Category: 6. Sports

Trafford was in celebratory mood earlier in the week when he collected the PFA’s Championship player of the year award at the Opera House in Manchester city centre, reward for his performances in the second tier for Burnley.

The 22-year-old kept 29 clean sheets in the league last season for the Clarets, and after joining City he was quickly on song, as Guardiola pointed out, in the opening win at Wolves.

But this was a different story, a difficult first showing in a City shirt at Etihad Stadium.

Trafford came through the City ranks and rejoined the club for £27m from Burnley this summer having not made a senior appearance in his first spell.

He will have been dreaming of playing Premier League football for City at the Etihad, but it turned into an uncomfortable afternoon, Trafford slipping away from centre stage at the final whistle with songs from joyful Spurs fans ringing in his ears.

Guardiola has turned to youth in his rebuild.

Saturday’s team, with an average age of 24 years and 326 days, was the youngest starting XI named by the Spaniard in the Premier League and they have plenty to learn.

Tottenham’s Richarlison pressed relentlessly all game and forced Trafford into conceding a corner, while the keeper was lucky not to be dismissed for a collision on the edge of the box with Spurs winger Mohammed Kudus.

And at 1-0 behind, with the crowd beginning to get anxious, those shaky moments then turned into a calamity as Trafford played a loose pass inside the area to Ruben Dias, who failed to control, and Joao Palhinha eventually smashed in.

City failed to recover, slipping to defeat in their first home game of the campaign.

“City were well beaten today,” former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “I’ve got to say I’m not sure about the goalkeeper situation.

“Is James Trafford really top drawer? If it’s a choice between Trafford and Ederson, I’m going with Ederson.

“It was poor for the goal, a weak pass into Dias, not even passing on to the right side, and that absolutely killed them with Spurs going in 2-0 at half-time.”

Dutchman Flynt Schuring took the chequered flag after 23 laps ahead of teammate Alessandro Ghiretti. Going into Sunday’s race, the Porsche Junior from France now tops the overall standings with a nine-point lead over Robert de Haan. The Dutchman finished fifth on the storied circuit in Saxony.

Schuring started from pole position, with Ghiretti alongside him. ‟My start wasn’t ideal, I had to squeeze Alessandro a little bit,” said Schuring, recalling the only critical moment on his way to his third win of the season. The Frenchman had attempted to overtake his young teammate in the sprint to the first corner. ‟I was already alongside Flynt, with my right tyres on the grass – luckily, he left me enough space to get back on track. The most important thing for the team is that both cars reached the finish,” said Ghiretti, summarising those decisive seconds.

Just one corner later, the Porsche Junior even had to briefly concede second place to Ariel Levi. However, the Israeli driver representing Team GP Elite spun and triggered a short safety car phase. At the restart, Schuring kept his teammate at bay and went on to claim a comfortable victory. The Dutchman, who had just turned 19, was presented with the trophy by his older brother. Morris Schuring, who finished fifth overall in the Carrera Cup Deutschland two years ago, now contests the DTM with the Manthey Junior Team in a Porsche.

Behind the Schumacher CLRT duo, two Dutch drivers from Team GP Elite crossed the line. ‟My front tyres deteriorated significantly towards the end, so for me it was just a matter of surviving,” said Huub van Eijndhoven after securing third place. Teammate Kas Haverkort gained two positions during the race. The best-placed member of the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland Talent Pool also passed compatriot Robert de Haan, who lies second overall. The Dutchman from Team Proton Huber Competition experienced a loss of power but managed to cling on to fifth place at the finish. Janne Stiak was the best-placed German, finishing sixth. The young German competes in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup for Target Competition.

Following a run of bad luck earlier in the season, reigning ProAm champion Sören Spreng finally celebrated a class victory. ‟At last, a perfect race for me again,” said the German, who races for GP Elite. Michael Schrey continues to lead the ProAm standings. Driving for Team Bonk Motorsport, the German finished second ahead of Australian Samer Shahin in another GP Elite Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

For Rookie winner Joseph Warhurst, also a member of the Talent Pool, the race looked to be over after the first corner. ‟In the scramble at the start, a somebody pushed me into the gravel,” said the 20-year-old Englishman, who was nevertheless able to continue the race. ‟At that point, I had already settled for third place,” he admitted. But when two Rookies ahead of him later dropped back after mistakes, he secured an unexpected victory. With his third win of the season, Warhurst closed the gap to Rookie championship leader Sacha Norden, who finished third. Splitting the two Proton Huber Competition teammates, Brazilian Matheus Ferreira from Target Competition claimed second place.

Both title contenders will start from the front row on Sunday

The Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars will return to action at the Sachsenring tomorrow, Sunday. Robert de Haan, currently second in the overall standings, has secured pole position for the twelfth race of the season. Alongside him, championship leader Alessandro Ghiretti will line up on the grid for the 30-minute sprint, beginning at 11:20 hours CEST.

Fans can also follow the weekend’s second race live with English commentary on the internet, including on the Porsche Motorsport Hub and the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland channels on YouTube and Facebook Facebook.

Results race 11, Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland, Sachsenring (DEU)

1. Flynt Schuring (NLD/Schumacher CLRT), 23 laps
2. Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti (FRA/Schumacher CLRT), +0.670 seconds
3. Huub van Eijndhoven (NLD/Team GP Elite), +3.462 seconds
4. Kas Haverkort (NLD/Team GP Elite), +6.859 seconds
5. Robert de Haan (NLD/Proton Huber Competition), +13.202 seconds
6. Janne Stiak (DEU/Target), +13.857 seconds

Standings Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Deutschland (after 11 of 16 races)

1. Porsche Junior Alessandro Ghiretti (FRA/Schumacher CLRT), 183 points
2. Robert de Haan (NLD/Proton Huber Competition), 174 points
3. Porsche Junior Theo Oeverhaus (DEU/Bonk Motorsport), 127 points

Full results and championship standings on the Porsche Motorsport Hub.

Learner Tien, the tennis student schooling the masters of the sport

A second-generation immigrant of Vietnamese descent, education was naturally an important pillar in Tien’s upbringing, even if he gravitated more towards tennis rather than any school subject.

It explains his name, inspired by his mother’s job as a teacher and the value of learning, while his sister, Justice, takes her name from their father, a lawyer. “An attorney seeks justice. A teacher seeks a learner. They were virtuous names,” Tien’s dad, Khuong Dan Tien, told the Los Angeles Times in 2023.

On his academic background, Learner tells us, “I was a pretty good student – I was homeschooled for most of my life. My mom was an English and math teacher, so she was obviously pretty tough on me and always pushed me pretty hard in those subjects, but I never really had a love for anything in particular.

“It’s not like I loved school, or it was super enjoyable. If I didn’t end up playing professional tennis, there isn’t one subject that I would really want to pursue. I don’t think my grades were that bad, I think they were pretty good.”

Tien discovered his passion for tennis when he was five years old, and although he was pushed more in the academic realm than the sporting, it was on the court that the Californian flourished.

Indeed, it is remarkable that, at just 19 years of age, Tien is set for his fourth consecutive appearance at his home Slam. That does not come from coincidence.

In 2022, he lifted the USTA Boys 18s National Championship, a junior tournament for under-18-year-olds, which he won aged 16.

The national triumph earned the Irvine native a wildcard into that year’s US Open, where he was beaten in the first round.

Kildunne, who was named player of the match, maintained her selfless attitude in her post-match interview, deflecting attention from her own performance to instead praise the team effort which underpinned England’s dominant victory.

“It’s a team sport. We wouldn’t have the space on the edges if it wasn’t for the play through the middle,” she said.

“It’s a full team effort. You can’t win a game of rugby with one person. Individuals don’t win World Cups.”

On England’s back three, she added: “We’ve played together a long time. With the depth we’ve got with Emma Sing and Claudia [Moloney-MacDonald] as well, we’re a tight unit. We know how each other play, we know the speeds of each other. When someone’s running down the wing, it’s about supporting them and being that touch if you need.”

But while England’s backs dominated the headlines, Mather, Thomas, and Rugby Union Weekly host Sara Orchard were unanimous in naming Botterman their player of the match.

The prop, who bulldozed over for a first-half try of her own, earned praise for her unsung and less glamorous defensive efforts, with Orchard calling it a “statement performance”.

Thomas, meanwhile, hailed the 26-year-old as England’s player to watch against tougher opposition.

“She’s developed an uncanny ability to turn over balls under huge pressure when her heels are on her own tryline,” she said.

“The number of times in the Six Nations it would be Hannah rising with the ball when the Red Roses’ backs were against the wall and once this tournament gets tough, once they’re up against Canada, the Black Ferns, France, it’s going to be Hannah Botterman pilfering those balls that gets England out of a lot of hot water.”

The US Open 2025 tennis tournament’s main draw will get underway at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre in New York on Sunday.

The final Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year, in its 145th edition, will be available for live streaming and telecast in India.

This year’s US Open featured a special mixed doubles tournament, staged on August 19 and 20 as part of Fan Week ahead of the main draw. Unlike the traditional format that ran across the fortnight, this was a condensed, showcase-style event with 16 invited teams.

None of the Indian tennis players, including two-time Grand Slam champion Rohan Bopanna, featured in the mixed doubles showcase in New York.

Italian tennis players Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori won the 2025 US Open mixed doubles title by defeating Iga Swiatek and Casper Ruud in the final.

The men’s doubles draw for the US Open 2025 will be announced on August 27.

Meanwhile, the men’s singles field will be led by world No.1 Jannik Sinner of Italy and No.2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain. They have split the last two Grand Slam finals in four-set thrillers.

Defending champion Sinner will arrive at the US Open fresh from his 200th career hard-court victory in Cincinnati and a maiden Wimbledon crown. Alcaraz, meanwhile, won the French Open this year.

Waiting in the wings is Olympic champion Novak Djokovic, a four-time US Open winner and still the most successful active men’s singles player at Flushing Meadows. He is the same half of the draw as Alcaraz.

The 38-year-old Djokovic has not played since Wimbledon, choosing instead to focus solely on extending his Grand Slam tally to a record 25.

In the women’s field, defending champion Aryna Sabalenka will seek to repeat her 2024 triumph. She has reached the semi-finals of every major this year but faces a formidable challenge from Iga Świątek, who won Wimbledon this season.

India are all set to appear next in the Asia Cup 2025, with the first match on September 10 against UAE. They have announced their 15-man squad for the tournament. While the squad looks exteemely strong, there has been criticism regarding certain players whou could not make it to the squad. The exclusion of Shreyas Iyer, who does not even feature among the five standby players, has raised many questiions, and now former South Africa batter AB de Villiers has also spoken out regarding Iyer’s non-selection.

In a video posted on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers said that Shreyas Iyer would be disappointed for not making it to the Asia Cup 2025 squad, especially since he has played some good cricket in the last few years. He also showed a lot of leadership qualities. However, de Villiers claimed that no one knows what goes behind closed doors.

“It is tough, guys. I was just going through the squad. I was thinking, where can we fit Shreyas in, because I’ve seen all the headlines and some fans being upset. I think Shreyas will be the most upset because he’s played some really good cricket over the last few years. He’s matured a lot. He showed a lot of leadership qualities, but who knows what is going on behind closed doors? No one. Not me. Not you guys,” de Villiers said.

‘Not Even Shreyas Knows’

AB de Villiers further noted that even Shreyas Iyer did not know why he was not selected in the Asia Cup 2025 squad.

“Maybe not even Shreyas knows. But there might be a few things that have taken place over the years that have determined why it’s not the flavour of the month for a certain tournament. He’s a quality player. He’ll be in my team more often than not. But sometimes, and I’m not talking about Shreyas now, but sometimes thinking about when I was captaining, if there’s a 50-50 call between two players, I would always lean towards the guy that I feel offers more from a team perspective off the field,” he added.