Category: 6. Sports

Norrie *2-4 Bellucci

Mattia Bellucci just hit perhaps the shot of the tournament so far, and is exuding real quality early on against fellow left-hander Cam Norrie on No. 1 Court.

The Italian is coping pretty well with Norrie’s serve, forcing a deuce as he looked to take an early double-break.

Norrie, with the advantage, did little wrong with his 107mph serve from the left, pushing Bellucci well out wide with a bit of kick.

But the world No. 73 left the fans purring as he absolutely crunched a forehand around the net post, kissing the sideline, eradicating his opponent’s advantage.

Norrie went on to seal the hold, but that one deserves to be replayed again, and again. Exhibition stuff.

Nikola Tsolov fired in a late lap to take his second Aramco Pole Position Award in a row.

The Campos Racing driver had been bettered by title contender Rafael Câmara going into the final attempts, but one last improvement put the Bulgarian back to P1. He finished ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu, who wound up second for PREMA Racing, with Câmara having to settle for third.

With the tyre preparation laps complete, TRIDENT set the early pace with Câmara going to the top on a 1:46.318, 0.2s ahead of teammate Noah Stromsted in second. Ugochukwu split them on his first attempt, going to within 0.023s of the Brazilian’s effort.

Tim Tramnitz delivered his first time to go top of the pile, but only briefly, as Tsolov followed to smash the time to beat with a 1:45.655, some 0.3s quicker than the MP driver in second.

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak made it a Campos 1-3, slotting into third with his initial attempt.

Everyone returned to the pitlane for a fresh set of Hard tyres and returning to the track with just over 15 minutes of the session remaining.
Tramnitz cut the gap down to 0.2s to Tsolov, while teammate Bruno del Pino slotted into third for the Dutch team on their next attempts.

Behind them though, Câmara delivered a 1:45.176 to surge to the top of the times, 0.479s quicker than Tsolov’s initial benchmark time.

Stromsted put in an improvement also to go third overall with just over 10 minutes to go, while Charlie Wurz followed a few minutes later to go fourth.

With five minutes left, the circuit got busy once again. Théophile Nael moved Van Amersfoort Racing up to second to cut the deficit to provisional pole sitter Câmara down to 0.3s.

Tramnitz followed that up to go second for MP, 0.296s behind the TRIDENT, but Tsolov returned to P1 with a 1:45.043 with less than half a minute to go.

Ugochukwu then went to P2 with his final attempt and just 0.023s off the top spot. Câmara had a poor middle sector on his last lap and could only manage third in the end.

Boya moved to fourth on his final turn ahead of Tramnitz and Wurz. Martinius Stenshorne followed in P7, with Laurens van Hoepen in eighth, Nael ninth and Noel León in 10th. Christian Ho wound up 11th for DAMS Lucas Oil, while Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak completed the top 12 positions and is set to line up on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race.

The Formula 3 Sprint Race is scheduled to get underway on Saturday at 09:15 local time.

The ITA reports that a sample collected from Tsogbadrakh Tseveensuren, a wrestler from Mongolia, during an in-competition testing mission at the Senior Asian Championships on 29 March 2025 has returned an AAF¹ for exogenous testosterone.

Exogenous testosterone is prohibited under the WADA Prohibited List as S1.1 Anabolic Androgenic Steroids. Exogenous testosterone is prohibited at all times (in- and out-of-competition) and is a non-specified substance. Testosterone is the principal androgenic steroid and is associated with the promotion of muscle growth and increased strength, power and speed.

The athlete has been informed of the case and has the right to request the analysis of the B-sample.

If the B-sample analysis is requested and confirms the result of the A-sample, the case will be considered as a confirmed anti-doping rule violation. If the B-sample analysis is not requested, the case will also go ahead as a confirmed anti-doping rule violation. The athlete will have the opportunity to present his explanations for the result.

Further, in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code and article 7.4.1 of the UWW anti-doping rules, a mandatory provisional suspension has been imposed on the athlete. The athlete has the right to challenge the provisional suspension and ask for its lifting.

Pursuant to the UWW’s delegation of its anti-doping program to the ITA, the prosecution of the case is being handled entirely by the ITA. Given that the case is underway, there will be no further comments made.

WP and the Bulls claimed wins on Friday to finish the U18 Girls Week unbeaten, while Eastern Province, the Limpopo Blue Bulls, South Western Districts, the Pumas, Border and KwaZulu-Natal secured third-round victories to end their campaigns on a high.

WP got off to a slow start in the final match against the Lions, but cracked into gear after half-time. The girls from the Cape scored five unanswered tries and 31 points in the second stanza, with flyhalf Nuha Levy contributing a try as well as three conversions.

Earlier in the day, No 8 Amanda Seokotsa scored a hat-trick in the Limpopo Blue Bulls’ 31-15 win over the Griffons, while loosehead prop Jessica Ejeleonu touched down three times for the Valke in the East Rand outfit’s 27-25 loss to the Pumas.

In the final round of the U16 Girls Week, the Lions beat WP 17-7 to finish their campaign with three consecutive wins.

Border Country Districts drew 12-12 with the Bulls in the last game of the tournament, with the Eastern Cape side ending their campaign unbeaten.

The girls from Border CD led 7-0 at the break, before the Bulls hit back with two tries after half-time. Just as the game was slipping away, loosehead prop Endinako Fetumane crossed the line for Border, ensuring that her side came away with a draw.

FNB U18 Girls Week day three results (Friday, 4 July 2025):
EP 12 (5) Zimbabwe 0 (0)
Griffons 15 (0) Limpopo Blue Bulls 31 (12)
Leopards 12 (12) SWD 22 (0)
Valke 25 (15) Pumas 27 (0)
Griquas 0 (0) Border 41 (12)
Blue Bulls 19 (12) Boland 12 (0)
Free State 0 (0) KwaZulu-Natal 38 (17)
WP 31 (0) Golden Lions 5 (5)

FNB U16 Girls Week day three results (Friday, 4 July 2025):
Free State 0 (0) Zimbabwe 5 (0)
Griquas 0 (0) Griffons 17 (5)
Border 17 (12) Pumas 7 (0)
SWD 20 (10) Limpopo Blue Bulls 27 (0)
Valke 0 (0) Golden Lions Invitational XV 20 (10)
Leopards 0 (0) KwaZulu-Natal 38 (24)
Golden Lions 17 (12) WP 7 (0)
Boland 7 (0) EP 13 (13)
Border Country Districts 12 (7) Blue Bulls 12 (0)

Women’s marathon (women-only)
2:15:50 Tigist Assefa (ETH) London, 27 April 2025

Men’s 35km race walk
2:21:40 Evan Dunfee (CAN) Dudince, 22 March 2025
2:20:43 Massimo Stano (ITA) Podebrady, 18 May 2025

World records set earlier this year by Tigist Assefa, Evan Dunfee and Massimo Stano have been ratified by World Athletics.

Olympic silver medallist Assefa achieved her women-only world marathon record at the London Marathon on 27 April. The Ethiopian clocked 2:15:50 to improve the previous world record by 26 seconds to win the World Athletics Platinum Label road race.

The previous world record of 2:16:16 had been set by Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir in London on 21 April 2024.

“When I crossed the line, I felt extreme happiness,” said Assefa.

The performance, achieved in a women-only race, was the third-fastest marathon of Assefa’s career behind the 2:11:53 she ran to win in Berlin in 2023, a mark that at the time was a world record for a women’s marathon in a mixed race, and her 2:15:37 also from Berlin in 2022.

Assefa’s 2:11:53 remains the second-fastest women’s marathon of all time behind the 2:09:56 achieved by Ruth Chepngetich to break Assefa’s world record in Chicago in October.

“Having won today, what I am really thinking about going forward is to try and get my world record back for the marathon (in a mixed race),” Assefa added.

Canada’s Dunfee set his world 35km race walk record at the Dudince 50 – a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Gold meeting – in Dudince, Slovakia, on 22 March.

The world and Olympic bronze medallist’s time of 2:21:40 was seven seconds inside the previous world record of 2:21:47 set by Japan’s Masatora Kawano in Takahata on 27 October 2024.

“I was well under pace but then lost a little time over the last seven kilometres,” said Dunfee. “I (then) got a little stressed out, but it was a dream come true.”

Dunfee’s world record was improved by Italy’s Stano, who clocked 2:20:43 at the European Race Walking Team Championships in Podebrady, Czechia, on 18 May.

The 2021 Olympic champion took the lead at 23km then wound up the pace to win by almost three minutes, improving the world record by 57 seconds.

“The approach to the race was not to set out to break the world record, but the strategy was to close the last 20 kilometres as fast as possible,” said Stano. “That was my mission, then the world record was the consequence.”

World Athletics

Aston Villa have confirmed that Philippe Coutinho has joined Brazilian side Vasco de Gama on a permanent basis.

Coutinho spent last season on loan at the Brazilian outfit, where he made 31 appearances and scored five goals.

The move brings an end to an underwhelming spell in Birmingham for the Brazil international, who first joined the club on loan in January 2022. His eight goal contributions in the second half of the season saw Villa sign him on a four-year permanent deal.

But, Coutinho failed to kick on in his first-full season at Villa Park, making just 22 appearances in all competitions. He spent the next two seasons on loan at Qatari side Al-Duhail and Vasco de Gama.

“Everyone at Aston Villa would like to thank Philippe for his service to the club and wish him all the best in his future career,” the Premier League club said in a statement.

BBC

Prison sentence

Wild would be a fair appraisal of the first day at the Japan Athletics Championships 2025.

Abdul Hakim Sani Brown and Yanagita Hiroki, the two Japanese sprinters harbouring the most hope for the World Athletics Championships in September, both spectacularly crashed out in the men’s 100m heats on Friday (4 July) at the National Stadium.

In their absence, Koike Yuki qualified first for Saturday’s final with the top semi-final time of 10.16 seconds in the sweltering Tokyo heat at the competition serving as the Japanese trials for the Tokyo Worlds.

Two-time Olympian Sani Brown, who a day earlier revealed he would compete against doctor’s orders with a right hip bone bruise, finished fourth in his heat with a 10.45 – almost half a second off his personal best of 9.96.

Two-time Asian champion Yanagita came into the meet with the Japanese lead of 10.06 but was disqualified for a false start in his pool. He was bawling afterwards as he met with the press.

Sani Brown put a lot on the line by actually starting on Friday, when he could have aggravated the injury with just two months to go until a home Worlds.

The pain, in the end, was too much to overcome.

“I was on the blocks feeling like I just had to go out and do it – telling myself that I could do it,” Sani Brown said. “But at the end of the day, I just didn’t have it. That’s how I would describe it.”

Yanagita had been in fine form, beating 2019 world champion Christian Coleman at the Golden Grand Prix in May and then defending his Asian title in Gumi, Republic of Korea. Hopes were high for the 21-year-old to win his first national championship.

Yet as things turned out, Yanagita didn’t even get a proper crack to see how fast he could go. He admitted that he may have wanted it too much.

“Nothing. I did nothing. I couldn’t even start,” Yanagita said as tears flowed down his face.

“I worked so hard, to a point where I felt like I should give up on the 100m if I didn’t win here. That’s how good I felt and I was really excited to see how fast I could run. But maybe that backfired.”

Both Yanagita and Sani Brown can still make the World championships team by virtue of their world rankings. A final decision will be made in late August.

Grasping her second chance with both hands, lucky loser Solana Sierra of Argentina has made it all the way into the second week of Wimbledon.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draws

On Friday, World No. 101 Sierra posted a 7-5, 1-6, 6-1 third-round win over the player placed just below her in the PIF WTA Rankings, World No. 102 Cristina Bucsa of Spain.

This is the first time in the Open Era (since 1968) that a lucky loser has made the Wimbledon Round of 16 in women’s singles.

Read more: From lucky loser to Wimbledon standout, get to know Solana Sierra

Rising 21-year-old Sierra becomes the seventh lucky loser to make a women’s singles Grand Slam Round of 16 in the Open Era — and the third in the last three years, as this number creeps higher and higher of late.

Between 1980 and 1993, four lucky losers made the Round of 16 at Grand Slam events in women’s singles. The first was Hana Strachonova at 1980 Roland Garros (in a 64-player draw).

After that, Dana Gilbert (1982 Roland Garros — in a 96-player draw), Nicole Muns-Jagerman (1988 Roland Garros) and María José Gaidano (1993 US Open) joined the list. (Gaidano, like Sierra, hails from Argentina.)

After 1993, it was a massive three-decade gap before it happened again. At last, lucky loser Elina Avanesyan reached the Round of 16 at 2023 Roland Garros.

Suddenly, 2025 has become the first year where this has happened twice. Lucky loser Eva Lys made the Australian Open Round of 16 in January, and Sierra has done it again at Wimbledon.

Sierra will try to become the first lucky loser to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal in women’s singles. The previous players listed are a combined 0-6 in their Round-of-16 matches.

Meanwhile, Sierra is also flying the flag for Argentina. She is the first woman from her country to reach the Wimbledon Round of 16 in over 20 years — since former Top 10 player Paola Suarez in 2004.

Sierra is also the first Argentine woman to reach the Round of 16 at any Grand Slam event since Nadia Podoroska made the 2020 Roland Garros semifinals as a qualifier.