Category: 6. Sports

Liam Livingstone continued his fine form in The Hundred with a strong all-round display – picking up 2-26 with the ball before scoring an unbeaten 45 from 20 balls to guide Birmingham Phoenix to a seven-wicket win over London Spirt.

Chasing 127, Joe Clarke struck a 25-ball 54 to give the Phoenix a solid platform and captain Livingstone finished the job with a knock that included five sixes and a four.

The 32-year-old, who also struck an unbeaten 69 in the Phoenix’s win against two-time defending champions Oval Invincibles on Tuesday, now has the most runs in this season’s Hundred with 211.

The knock further strengthens Livingstone’s reputation as one of the best finishers in The Hundred. He has scored 543 runs across 17 innings at an impressive average of 49.36 and a blistering strike-rate of 166 in chases.

However, he was left out of the England squads that were announced for the series against South Africa and Ireland on Friday.

The Phoenix skipper also picked up the wickets of Spirit opener David Warner and Ollie Pope as the Phoenix bowlers had delivered a masterclass in death bowling to restrict the Spirit to 126-6 after deciding to bowl first.

“It is a big win for us, we needed it,” said Livingstone after the game.

“We are up against it in this tournament, we know we are, but all we can do is win games and try to improve our run-rate, then we’ll see where we are.”

The tone was set early when Trent Boult sent back Spirit opener Jamie Smith for a duck and though Kane Williamson offered some resistance with a 29-ball 33, the Phoenix never let the momentum slip away.

Remarkably, they did not concede a single boundary in the final 15 deliveries as Boult and Adam Milne tightened the screws to set the stage for the win.

Their second win of the season sees the Phoenix leapfrog the Spirit to sixth place on a superior net run-rate. With eight points, they are also level with the Manchester Originals and Southern Brave.

Jacob Ramsey is a player Newcastle United’s coaching team “loved” from afar.

Ramsey is athletic, versatile and hungry to get better – and it is not hard to envisage the 24-year-old developing further under Eddie Howe.

This will have been an emotional move for Ramsey, a boyhood Aston Villa fan who had been on the club’s books since the age of six.

But it felt instructive that the midfielder referenced the pull of working with Howe after completing his move to St James’ Park.

Anthony Gordon, Dan Burn, Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento have all become full England internationals after an extended period working with Howe and his staff.

Do not rule out Ramsey following in the quartet’s footsteps.

Newcastle may be well-stocked in the middle of the park and out on the left, but it is not hard to envisage Ramsey playing his part given the depth the club will need to fight on four fronts this season.

It was a frustrating start to the window for Newcastle, but Howe has now brought in Ramsey, Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw and Aaron Ramsdale to increase competition in some key areas.

The one position that still needs to be addressed, though, is up front.

Newcastle already needed a goalscorer following Callum Wilson’s departure last month and it fell to Anthony Gordon to lead the line in Alexander Isak’s continued absence on the opening day.

Brentford star Yoane Wissa remains one to watch.

JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) – There’s no better way to hush the skeptics and naysayers than achieving success, and Iran did precisely that after ending nearly a decade of waiting for a medal in the FIBA Asia Cup on Sunday.

Team Melli took bronze in the 2025 games following a narrow win against New Zealand, which for Arsalan Kazemi is a statement per se, as nobody – even their own people – believed that they could accomplish as much.

“We walked into the tournament as underdogs,” the veteran forward offered moments after their 79-73 victory against the Tall Blacks, which coincidentally were the 2022 third-placers, at the King Abdullah Sports City.

“Nobody was expecting us to accomplish anything, especially in Iran, We have a whole controversy around our basketball team, around this young group of guys, that they’re not ready yet,” the 35-year-old furthered.

It’s a relatively young team which Coach Sotirios Manolopoulos went with for this year’s tournament as half of the 12-man roster are aged below 25, with Mohammad Heydari the youngest of the bunch at only 19.

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It feels kinda greater than a gold medal for me, because it was very unexpected.

Yes, it’s quite a different lineup from the one that competed in the 2022 Asia Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia, making fans and observers question if this present batch would be good enough to compete in Jeddah.

Six games later and the whole squad proved that they can, and Kazemi himself couldn’t be any happier especially after witnessing the younger pieces step up to the plate – like what they did in the Third-Place Game.

Seyed Jafari, for one, submitted arguably his best game for Iran by firing 22 points. There’s also Sina Vahedi with 19 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. as well as Matin Aghajanpour with 14 to his name.

“We have some young guys; they’re unknown, but every game one of them is gonna step up,” he said.

“They all can go for 30 points. Tonight, Matin played great, Sina played great, but I think Jafari was the guy that really surprised New Zealand and came out with some huge shots for us,” he continued.

Mohammad Amini would’ve added more to that but the rising star wing was unfortunately out due to a knee issue he sustained against Australia in the Semi-Finals. Yet he served as a reason for them to compete harder.

“Obviously tonight we were missing Amini so I told them, ‘He helped us to get here, let’s win one for him.’ That’s kinda like what the atmosphere in the locker room was,” the 12-year pro out of Oregon said.

But he wasn’t only a vocal guide in their most important game of the tilt. Kazemi was aggressive on offense right from the start as he wanted to lead by example, eventually finishing with 16 points and 16 rebounds.

The others sure followed him but he’s never one to make it all about himself. In fact the honor is his, filled with so much gratitude that his teammates gave him an opportunity to be the figure they can look up to.

“I played a horrible game against Australia yesterday and being able to regroup in less than 14 hours with these young guys, that shows a lot of character and a lot of toughness. I’m really glad, I’m proud of them,” he said.

“I’m glad they let me be their leader,” he added, “and help them to get to this point.”

Kazemi now has two Asia Cup medals, the first being a silver which he and Iran took home in 2017 – the last time that the program stood on the podium. But this bronze, for him, weighs more than the ultimate prize.

“It feels kinda greater than a gold medal for me, because it was very unexpected,” the former Olympian said.

Also because he and Team Melli were able to prove the doubters wrong.

“Even after beating Chinese Taipei, and yesterday we lost to Australia – Australia is a great team … they’re just going at us like crazy. I mean, this will definitely shut them up,” Kazemi said with a smile.

FIBA

Karsten Warholm rebounded from a two-month training camp in the form of his life at the Silesia Diamond League, a timely showing that comes just weeks ahead of the world championships in Tokyo.

The Norwegian stormed the 400m hurdles in Saturday’s meet in the Polish city of Chorzow in an astonishing 46.28 seconds.

It was the third fastest time ever run over the distance, topped only by Warholm’s own world record of 45.94sec and American Rai Benjamin’s 46.19sec.

Both of those times were set when the Norwegian won an iconic gold ahead of the American at the Covid-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Until Warholm broke the world record in that run, nobody had run the 400m hurdles faster than American Kevin Young in three decades.

Four years on, Young’s once unbeatable 46.78 is only the 24th-fastest time in history.

In the years since, Warholm, Benjamin and Brazilian Alison Dos Santos have proceeded to redefine the gruelling event.

The trio has pushed each other to ever greater heights, sharing out the global accolades between them.

Warholm now owns nine of the top 23 times faster than Young’s 1992 best. Benjamin, who succeded Warholm as Olympic champion at last year’s Paris Games, also has nine and 2022 world gold medallist Dos Santos five.

“I had great rhythm and speed throughout,” Warholm said of his race in Chorzow.

“The time of 46.28 was even better than I expected. I knew I could do it.

“I mean, I’m in that shape, but to get out there and actually do it. It’s just something that has to come.

“I’m very happy and proud that I was able to push those kind of times.”

Warholm chose to race both Diamond League meets in China before setting a new world best in the 300m hurdles on his home track in Oslo and then taking a break from competition.

“I still think that my race in the Oslo Diamond League, the 300m hurdles world record is my best race this year,” he said.

Training, Warholm added, had been based on building speed and consistency over the last 100 metres.

“Now I think we built the best version of myself,” he said in broadside to Benjamin and Dos Santos ahead of the Diamond League finals later this month in Zurich, swiftly followed by the Tokyo worlds.

“It’s all a part of the plan. And I think people should never count us out.

“I think we were very smart, me and my coach, and we always have plans, so I’m not as surprised by this time as everybody else.”

Warholm will travel from Zurich straight to Japan for a final training camp there.

“I feel like we have a really good plan now, but my target now is that I’ve trained a lot, so I’m really confident that we did the work, and now it’s just to build the shape towards Tokyo,” he said.

“I knew that I was very fast in the training camps that I did. It shows that I am on the right way.

“To me this was a very good start to the second half of my season. I think it is promising towards Tokyo.”

Three days of competition at the Swedish Roller Biathlon Championships in Lima produced six different Gold medalists: Johanna Skottheim, Ella Halvarsson, Hanna Oeberg, Jesper Nelin, Martin Ponsiluoma, and Sebastian Samuelsson, the only competitor finishing on the podium in every competition.

First Titles to Skottheim and Nelin

The three-day Swedish Roller Biathlon Championships opened on a wet Friday evening in Lima with Jesper Nelin and Johanna Skottheim claiming the Super Sprint Gold medals. Nelin, in the lead group from the outset, with single penalties in the two standing stages topped the men’s field in 11:50.1. Skottheim, after a single penalty in the opening prone stage, closed the next fifteen targets for a 13:23.4 win.

Samuelsson won his title with a strong performance on the tracks, despite three penalties taking the title in 38:29. His teammate Martin Ponsiluoma, as strong on the tracks finished second place, with five penalties, 14.6 seconds back. Local athlete Karl Gronland, second in the World University Games Mass Start last January, finished third place, with three penalties, 1:59.8 back.

Photos: IBU/Svensk Skidskytte

ROME (Italy) – 10 years ago, Danilo Gallinari was living the time of his basketball life.

Already an established NBA player following several years between the New York Knicks and the Denver Nuggets, he had a brilliant summer with Italy at FIBA EuroBasket 2015.

Concluding that campaign at 17.9 points per game, he dropped a combined 54 points in back-to-back iconic victories against Spain and Germany – against legends he looked up to, Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki.

10 years later, Danilo Gallinari is still there for Italy. Once again at FIBA EuroBasket.

However, as he has recently stated in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, this will be his last summer repping the Azzurri jersey.

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This will be my last summer with the Italian national team: knowing that gives me an extra boost.

“I’ve been part of so many different groups. At first, I was the youngest, playing alongside my idols,” the 37-year-old forward says.

“Now I’m the veteran, and I see these young guys who have built a special group – they’re strong and talented. They keep you young.”

Indeed, Danilo Gallinari has seen it all on the international stage playing for Italy.

At first, he appeared at FIBA EuroBasket 2011 as the next big thing for Italian basketball, averaging 15.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game under head coach Simone Pianigiani, the first glimpses of a 23-year-old phenomenon.

Over the course of his career, he took pride in representing his country at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

His national team career has had countless memories, but lacks one significant accolade: stepping on the podium.

“What’s missing is a medal with the national team, and then I could be happy,” Gallinari says.

At the same time, he was forced to miss many summers with Italy, mainly due to long-term injuries.

“It’s also hard to measure what could have been but wasn’t,” he recalls.

“I started with the Azzurri when I was 17-18, back when the group from the 2004 Olympics was still there, and out of all the possible summers since then, I missed eight. That’s a lot.”

“I can’t help but think about what could have happened if I had played those eight too, but it’s better not to dwell on it. Every summer, anything can happen, even this one,” Gallo affirms.

Returning home, Danilo Gallinari dreams of putting a bronze, silver, or gold cherry on top of the cake.

After all, he has already started this summer in the right way, winning his first-ever professional championship in Puerto Rico with the Vaqueros de Bayamon. As Finals MVP.

In a matter of hours, he will join Gianmarco Pozzecco’s group to add the necessary dose of experience to a squad full of young faces.

The next generation of Italian basketball, featuring Gabriele Procida, Momo Diouf, Matteo Spagnolo, and Saliou Niang among others, is already here.

That’s why Danilo Gallinari’s ready and conscious to deliver in his last dance with Italy.

“We talked about everything [with Pozzecco]. I don’t want to put pressure on the guys, but honestly, I see a strong team that can do well. I expect a lot from this group,” Gallinari states.

“I’m excited, also because it will be my last time with the national team, which adds a bit of emotion.”

FIBA

The 28-lap Grand Prix of Austria Race turned out to be a difficult one for Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins as the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP duo struggled to find pace at the Spielberg circuit. They crossed the finish line in 15th and 16th place respectively.

Spielberg (Austria), 17th August 2025