the grand slam of Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth titles.

The women’s field is equally star-studded, headlined by the US’ Taylor Knibb. One of the most consistent racers on the global triathlon circuit, Knibb recently won at both the Ibiza and Lake Las Vegas T100 Triathlon races, adding to her win in San Francisco in June.

Knibb will be up against second-ranked Ashleigh Gentle from Australia. Since turning her sights to long-distance racing in 2021, the two-time Olympian has proved her dominance time and time again.

Gentle has had an exceptional 2024 T100 World Tour season, securing victories in both the Singapore and London races. One of the best runners on the global triathlon circuit, the Dubai course could prove a winning formula for Gentle to finish her season in style.

Hot on her heels will be Flora Duffy — the first and only Olympic gold medalist from Bermuda — who is making her much-anticipated switch to long-course triathlon racing.

Another Olympic star heading to Dubai is Julie Derron from Switzerland. Derron has claimed the runners-up position in three of the biggest races of the 2024 triathlon season — the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Ibiza T100 Triathlon and the Las Vegas T100 Triathlon.