AFC Wimbledon knock Ipswich out of League Cup as Newcastle edge Forest in shootout

AFC Wimbledon knock Ipswich out of League Cup as Newcastle edge Forest in shootout
Newcastle United players celebrate at the end of the English League Cup second round football match between Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United at The City Ground in Nottingham, central England, on Aug. 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 29 August 2024
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AFC Wimbledon knock Ipswich out of League Cup as Newcastle edge Forest in shootout

AFC Wimbledon knock Ipswich out of League Cup as Newcastle edge Forest in shootout
  • Wimbledon goalkeeper Owen Goodman was the hero as the League Two side defeated Ipswich on spot kicks following a 2-2 draw
  • With League Cup ties that end level after 90 minutes now going straight to penalties it was visitors Newcastle who prevailed 4-3 from the spot

LONDON: Fourth-tier AFC Wimbledon knocked top-flight Ipswich out of the English League Cup in a shock second round shootout result on Wednesday as Newcastle defeated Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest on penalties.

AFC Wimbledon were then drawn against Newcastle in the third round, giving the club the chance of pulling off another giant-killing success.

Wimbledon goalkeeper Owen Goodman was the hero as the League Two side defeated Ipswich on spot kicks following a 2-2 draw.

Ali Al-Hamadi, who joined Ipswich from Wimbledon in January, scored the opener in just the third minute but Omar Bugiel equalized for the hosts just before halftime.

Mathew Stevens gave Wimbledon a 2-1 lead in the 56th minute but Conor Chaplin capitalized on a Goodman mistake in the closing stages to send the match to penalties.

Ipswich were on course to go through to the third round when Jake Reeves fired over the crossbar.

Goodman, however, made two superb saves from Jack Taylor and Omari Hutchinson before Isaac Ogundere scored the decisive penalty.

“The underdog story in football,” Wimbledon manager Johnnie Jackson told the BBC. “It’s another amazing night in another chapter in that story.

“We always have to do it the hard way as a football club, but we find a way.”

Newcastle’s Sandro Tonali made his return from a 10-month betting ban against Forest, the midfielder having served a worldwide suspension for breaching gambling rules in Italy.

Tonali was involved in the buildup to Joe Willock’s opener after just 18 seconds before home debutant Jota Silva equalized early in the second half.

But there were no more goals in normal time and with League Cup ties that end level after 90 minutes now going straight to penalties it was visitors Newcastle who prevailed 4-3 from the spot.

The first three penalties all resulted in goals before Forest goalkeeper Miguel got down low to his right to deny Brazilian compatriot Joelinton.

But Forest’s Ibrahim Sangare hit the crossbar and teammate Taiwo Awoniyi struck an awful penalty way over the bar before Sean Longstaff coolly settled the tie in favor of Newcastle.

“Massive result for us and hopefully one that kickstarts our season,” Longstaff told Sky Sports.

Two goals in added time from James Bree and Cameron Archer saw Premier League returnees Southampton to their first win of the season as they secured a 5-3 triumph at second-tier Cardiff.

Southampton led three times only to be pulled back to 3-3 by a determined Cardiff before Bree’s 30-yard drive edged the Premier League side 4-3 in front, with Archer’s second goal putting the result beyond doubt.

“I’m really happy with the win and I’m pleased for my young players,” said Southampton manager Russell Martin, who gave five of his players their first start for the club. “But there is also a lot to be annoyed about.”

Jarrod Bowen’s late strike proved the difference as West Ham advanced into the third round with a 1-0 win over fellow Premier League side Bournemouth.

Two minutes from full time a shot from substitute Mohammed Kudus appeared to hit the chest of Bowen and flew past Cherries keeper Neto.

Replays suggested the final touch may have come off Bowen’s elbow but, with no VAR in use in the early rounds of the League Cup, the goal stood.

West Ham will now play holders Liverpool in the third round — a repeat of the 1981 final that the Reds won in a replay.

Hakon Valdimarsson saved an 82nd-minute penalty as Premier League Brentford won 1-0 away to League Two Colchester, with the Bees going through courtesy of Keane Lewis-Potter’s goal.

Third-tier Wycombe defeated Championship club Swansea 1-0 thanks to Richard Kone’s first-half strike, while Goncalo Guedes struck twice as Wolves knocked out Burnley with a 2-0 win at Molineux.

League Two Barrow’s reward for beating Championship club Derby on Tuesday was a fourth-round tie away to Chelsea, with Premier League champions Manchester City at home to Watford.


Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year
Updated 18 November 2024
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Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year
  • Korda now has won four times this year when trailing going into the final round

BELLEAIR, Florida: Nelly Korda was back to competition for the first time in nearly two months and didn’t miss a beat. She ran off five straight birdies on the back nine to stage another Sunday comeback, closing with a 3-under 67 to win The Annika for her seventh LPGA Tour title this year.
Korda had a rough start and said she didn’t have many happy thoughts when she made the turn at 2 over for the day, two shots behind Charley Hull. Starting with a birdie on No. 11, she made five in a row on her way to a three-shot victory.
The only big surprise was seeing her younger brother, Sebastian, who has been charting his own career in tennis that kept him from seeing his sister win until Sunday at Pelican Golf Club.
Korda, who earlier this year tied an LPGA record with five straight victories, became the first player to win seven times in a season since Yani Tseng in 2011. No other American had won seven times in a season since Beth Daniel in 1990.
Korda now has won four times this year when trailing going into the final round.
Hull, going for a wire-to-wire win, simply couldn’t keep up with Korda’s birdie blitz. Coming off her first win worldwide two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia, Hull closed with a 1-over 71 and tied for second with LPGA rookie Jin Hee Im (68) and Weiwei Zhang (70).
Zhang moved up 24 spots to No. 82 in the Race to CME Globe to keep her card for next year. The top 60 advance to the CME Group Tour Championship next week in Naples, where the winner gets $4 million. Carlota Ciganda moved up three places to secure the final spot.
Korda last played Sept. 22 in Ohio. She was planning to play twice during the Asian swing until a minor neck injury kept her at home. She was eager to get back in time to play Pelican, where she had won two of the previous three years.
“After taking some time off with an injury, it feels great to be back out here,” Korda said. “Nothing like being in the hunt, the adrenaline feeling on the back nine, and being in contention. I love it so much.”
The victory puts her over $4 million for the year, and she can nearly match that with a win next week at Tiburon Golf Club. The ranking does not matter for the season finale — all 60 players have the same shot at one of the biggest prizes in women’s sports.


Sinner beats Fritz to win ATP Finals and add another big title with his doping case still pending

Sinner beats Fritz to win ATP Finals and add another big title with his doping case still pending
Updated 18 November 2024
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Sinner beats Fritz to win ATP Finals and add another big title with his doping case still pending

Sinner beats Fritz to win ATP Finals and add another big title with his doping case still pending
  • Sinner won his first two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open in 2024 and had already clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking

TURIN, Italy: Top-ranked Jannik Sinner added another big title to his tremendous year, beating US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday for the ATP Finals trophy before his home fans — and before a final verdict is reached in his doping case.
Sinner won his first two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open in 2024 and had already clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking.
“It’s the first title in Italy and it means so much to me,” said Sinner, who also won the Next Gen ATP Finals — an event for the top under-20 players — in Milan in 2019. “It’s something very, very, very special.”
Sinner, however, has off-court issues after he tested positive in two separate drug tests in March. A decision to clear him of wrongdoing was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in September. A final ruling is expected from the Court of Arbitration for Sport early next year.
Sinner’s explanation was that the banned performance-enhancer entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat his own cut finger.
Sinner maintained his recent mastery over Fritz, having also beaten the American in the US Open final in September and in the group stage this week at the elite event for the year’s top eight players.
By sweeping all five of his matches en route to the trophy, Sinner earned $4.8 million — the largest winner’s prize on the men’s tour.
Sinner became the first Italian to win the finals and he went one step further than last year, when he lost the championship match to Novak Djokovic, who withdrew this time. And he did so without dropping a set – which was last accomplished by Ivan Lendl in 1986.
“I just tried to understand whatever works best for each opponent,” Sinner said. “It was a very high-level tournament from my side. At times, I couldn’t play better.”
The crowd inside Inalpi Arena included multiple clusters of fans wearing orange — a tribute to Sinner’s red- and orange-colored hair, and how he once ate carrots during a match. There were orange carrot costumes, orange wigs, orange hats, jackets and plenty of other orange items, too.
Some fans even had carrots in their mouths.
The crowd broke into its customary chant of “Ole, Ole, Ole; Sin-ner, Sin-ner” when Sinner produced a drop-shot winner to break for a 4-3 lead in the first set.
Sinner faced a break point while serving for the first set but saved it with a big serve out wide that Fritz couldn’t return. Then he served an ace — his 10th of the set — to close it out.
Another break by Sinner early in the second and the match was virtually over.
Sinner extended his winning streak to 11 matches. He’s won 26 of his last 27 matches and ends the ATP season with eight titles and an overall record of 70-6.
Fritz was attempting to become the event’s first American champion since Pete Sampras beat Andre Agassi in the title match 25 years ago.
Still, Fritz will rise to a career-high No. 4 in the rankings on Monday after beating No. 2 Alexander Zverev in a third-set tiebreaker in the semifinals on Saturday. That will make him the highest-ranked American man since Andy Roddick was No. 4 in August 2007.
It’s the latest in a series of achievements for Fritz, whose run in New York made him the first American man to reach a Grand Slam singles final since Roddick lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009.
At the start of the week, Fritz told The Associated Press that his “career has always been a very steady progression and just improving a little bit each year.”
Both Sinner and Fritz will conclude their seasons representing defending champion Italy and the United States, respectively, in the Davis Cup finals, which start Tuesday in Malaga, Spain.
The German duo of Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz beat Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6) to win the doubles title.


Casa Riyadh win Silver Cup polo championship  

Casa Riyadh win Silver Cup polo championship  
Updated 17 November 2024
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Casa Riyadh win Silver Cup polo championship  

Casa Riyadh win Silver Cup polo championship  
  • Polo teams show ‘good technical performance and strong competition’ in first championship of the season

RIYADH: Casa Riyadh won the Silver Cup polo tournament after beating the Tuwaiq Team 5-4 in the final match at the Nova Equestrian Resort field, west of the capital Riyadh.  

On Saturday, Casa Riyadh’s captain, Prince Salman bin Sultan bin Salman, accepted the championship trophy from Amr Zidane, the president of the Saudi Polo Federation. Ibrahim Al-Harbi, Salman bin Haif and Mohammed Nafeed won golden medals alongside Prince Salman. 

Zidane said that the third edition of the Silver Cup was the first championship of the polo season in Saudi Arabia and that teams delivered a “good technical performance and strong competition” in the latest tournament. 

The Tamam team of Hashem Al-Alawi, Abdulmohsen Al-Hokair, Faisal Abunyan, and the Argentine Marcelo Antonio came second, while Tuwaiq players Khaled bin Muammar, Mudhar Al-Zoubi, Asif Shah and Britain’s George Amor secured third place. 

The Silver Cup is played using a points system. In the event of a tie, the team with the most goals wins.  

Zidane said that there are six local competitions in the current polo season that “will enhance the technical performance and readiness” for the Saudi national polo team’s international competition.


Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best
Updated 17 November 2024
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Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best
  • He birdied two of the last three holes Sunday for a 3-under 69 to win by two over Rasmus Hojgaard

DUBAI: Rory McIlroy capped off a tumultuous year by winning the World Tour Championship and his sixth title as Europe’s No. 1 player. He birdied two of the last three holes Sunday for a 3-under 69 to win by two over Rasmus Hojgaard.
McIlroy hit wedge to within a foot on the 16th hole to break out of a tie with Hojgaard, then closed with a 6-foot birdie for his third title in the European tour’s season finale.
He won the Race to Dubai — previously known as the Order of Merit — for the sixth time in his career, leaving him two behind the record held by Colin Montgomerie and tying him with the late Seve Ballesteros.
Hojgaard, who rallied to stun McIlroy in the Irish Open in September, didn’t make a birdie over the final 11 holes and had to settle for a 71.
McIlroy was emotional when he came off the 18th green, his final event of a year memorable for so many reasons. He won four times — twice on the PGA Tour — but went a 10th consecutive year without a major when he threw away a late lead in the US Open.
He announced he was getting a divorce before the PGA Championship, and then scrapped those plans and said he and his wife would try to reconcile.
“I’ve been through a lot this year, professionally and personally,” McIlroy said. “It feels like the fitting end to 2024. I’ve persevered this year a lot.”


‘Bright is an understatement’ says Golf Saudi CEO about the sport’s future in the Kingdom

‘Bright is an understatement’ says Golf Saudi CEO about the sport’s future in the Kingdom
Updated 17 November 2024
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‘Bright is an understatement’ says Golf Saudi CEO about the sport’s future in the Kingdom

‘Bright is an understatement’ says Golf Saudi CEO about the sport’s future in the Kingdom
  • Noah Alireza speaks to Arab News about the Aramco Team Series, the GoGolf programs and producing homegrown talent

On a weekend that included the start of the WTA Finals in Riyadh, WWE Crown Jewel, as well as the Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam derbies in the Saudi Pro League, you could be forgiven for thinking there was any space left for any other sporting event to shine.

But golf’s Aramco Team Series — Riyadh, however, more than held its own and even drew in higher crowds than some of the rival events. The aim, said Golf Saudi CEO Noah Alireza, is to spread the golfing gospel.

“Our focus on global events comes with a primary objective of growing the game locally,” Alireza said. “(At Aramco Team Series) we (saw) a really vibrant crowd thatwas really getting into it.

“It’s all about creating the right environment and with this crowd being here as a captive audience, we, as much as possible, push towards them signing up for GoGolf, the program, and converting them into future golfers.” 

As the 2024 golf season draws to a close, Alireza said that his federation’s mandate is to act as an “catalyst and incubator” to create a golf industry.

“For us in Saudi, we have a blank canvas,” Alireza told Arab News. “We’re starting from scratch, and that provides an opportunity not to catch up, but hopefully to leapfrog because as is everything (in the Kingdom) today, Saudi doesn’t look at things in terms of just taking what was there and bringing it here. It’s taking and learning from what was, and doing it better.

“So for us to grow the game in Saudi Arabia, our primary focus today is on the development of innovative supply and infrastructure, and hopefully when we build it, the demand will catch up and that’s how we're going to hopefully be creating a viable ecosystem for golf.”

One of the ways that Golf Saudi is looking to increase participation in the game, in accordance with Vision 2030, is through its GoGolf programs.

“GoGulf is for us a complete product from end to end to get people from Saudi and living in Saudi Arabia to get into Golf. So we’re starting with a program that answers the question why golf? What is golf? And then a call to action is GoGolf. GoGolf is a three-month (program), maybe you can look at it as getting a license to drive.”

Alireza appreciates that taking up golf comes with a significant sporting and financial dedication, and GoGolf aims to give budding players an early advantage.

“Golf is not an easy game to play. In order to break that barrier, three months’ worth of free lessons, or a package of 12 free lessons, will get you the license to be able to play on golf courses and other areas. So it’s a teaching methodology, but beyond the teaching phase, there is other infrastructure under the GoGolf brand that we will be deploying in addition to other things we’ve launched outside golf courses, like Top Golf — a project that’s going to be taking place over the next year and a half.”

Alireza has a message for parents looking to introduce their children to new sports and activities: “The choices are plenty to get kids into sports, and all sports will teach kids certain traits,” he said. “Whether it is discipline, motivation and so many other traits.

“Growing up around golf, I had the opportunity to see it first hand, and golf is slightly different from other sports in that it takes up so much time and you’re moving an object, you’re not reacting to a ball, you’re having to impart impact on to a ball and a lot of time in between there are so many things that you have to exercise. Patience, resilience, determination, the seeking of perfection and getting better every day, and I believe those traits are really good traits to start to ingrain into kids, and hopefully one day from that some of the kids will specialize in golf and create those future champions that we’re looking to create.”

Alireza is bullish about golf’s trajectory in the Kingdom over the coming years.

“Bright is an understatement,” he said. “With the incredible support that we’re seeing in Saudi Arabia today across all the sectors, we have an incredible opportunity to bring the world of golf here to co-innovate with us on creating a platform that defines what future golf will be in terms of the infrastructure, golf courses, practice facilities and beyond.”

While there are several Saudi golfers already making moves in the professional game, Alireza’s aim is to see a whole generation of golfers emerging from the Kingdom over the next decade.

“I think it's important that we focus on building that generation for two important reasons,” he said. “No.1 is that creating champions is an element that we’ve seen as a story throughout history that helps generate future generations of champions.

“So when Saudi beat Argentina in the World Cup, that was a generational moment that not only created future football stars but athletes in general,” Alireza said. “Everyone could now believe if somebody that I know of that is from my city, my country can do it, then so can I. And that element, that barrier, as a threshold is extremely important. So for us, the focus on creating those champions is really important because then it goes to the second reason.”

“The second reason is that that tipping point, when that champion is created, inshallah, and our goal is to have that happen within the next five to 10 years, is that it creates a whole new generation of golfers that sustains the golf economy that we’re seeking to create.”