The International Orienteering Federation (IOF) is excited to announce that the events and competition calendar for the 2025-2026 International Ski Orienteering season now has been confirmed by the IOF Council.
The IOF Ski Orienteering World Cup 2026 will feature three thrilling rounds:
World Cup Round 1 (WC1) – Batak, Bulgaria, January 21–25, 2026
Organized in conjunction with the U23 World Ski Orienteering Championships and the World Masters Ski Orienteering Championships.
World Cup Round 2 (WC2) – Luleå, Sweden, February 5–8, 2026
Held together with the Junior World Ski Orienteering Championships and the European Youth Ski Orienteering Championships.
World Cup Finals & World Ski Orienteering Championships (WSOC) – Rusutsu, Hokkaido, Japan, March 1–7, 2026
The World Ski Orienteering Championships return to Hokkaido and Rusutsu, where memorable and highly successful championships took place in 2009. This marks the third time in history that the WSOC is hosted in Asia.
Marie Ohlsson, Josefine Engström, Helene Söderlund (SWE) celebrate their WSOC win in Rutsutsu in 2009.
Ski Orienteering is an exhilarating winter sport blending navigational and mental precision, technical skiing skills, and elite physical endurance. Rusutsu, known for its world-class snow conditions and spectacular terrain, will provide a fitting stage for the season finale. Athletes will compete across hilly slopes, plateaus, birch and bamboo forests, and golf course landscapes, with typical snow depths of up to four meters in early March.
The event center will be located at the internationally renowned Rusutsu Resort, offering exceptional facilities for athletes, spectators, and media. Public races will also be organized before and during WSOC, giving ski orienteering enthusiasts a unique chance to participate and experience the fabulous Hokkaido terrains first-hand.
The Finnish relay team (Teemu Köngäs, Matti Keskinarkaus, Staffan Tunis) celebrate their 2009 WSOC Relay win in Japan.
“We are thrilled to bring the world’s best ski orienteers to such diverse and iconic locations and terrains in 2026,” said IOF Ski Orienteering Commission Chair Markku Vauhkonen. “The season promises top-level competition and unforgettable experiences for both athletes and fans.”
For more information on the 2025-2026 International Ski Orienteering season and detailed event updates, visit www.orienteering.sport.
Front page photo: Maria Hoskari during the first SkiO World Cup Round in Sjusjøen, Norway. By Terje W. Pettersen
Pakistan ODI skipper Mohammad Rizwan (left) and Test captain Shan Masood. — AFP/ YouTube/Pakistan Cricket/screengrab
LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday firmly dismissed reports suggesting the removal of Shan Masood as Test captain and the revocation of Mohammad Rizwan’s ODI captaincy.
In a post on X, a PCB spokesperson said that there is no proposal under consideration to remove Masood from Test captaincy, nor was there any plan to appoint Saud Shakeel as his replacement.
Tthe PCB also catagorically rejected reports about Rizwan being stripped of his ODI captaincy. The PCB clarified that Salman Ali Agha is not being considered as the new ODI captain.
The PCB further confirmed that the selection committee has not discussed any matter or proposal regarding a change in captaincy. Additionally, the PCB emphasised that the category of any player’s contract has not been altered.
The clarification was issued after speculation intensified that Shan could be replaced by Saud as Test captain, while Rizwan’s position as ODI captain was also reported to be in jeopardy.
For the unversed, the Tri-Nation series, featuring Pakistan, Afghanistan and the UAE, will be played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium from August 29 to September 7.
Pakistan will open their campaign against Afghanistan at 7:00 PM local time. Each team will play the others twice, with the top two qualifying for the final on September 7.
Following the series, Pakistan will turn its focus to the 2025 Asia Cup, which kicks off on September 9 with the opening match between Afghanistan and Hong Kong.
Eight teams, divided into two groups, will compete for the coveted trophy.
Pakistan has been placed in Group A alongside India, UAE, and Oman. Group B comprises Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong.
The men in green will launch their Asia Cup campaign against Oman on September 12, followed by the highly anticipated clash against India on September 14.
Their final group-stage match will be against hosts UAE on September 17.
Tri-series schedule (all matches at Sharjah Cricket Stadium):
29 August – Afghanistan v Pakistan – 7pm local time
30 August – UAE v Pakistan – 7pm local time
1 September – UAE v Afghanistan – 7pm local time
2 September – Pakistan v Afghanistan – 7pm local time
4 September – Pakistan v UAE – 7pm local time
5 September – Afghanistan v UAE – 7pm local time
7 September – Final – 7pm local time
ACC Asia Cup T20 2025 (Pakistan fixtures, Super Fours and Final):
12 September – Oman v Pakistan, DICS, 6pm local time
14 September – India v Pakistan, DICS, 6pm local time
17 September – UAE v Pakistan, DICS, 6pm local time
20-26 September – Super Fours fixtures (Abu Dhabi and Dubai)
Aug. 25 (UPI) — Benjamin Bonzi weathered 21 aces at the U.S. Open, frequently frustrating Daniil Medvedev, to earn his second Grand Slam upset of the Russian this season.
The Frenchman converted 6 of 16 break points in the 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(5), 0-6, 6-4 first-round victory Sunday in Flushing, N.Y. He also beat Medvedev in the first round of Wimbledon 2025.
Medvedev lost control of his emotions several times during the nearly 4-hour match. He got into a verbal exchange with the chair umpire in the third set. And he smashed his racket into a bench after the match.
“I’ve never experienced something like that,” Bonzi said on the ESPN broadcast.
With Sunday’s loss, paired with early departures at Wimbledon and the 2025 French Open, Medvedev has now lost first-round matches at three-consecutive majors for the first time in his career.
Medvedev, the No. 13 player in the ATP Tour singles rankings, was ranked No. 5 to start the season. The former world No. 1 ranked as high as No. 3 in 2024 and No. 2 in 2023.
Bonzi broke Medvedev’s serve twice through the first two sets Sunday. He also saved two break points while not logging a single double fault. Medvedev, who held a 7-2 edge in aces during that stretch, also totaled six double faults and 30 unforced errors, compared to Bonzi’s 18.
Bonzi jumped ahead 5-4 during Medvedev’s third-set meltdown. He was about to serve for match point when chair umpire Greg Allensworth noticed a photographer moving, causing “outside interference.” He then granted Bonzi, who was attempting his second serve, a first serve due to the distraction.
Medvedev jogged below to Allensworth and shouted at him for several minutes.
“Are you a man? Are you a man? Why are you shaking?” Medvedev said to the umpire, while looking into a nearby camera. “He wants to go home, guys, he doesn’t like it here. He gets paid by the match, not by the hour.”
Medvedev went on to win the set. He channeled that momentum into a 6-0 fourth-set triumph, before dropping the final set and triggering his departure from Flushing.
“I wasn’t upset with the photographer,” Medvedev told reporters. “I was upset with the decision. Every time there’s a sound from the stands between serves, there’s never a second serve. But the umpire gave him a first serve. That’s what made me angry.”
Bonzi will take on No. 55 Marcos Giron of the United States in the second round. Giron beat No. 78 Mariano Navone of Argentina in a 4-hour, 12-minute first-round match, the longest of the day.
No. 4 Taylor Fritz and No. 6 Ben Shelton were the top American men to advance on Day 1 of the season’s final major. They won in straight sets.
No. 7 Novak Djokovic of Serbia, No. 16 Jacub Mensik of the Czech Republic, No. 18 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain and No. 21 Jiri Lehecka of the Czech Republic were among the other top men’s players to advance.
Djokovic, who is looking to win a record 25th Grand Slam singles title, beat No. 50 Learner Tien of the United States 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2. He will face another American, No. 145 Zachary Svajda, in the second round.
No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the defending champion, needed just 81 minutes to beat No. 108 Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland in her opener. She will take on No. 67 Polina Kudermetova in the second round.
No. 4 Jessica Pegula of the United States, No. 8 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, No. 11 Emma Navarro of the United States, No. 19 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, No. 26 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, No. 36 Emma Raducanu of the United Kingdom, No. 41 McCartney Kessler of the United States , No. 60 Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic and No. 123 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus were among the other notable women’s players to win their openers.
No. 75 Alexandra Eala of the Philippines upset No. 14 Clara Tauson of Denmark in a first-round upset. The 20-year-old, who advanced to the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time, will take on No. 95 Cristina Bucsa of Spain or No. 371 Claire Liu of the United States in in her next match.
No. 5 Mirra Andreeva of Russia, No. 6 Madison Keys of the United States, No. 10 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 13 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic and No. 15 Elena Svitolina of Ukraine will be among the top women in action Monday in Flushing.
No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, No. 5 Jack Draper of the United Kingdom, No. 9 Karen Khachanov of Russia, No. 11 Holger Rune of Denmark, No. 12 Casper Ruud of Norway, No. 15 Andrey Rublev of Russia and No. 17 Frances Tiafoe of the United States are the top-ranked men with matches scheduled on Day 2.
Streaming coverage of the 2025 U.S. Open will air daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. EDT on ESPN+. Additional coverage will air from 11:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Monday on ESPN and from 7 to 11:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus reacts as she competes against Rebeka Masarova of Switzerland in their first-round match during the 2025 U.S. Open Tennis Championship at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., on August 24, 2025. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Fleetwood has long been one of the best ball strikers in the world.
He should have won the Travelers Championship in June when he led by two with three holes to play, only to allow US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley to profit.
The PGA Tour’s newest winner also let slip a good chance when Justin Rose surged through to win in Memphis at the start of the play-offs.
Of the 30 survivors to contest the Tour Championship, only Fleetwood and American Jacob Bridgeman had never won on the PGA Tour.
“I always feel like if you look at what the best players do and try to copy it…that’s a good way to go,” added Fleetwood.
“The guys that win the most, they’re in contention so much, they’re up there all the time. That’s where I want to be.”
Contending has rarely been a problem for Fleetwood.
This win was long overdue but he is treating it as a staging post rather than the finish line.
“I’ve never looked at it as just trying to win once,” he said.
“I’ve always had the mindset that I want to win multiple, I want to win plenty. It’s just that the first one seems to have taken a long time. The next one might take a long time…I don’t know.”
This was a hugely popular victory because Fleetwood is a genuine figure that fans across the globe, including the United States, have taken to their hearts.
This will be celebrated as enthusiastically as it was hard earned.
“I think it’s easy for anybody to say that they are resilient, that they bounce back, that they have fight,” added Fleetwood. “It’s different when you actually have to prove it.
“There’s different types of mental strength. I’ve clearly got things wrong in the dire moments of tournaments, and I might have made the odd dodgy decision, might have put a bad swing on it.
“But I’ve had to have mental strength in a different way. I’ve had to be resilient in terms of putting myself back up there, getting myself back in that position, no matter how many times it doesn’t go my way.
“No matter how many doubts might creep in, think the right things, say the right things to yourself, say the right things outwardly.
“And I am really pleased that I can be proof that if you do all the right things, and you just keep going, that it can happen.”
Outside hitter and captain Mayu Ishikawa contributed a match-high 29 points towards Japan’s win. She led the team in both swinging with 26 successful spikes and blocking with three kill blocks. Her cross-court teammate Yoshino Sato delivered one ace and one kill block to finish with 24 points. Opposite Yukiko Wada chipped in with 12 points, while middle Haruyo Shimamura added another 10.
“I want to thank those players that are injured, but are fighting so hard. In my opinion, we deserved this comeback,” Japan’s Turkish head coach Ferhat Akbas told VBTV. “It was so tough, but great! In this kind of a tournament, when you have this kind of opportunities, it is actually even better sometimes. So, we will take our lesson and we need to work for the next matches.”
Ukraine made fewer unforced errors than Japan, but managed to outperform them most substantially in blocking, with 16 kill blocks against eight. Their middle Diana Meliushkyna authored a remarkable 11 of those and added eight points in attack to finish with a total of 19. Opposite Anastasiia Kraiduba put away 16 points, while outside Oleksandra Milenko emerged as the team’s most prolific scorer with 21 points to her name.
ISTANBUL — Turkish coast guard and maritime police vessels in Istanbul were searching Monday for a Russian swimmer who went missing during a cross-Bosphorus race a day earlier, state-run media reported.
The swimmer, named by the Anadolu news agency as Nikolai Svechnikov, failed to complete the 6.5-kilometer (4-mile) annual race from Istanbul’s Asian shore to the European side.
More than 2,800 swimmers from 81 countries took part in Sunday’s competition, considered one of the world’s leading open-water races.
Swimmers face strong currents and choppy waves while traversing the waterway, which links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and divides Turkey’s largest city. The strait was closed to maritime traffic for the event, which is organized by the Turkish National Olympic Committee.
SwimTrek, a company offering entry to the race, describes race conditions as “challenging” on its website, adding that “experience of swimming in all sea conditions is essential.”
In a statement, the Olympic committee said it was “deeply saddened by the disappearance of one of our athletes during the race.”
It said 100 vessels, including boats from various emergency services, were monitoring swimmers during the race. At the end, the route was scanned for stray competitors and none were found.
Officials realized a swimmer was missing by comparing the lists of participants and those who finished, the statement said.
Who will be crowned champions at FIBA EuroBasket 2025?
That will be the overarching question as 24 European basketball teams compete at the 42nd edition of the FIBA European Basketball Championship taking place across Cyprus, Finland, Poland and Latvia from 27 August to 14 September.
Four cities – Limassol (CYP), Tampere (FIN), Riga (LAT) and Katowice (POL) – will host the tournament’s round robin stage, whereby the 24 qualified teams have been divided into four groups of six.
The top four in each group, after all games played, then enter a single-elimination bracket, starting with the Round of 16, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final. Seeding for the Round of 16 games is determined by the results from the round robin.
Find out the latest scores and results, including the group stage standings, below.
The two teams were level on unforced errors, but Canada outplayed Spain in all three scoring elements, by 65-59 in spike kills, 11-6 in kill blocks and 3-2 in aces. Their outside hitter Andrea Mitrovic led the way with 22 points, including two kill blocks. Her cross-court teammate Hilary Howe Johnson, who delivered the match winner with a block-out shot at the end of the tie-breaker, added a total of 19 points, also including two kill blocks. Canada’s middle blockers reached the double digits too. Nyadholi Thokbuom put up four blocks and an ace and spiked at a 63% success rate to finish with 15 points, while captain Emily Maglio signed off with 10 points.
With three kill blocks and an ace each, the two 22-year-old middle blockers led Spain’s scorers. Lucia Varela produced a team-high 16 points, while Lola Margarita Hernandez delivered 12. Outside hitter and captain Maria Segura and her cross-court teammate Ana Escamilla added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Brentford head coach Keith Andrews provided an update on his squad ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to Bournemouth, saying that the Bees are taking the Carabao Cup round two clash “very, very seriously.”
The west Londoners have no fresh injury concerns going into the midweek trip to Vitality Stadium.
Andrews also confirmed that Yoane Wissa will not be involved in Dorset.
“The cup game will give an opportunity for other players but, equally, we want to take it very, very seriously,” said the Bees’ head coach.
“For me, it’s good timing for some of those players that may have been a bit frustrated not to have played; some of those will get opportunities.
“We’ll be strong. We’re taking a squad down there which will be as strong and competitive as possible to try and win the game, and Dango [Ouattara] will be involved.
“We have to take care of a couple who came off [on Saturday] for more of a precautionary thing as they build fitness, a couple who had slightly disrupted pre-seasons.
“But overall, the squad is in a good place and looking really healthy.
“The focus is on the group so Yoane won’t be involved. Again, that’s a decision around what I feel is best for the group.”
On taking on Andoni Iraola’s Cherries, who defeated Wolves 1-0 on Saturday to claim their first win of the top-flight campaign, Andrews added: “It’s a great game for us.
“It’s a team I have a lot of admiration for and it’ll be a real test for us, with the way they play the game. They’re full of speed, energy, they’re high octane, you could see that from the game against Liverpool.
“You could see the problems they caused for a team of the calibre of Liverpool so we’ve got to be prepared for that and the intensity with which they’ll play the game.
“We’ll match that and hopefully cause them some problems.”
