Category Sports News

Just days before their final Championship game of the season, Queens Park Rangers manager Marti Cifuentes has taken a gardening leave.

As the first-team prepares for Saturday’s away game against Sunderland (12:30 BST), assistant coaches Kevin Betsy and Xavi Calm will take over the starting lineup on an interim basis.

Christian Nourry, the CEO of QPR, stated that “everyone in the industry is disappointed.”

I fully comprehend and appreciate the frustration of current supporters.

We are working as a club to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible so that we can begin making plans for the future.

Following Saturday’s 5-0 defeat to Burnley, which placed QPR 15th in the table, the decision was made.

Before the match, he said it was crucial that he and the club were at odds with one another.

Cifuentes, 42, continued after the game, “I previously said that I’m very happy as long as I’m wanted.”

Gareth Ainsworth replaced him at Swedish club Hammarby in October 2023, leaving the team second in the championship standing.

At the end of last season, he led the club to a position 18 with three victories.

Antonio Rudiger, a Real Madrid defender, was banned from all competitions for six matches after striking the referee in the Copa del Rey final.

Rudiger and Real teammate Lucas Vazquez, who had both been substituted, were shown straight red cards in Seville for furious behavior toward Kylian Mbappe shortly before the break when they both reacted.

In his report, Referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea claimed center-back Rudiger, 32, was dismissed for “flipping an object from the technical area.”

Rudiger allegedly threw an ice cube at the official, according to Guillem Balague of BBC Sport.

The German defender was given a six-game suspension “for minor violence against the referees,” according to the report from the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

After the final whistle, the RFEF also voided the red card that Real midfielder Jude Bellingham received for disapproval.

Rudiger could have been suspended for four to twelve matches under the terms of article 101 of the RFEF disciplinary code, which prohibits “mild violence” against referees.

Rudiger’s suspension will only be served in league games for the duration of the entire season, which is when it begins next year.

He will be prohibited from playing in La Liga’s final five games this campaign as well as the campaign’s opening game, 2025-26.

After having knee surgery on Tuesday and being out for the rest of the season, Rudiger is unlikely to suffer significantly from the ban.

Real did not specify a recovery date, but Spanish media reports suggest that he might be out for six to eight weeks, which would make him unfit for the Club World Cup, which will begin on June 15.

Rudiger apologized for the incident, saying that there was “definitely no excuse” for his actions.

On the opening day of the Punchestown Festival, Marine Nationale defeated Fact To File to claim the thrilling Champion Chase.

Fact To File was the 11-10 favorite after winning the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham last month, but the early pace was a challenge.

El Fabiolo provided Marine Nationale with the greatest challenge despite the two Cheltenham winners’ hysterical rivalry, only to fall at the fence’s end.

In the end, Sean Flanagan defeated Captain Guinness (28-1) by seven lengths under the direction of Rachael Blackmore, who is the 2-1 second favorite.

In the day’s other Grade One competitions, trainer Willie Mullins recorded two shock victories.

Irancy headed up a one-two-three-four for Mullins in the Champion Novice Hurdle on 18-1 shot.

Kopek Des Bordes, a Cheltenham champion, finished fourth, nine lengths ahead of stablemates Salvator Mundi and Karbau, who had been the heavy favorite.

Irancy has always been a good horse, but after winning here earlier in the season, he faced a setback, Mullins said, “The best thing that could have happened was that he came here fresh.”

After Cheltenham, I gave Kopek Des Bordes a nice break, thinking that I should have taken him somewhere like Ayr or Perth.

I believed that when I saw him in the parade ring, his condition was too great, and it showed at the current pace.

After training five of the eight runners, Mullins also had a one-two in the Champion Novice Chase.

At the final fence, Champ Kiely (21) took the lead before winning by six and a half lengths from Ballyburn, the 11-8 favorite.

The decision to allow transgender women to play in women’s football is being “carefully reviewed” by the English Football Association.

Since the landmark UK Supreme Court decision two weeks ago that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex under equalities law, the FA has been seeking legal counsel.

The Scottish Football Association’s decision to outlaw transgender women from playing women’s football was revealed earlier on Tuesday.

According to BBC Sport, the rules were updated earlier this month by English football’s governing body, but they could now be changed in a few days.

Similar to the Scottish FA (SFA), which takes testosterone levels into account and allows transgender women to compete in their affirmed gender category on a case-by-case basis.

However, new regulations now allow only those who were biologically female to compete in games north of the border starting next season to allow them to do so.

As sports organizations react to the Supreme Court’s decision, the FA has now been under pressure to do the same.

The Scottish FA had shown “wisdom” and “similar clarity from the FA is long overdue,” according to former FA Chairman Lord Triesman.

“The very notion that the FA can disregard the Supreme Court constitutes foolhardy contempt for the law.” He claimed that every day the situation gets worse.

We are taking legal advice, according to a spokesperson for the FA, and are reviewing our policy closely.

Football anti-discrimination group Kick It Out stated in a statement that it was “solidarity with the trans community” last week that the Supreme Court decision would have “far-reaching consequences.”

The SFA rule change will align with other sports that restrict women’s competition to those who haven’t reached male puberty, such as rugby, swimming, and athletics.

The governing body of snooker is reviewing its gender eligibility policy, while transgender women were banned from Ultimate Pool Group’s female category last week.

Since the Supreme Court’s decision, the England and Wales Cricket Board has been seeking legal counsel regarding its policy.

Transgender women are currently able to play both recreational cricket and cricket in tier three of the domestic structure, which includes traditionally lower-level counties.

Before England’s November game against the Republic of Ireland at Wembley, campaigners demanded that the FA outlaw transgender women from the women’s game.

A teenage girl was banned from school for making offensive remarks to a transgender opponent in a grassroots match.

However, the FA’s updated trans policy allows biological males to play in the women’s game even if they have undergone “match observation” to determine whether they pose a threat to other players’ safety and fair competition.

Transgender women players must provide evidence that they have been on or off the testosterone level for at least 12 months, as well as a history of hormone therapy, as well as an annual evaluation of treatment.

However, a new formal procedure, which will require a player’s FA official to observe a match, will give the organization the authority to remove or decline players’ permission to play in the women’s game.

The FA announced earlier this month that its revised process will have “ultimate discretion” over eligibility and be managed “case by case”.

According to the FA, there are 20 transgender women playing amateur football in England out of the millions of people who compete there, compared to none in the Home Nations’ professional game.

48 MPs wrote a letter to the Football Association in December 2023 to “protect women and girls” in the game.

Following a rumored incident involving a transgender player who shot an opponent in the leg, several teams in Yorkshire withdrew from games against a recreational side.

Due to “an abundance of caution,” the Sutton United women’s team canceled a game against Ebbsfleet United in September 2024. Sutton signed transgender goalkeeper Blair Hamilton after he did so.

By appointing Lucy Clark, the first publicly transgender player in British football, the club made history in January 2024.

Tim Southee, a former New Zealand international, is England’s summer fast-bowling coach.

James Anderson has played the position since he left last summer’s Test, but he is unable to play because of his commitments to Lancashire.

Seamer Southee, 36, became New Zealand’s all-time leading wicket-taker in December when he retired from international cricket.

After making his final start for the Black Caps, he made a presentation to Southee on the outfield in Hamilton. He and England head coach Brendon McCullum are close friends.

Southee would join McCullum and Jeetan Patel as the third New Zealander to join the England set-up.

Other candidates have already been touted for the role, it is reportedly understood.

Next month’s one-off Test against Zimbabwe will be the start of England’s summer. At the end of this week, a squad will be chosen.

A lackluster pace-bowling department will result from Chris Woakes and Mark Wood’s injuries. The most senior seamer will be Gus Atkinson, who has only won 11 of his Tests.

Sam Cook, 27, appears set for his first call-up since England’s request to rest him from Essex’s Championship game against Somerset earlier this month.

The mix also includes Matthew Potts and Josh Tongue. Jofra Archer, who is currently playing in the Indian Premier League, may make his England Lions debut in red-ball cricket when they face India A in June while Bryan Carse is recovering from a foot injury.

Before Anderson’s retirement, England’s coaching staff lacked a pace-bowling expert. He remained a nearly constant presence in the England dressing room after the 42-year-old ended his world record-breaking career.

However, he has agreed to spend the summer playing for Lancashire, which he has stated will be his top priority, ahead of his coaching duties with England.

In their opening match of the World Championship quarter-final, Ronnie O’Sullivan, a seven-time champion, jumped to a commanding 6-2 lead over Si Jiahui.

O’Sullivan, who is competing for a record eighth title in the modern era, opened with a sluggish opener before Si took a wonderful century break.

The 22-year-old from China uncharacteristically missed a number of pots, allowing “The Rocket” to win 4-1 with three half-centuries.

Another miss, on a black on its spot, cost as O’Sullivan pinched the seventh frame, while Si responded with a 60 of his own to fend off his arrears for good.

The Englishman’s stylish 121 break, which highlighted his superiority, completed the session.

Judd Trump put together his 101st and 102nd century breaks of the season to go 5-3 up against Luca Brecel in Tuesday’s other last-eight match.

Trump, the world’s number one, is only one away from breaking the record set by Neil Robertson in 2013-14, which included 103 century breaks in a single campaign.

However, Belgium’s Brecel, who won in Sheffield two years ago, fought back with breaks of 68 and 128 to give the match a delicately poised start. Trump had a 5-1 lead.

Since Steve Davis did it at the age of 52 in 2010, when Williams, 50, reached the final eight of the famous Sheffield venue, while Higgins turns 50 on May 18, a 13-day period following this tournament’s final.

Both men were introduced to the audience, and both men were given a fantastic standing ovation before playing some premium snooker.

Higgins was in control after a 69-foot break, but Williams should have leveled before the Scots, who had a 65-foot break, took the frame.

The Welshman’s first frame was a 72-pound effort, but he missed a brown in the fourth frame, which cost him as Higgins only managed to get three frames in a row.

Higgins would have wanted to extend his lead by 5-1, but Williams did well with breaks of 104 and 59.

China’s Zhao Xintong won the other match of the morning session to advance to the quarter-finals against Chris Wakelin.

The Englishman defeated former world number one Mark Allen in the final 16 of the main competition, defeating 2010 world champion Neil Robertson in the opening round, and then made it through two rounds of qualifying to the Crucible.

After making a break of 93 to start the frame, Zhao, a 28, won six games in a row, even though Wakelin led 6-2 as the match ended at 19:00 BST.

One of ten Chinese players who was banned as a result of a match-fixing scandal was Zhao, a former UK Championship champion.

He accepted the accusations of being a party to another player who had already fixed two matches and had himself bet on matches without actually playing a match. Only one of the ten players sanctioned by the scandal to have returned to action, serving a 20-month ban for those offenses.

He was removed from the World Snooker Tour as a result of the suspension, but he has already made arrangements to return to the tour full-time next year.