Category Sports News

World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz claims that he was “scared” after suffering an ankle injury on Thursday in the first round of the Tokyo Olympics.

With the first set tied at 2-2, top seed Alcaraz suffered a left ankle stenosis and had to undergo heavy strapping and treatment from the physio.

His team appeared to indicate that he should stop at this point, before the game was then suspended for rain, which added to the delay. He then broke with Baez and returned to the court.

Alcaraz, who had earlier won the men’s US Open title, and Baez resurrected under the roof, won the match 6-4, 6-2, and the Spaniard dominated the following day.

Alcaraz, a six-time Grand Slam champion, said, “I was scared too, I’m not going to lie.”

“Being honest, I was concerned when I landed on the ankle because it didn’t feel good at first. I’m happy to have the opportunity to play such good tennis after that. Seem to be.

I believe the following day and a half will not be easy for me. I’ll make an effort to recover and do whatever it takes to get ready for the following round.

Sonay Kartal’s comfortable victory over American Alycia Parks in Beijing secured her place in the second round of the China Open.

Kartal defeated world number 60 Parks 6-3, 2 and 6-2 in the final game of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals last week.

The 23-year-old’s ranking points for winning her first WTA title at the Tunisian Open final in September dropped to 81 in the world.

The title sponsor has urged one of cycling’s best teams to remove the word “Israel” from its name.

As pro-Palestinian demonstrations were staged in Spain this month’s Vuelta a Espana Grand Tour, the Israel-Premier Tech team was the subject of a number of disruptions.

Sponsor Premier Tech predicted that the team would “evolve toward a new name excluding “Israel,” giving rise to a new identity and brand.

The Canadian business could discontinue its association after the following season, stating that “the team’s current situation is no longer tenable.”

It continued, “We acknowledge and are aware that the world has changed significantly since our World Tour 2017 debut.”

We have continued to honor this commitment this cycling season while actively engaging in discussions with the team and its partners.

The outcome of these discussions will determine whether Premier Tech continues to support the team as it progresses.

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome is a member of the Israel-Premier Tech squad, which is owned by Israeli-Canadian property billionaire Sylvan Adams and is made up of Israeli-born Israelis.

The team stated that they are “currently in the planning phase for 2026 team branding” and will update themselves as needed.

Adams, 66, has previously claimed to be a “self-appointed ambassador to Israel” and is closely associated with Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration.

At the signing of the Abraham Accords between Israel and other Emirati states, including the UAE, in 2020, Adams and US President Donald Trump were invited to the White House.

Similar concerns have also been raised by the team’s British-based bike supplier Factor.

During the Vuelta, the team removed the name “Israel” from their jerseys.

On stage five, four riders were forced to stop to avoid hitting protesters who were unfurling a banner, as a result of pro-Palestinian protests.

Derek Gee, one of the team’s best riders, abruptly terminated his contract with them just days before his Vuelta debut, prompting the team to seek legal counsel and support from cycling’s world-governing body, the UCI.

Without describing those issues or citing any connection between his decision to the Gaza situation, Gee, who had previously been in negotiations to extend his contract, said, “some things just made my continued employment at the team untenable.”

Tom Pidcock, a third-place finisher in the Vuelta, expressed concern for riders who were targeted.

They are riding because they have the chance to compete on bikes all over the world, he said.

After being expelled from the World Tour in 2022, the team is now a part of cycling’s second ProTeam tier, but with their large-money supporters, a return to the World Tour in 2026 is anticipated.

In response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and the hostage of 251, the Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza.

A 64-team World Cup?

The concept will sound like a step too far to some, but others believe it deserves real consideration.

In April, the South American governing body Conmebol raised an official proposal to expand the 2030 tournament to 64 teams, and Fifa will discuss it with leaders from the continent in New York this week.

The first 48-team World Cup will take place next summer across the United States, Canada and Mexico – expanded from the current 32-team format – but there are serious attempts from some to make it even bigger for 2030.

That tournament will be the first to be spread across three continents to mark its 100-year anniversary, with main hosts Spain, Morocco and Portugal being joined by Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in hosting opening-round matches.

So, what is going on?

The idea was first “spontaneously raised” at a Fifa council meeting in March by Uruguayan Football Federation president Ignacio Alonso.

It was then presented at Fifa congress in April by Conmebol, which believes it would be a fitting way to mark the World Cup’s centenary.

Fifa’s official position has always been it will discuss expansion ideas with its stakeholders and it is duty bound to consider any proposals from its council members.

The Fifa council would make the ultimate decision, but there are no signs it is something expected to be made imminently.

How dramatic would this expansion actually be?

Fairly seismic is the obvious answer.

The pace of change has been remarkable, since the long-standing 16-team format increased to 24 teams in 1982.

It became a 32-team event in 1998 before being expanded to 48 teams for next summer’s showpiece.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino said “every idea is a good idea”, but the proposal for a 64-team tournament has divided opinion among the six Fifa confederations and national associations.

Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez said expanding the World Cup for its centenary would ensure “nobody on the planet is left out of the party”.

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is among those to have dismissed the proposals, with the Slovenian saying it is a “bad idea” for both the tournament itself and the qualifying process.

Victor Montagliani, president of the governing body for football in North and Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf), said the suggestion “doesn’t feel right” and believes the expansion would damage “the broader football ecosystem”.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa agreed, saying further expansion would bring “chaos”.

While there has been limited further public discussion, there are a few obvious reasons why people would be in favour and against the proposal.

Financially, more games would surely mean bigger TV deals and sponsorship possibilities.

The expanded 2026 format is already predicted to be generating more money than any previous World Cup through sponsorships, merchandising, ticket sales and broadcast revenues, with Fifa expecting to earn $11bn (£8.2bn) over the four-year cycle to December 2026.

By flinging its doors open wider than ever before, the tournament would be more inclusive and the change would probably result in a host of nations reaching the World Cup for the first time.

At the 2022 World Cup, hosts Qatar were the only team making their tournament debut.

Cape Verde are only one win away from joining already-qualified Jordan and Uzbekistan as debutants at the 2026 competition, while New Caledonia and Suriname could add to the growing number of debutants already in next summer’s World Cup.

A 64-team tournament would also increase the likelihood of all the world’s top players competing.

On the flip side, the competitive nature of the event would be brought into question. The potential for one-sided matches would increase, while qualifying would become even more a foregone conclusion for many nations than it is already.

Questions will be asked about the added amount of travel that players and fans will have to make, with sustainability likely to be an important issue with the increased number of flights needed to transport teams, fans and media.

This is a difficult question to answer.

The notion of a 64-team tournament is almost unprecedented in top-level international sport, so it is difficult to cite any examples.

Next summer’s expanded format is complicated enough, with the top two and best eight third-place finishers from 12 groups of four qualifying for the last 32.

The obvious structure for a 64-team World Cup in 2030 would be for the top two from 16 groups of four to qualify for the last 32. Perhaps a bit tidier than next years?

Should the proposal eventually be accepted, the 2030 edition would include 128 matches – up from the 64-game format played between 1998 and 2022.

Next year’s World Cup will have 104 matches and will take 72 games – eight games more than an entire 32-team World Cup – just to get down to 32 teams.

From the start of the 2026 tournament until the end of the last 16 there will be 96 games across 27 days, with no rest day.

Just one of those days will feature a single match, and just two days will have only two matches. The remaining 24 days will feature three, four or even six matches.

Therefore, the impact of another 16 teams joining the fray is rather mind-boggling.

How would they fit in the extra matches?

Fifa has already stated the 2030 finals will run from 8 June, with the final on 21 July, and the possibility of making the tournament longer would seem unlikely with the footballing calendar already more tightly packed than many would like.

This would mean the need for more games per day in the group stages and thus extra stadiums would have to be considered.

There have been suggestions Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay could host more games during these group stages.

And what would the impact be on qualifying?

For starters, it would be almost inconceivable that the world’s top football nations would not qualify for the World Cup.

While Italy are currently preparing to sit out a third consecutive World Cup, such shock scenarios, which are all part of the drama, are hard to envisage should a 64-team tournament become a reality.

Conmebol could already see a maximum of seven teams qualify for next summer’s event, and they would clearly want more members qualifying for an expanded tournament.

All other continents would also be expected to have more qualifying spots, but the logistics around this are purely guesswork for now.

The mere potential of a 64-team World Cup has raised plenty of questions – as well as eyebrows. Whether it gets off the ground or not remains to be seen, a matter for sporting and political power-brokers to figure out.

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As part of a crackdown against touting, Liverpool has reportedly shut down 145 000 ticket outlets over the past two years.

In response to the discovery of widespread ticket-buying fraud, they issued a record 1, 114 lifetime bans last season.

The Premier League champions claimed that in the past year, 500 people were denied entry to Anfield because they had been using a burner phone to get inside to stop tickets from being traced.

Following last week’s BBC Sport investigation, the industrial-scale black market for Premier League tickets was exposed.

Re-selling is prohibited in the UK, but many websites still have locations abroad.

The BBC discovered that resellers frequently rack up hundreds of tickets using fake identities and fake identities to sell them for higher prices, affecting fans’ ability to purchase tickets through official exchanges or membership ballots.

It can cause fans to be forced to pay extortionate prices or be completely out of pocket after purchasing ineffective tickets, as well as undermine fan segregation.

Additionally, 162 social media platforms with a combined membership of more than one million users were investigated by Liverpool’s authorities for engaging in extortionate sales practices.

On match days, under 400 targeted stops were also conducted, blocking access to accounts with suspicious activity.

The campaign’s 1, 114 lifetime bans are significantly more severe than the 75 that were imposed between 2023 and 2024.

Liverpool closed 100, 000 fake accounts between the 2023 and the 2019-20 seasons, and they think new preventative measures like multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and the use of more sophisticated fraud analysis tools have changed the situation.

The club, which has more than 30 000 season ticket holders, conducts an official sanctions hearing and decides what to do.

The club issued lifetime bans and indefinite suspensions primarily as a result of improper sales of season tickets, memberships, or hospitality tickets.

A number of clubs are committing to increase resources to combat those responsible for the rise in touting activity, including Liverpool.

Arsenal claim to have banned over 7, 000 club memberships this season and nearly 74, 000 accounts for trying to get tickets in unauthorised ways. More than 350, 000 bot attempts have been blocked by Chelsea, according to the company.

However, Tom Greatrex, the head of the Football Supporters Association, expressed doubts about how committed some Premier League clubs were to combating bullying.

Because of how they are made available through secondary agencies, he claimed, “long-term supporters are finding it impossible to get tickets.”

“This is becoming endemic throughout the game.”

The Premier League recommends using “extreme caution” when browsing unauthorised websites and is introducing encrypted barcodes for digital ticketing, which it claims will make it more challenging to sell tickets.

Last season, the Home Office only recorded 12 arrests for ticket touting in English football’s top six divisions.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport stated in a statement that it is against the law to sell football game tickets in England and Wales. Football clubs are responsible for developing their own strategies to stop ticket sales to unauthorised resellers because legislation exists to reduce the risk of disorder.

One week after his club Sydney Roosters forcibly punished England lock Victor Radley for ten games, he has declared himself out of the three-test autumn series against Australia.

After Radley was linked to a drug case against former teammate Brandon Smith, the Roosters punished him.

Radley, 27, has not been charged by the police.

A lawyer for Smith, who appeared before magistrates in Queensland last week, has said that he intends to contest police claims that he provided drugs and obtained inside information for illegal gambling.

The Roosters claimed in a statement that Radley had “probably obtained an illegal substance” and that he had caused the National Rugby League team to fall into disrepute at the time they suspended him.

He is donating A $30, 000 (£14, 600) to a local hospital that specializes in cancer research in addition to missing 10 club games, which is the heaviest sanction ever imposed on the organization.

At the time, Radley stated that he would “accept the sanctions in full.”

Prior to his withdrawal, he was still being considered for England’s Test squad against Australia.

“We respect Victor’s decision, but we respect his decision,” said England head coach Shaun Wane.

We require 24 players who are fully focused on the historic opportunity to play Australia in a series of the Ashes.

Radley, who was born in Sydney and has an English father, has appeared in nine Test matches for England.

I regret to the club, my team-mates, our sponsors, members, and fans for the negative light I’ve cast on the Roosters in a statement released at the time of his club suspension.

“I’ll work hard to win everyone’s support for this wonderful club back.”

After proposals to reform the County Championship were turned down, professional cricketers’ association chief executive Daryl Mitchell has not ruled out the possibility of players striking.

Instead of switching to a 12-team top flight with 13 matches per side, counties voted to keep the current two-divisional structure, with each team playing 14 games.

In order to protect player welfare, the PCA had pushed for a 12-game cut, but it was opposed.

Mitchell expressed disappointment and disappointment with the outcome of the vote in a statement to BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra on Thursday.

The players will guide us, the former Worcestershire captain added. Last night, there were some high emotions in the WhatsApp group, which was pretty lively.

We are one, not the other. Any union, in my opinion, would not omit the possibility of strike action if its members wanted it. We completely disagree with our members regarding that. If the player representatives and our members decide it is necessary, we will hold those discussions.

“I don’t believe we’d want to travel there.” We’re not trying to do that because it would have a negative impact on the counties and the game.

It hasn’t been extensively discussed, they say. Because there are implications, it’s also very simple to say but much harder to execute. One of the benefits of playing is that players are not paid, and another is that members must be able to cast ballots. I don’t believe it should be something we would encourage at this time.

A lengthy review of the counties’ domestic summer was concluded by the vote on the Championship’s structure.

Consensus on the Championship has been much harder to come by. Before it became clear that a 12-game model, which the PCA favored, would not be supported, there were several ideas on the divisional structure and number of games.

A 12-team top flight, split into two groups of six, was the centerpiece of the 13-game proposal. To give 10 matches, the teams in each group would play each other twice. The top three of each group would compete for the title, and the bottom three would fight to avoid relegation. With two promotion spots up for grabs, the remaining six counties would be in the second tier.

A majority of 12 of the 18 counties had to vote in favor of a new structure in order to pass legislation.

The status quo still exists as a result of the vote, which returned nine votes for change and nine against. Each county will play 14 matches while the top tier of the Championship will continue to have 10 teams. The second tier will have eight teams each.

The majority of our members were undoubtedly seeking change because the county schedule was “not fit for purpose,” Mitchell said.

There are “different viewpoints in every game.” Some counties favored 10 Championship games, while others favored 14 as the minimum requirement.

Five sets of playing staff informed the PCA that they were in favor of a 14-match season, despite Mitchell’s claim that not all of the 18 counties’ playing groups wanted a drop in Championship matches.

Mitchell believes the issue will need to be looked at sooner than the initial goal of the review, which was to agree on a schedule that would remain in place until the 2031 season.

He said, “I don’t think many counties will want to put up with it until 2031.” That had already been returned during the meetings I attended. This will continue to rage, in my opinion.