Category: 6. Sports

Be a goldfish

Practising the advice she encourages in others, Abuldjadayel is now aiming for an exciting new goal.

After trying her hand at rowing, the Saudi sport star has turned her sights to cross-country skiing, where she hopes to secure a quota for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

Should she successfully do so, Abduljadayel would become the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete at the Winter Games, and only the second Saudi after Fayik Abdi, who entered the men’s alpine skiing competition at Beijing 2022.

“Many people don’t know, but I actually used cross-country skiing as part of my training, and not thinking, many, many years ago, not thinking this would actually lead me to become a cross-country skier,” she says, explaining how it entered her regimen in 2019.

“I’ve never felt happier than trying the skis for the first time. It was amazing. I loved it.”

Coming from a country better known for its sand than its snow, Abduljadayel says she relishes how difficult her dream pursuit is. And with the Asian Winter Games coming to the country in 2029, the timing couldn’t be better.

“I really, really liked the idea of becoming a cross-country skier and the challenge of having me, an athlete from Saudi Arabia living in Riyadh, where basically we don’t have any snow.

“And this is actually my goal now, to qualify for Milano Cortina as a cross-country skier for Saudi Arabia, a female skier in the Olympics.”

However, Abuljadayel’s new ambitions evolve, one thing she will be standing by throughout the journey is the mantra that has got her to the status of historymaker: “be a goldfish”.

The concept, borrowed from the television sports comedy Ted Lasso, suggests that athletes should learn to forget quickly, just as a goldfish is alleged to do.

“In the world of sports, you’re going to face a lot of challenges. But you can’t hold them. You’re going to face a lot of losses. You’re going to lose more than you can win,” Abuljadayel says.

“So, you’ve just got to keep on going and going until you reach your goal.”

The Republic of Ireland’s Court of Appeal was told on Tuesday morning that McGregor had withdrawn an application to have new evidence entered at the appeal.

The proposed evidence was from a couple, Samantha O’Reilly and Steven Cummins, who are former neighbours of Nikita Hand.

A previous preliminary hearing was told that they claimed to have witnessed a row between Ms Hand and her former partner Stephen Redmond in December 2018.

The court heard McGregor believed the new evidence suggested that bruising on Nikita Hand’s body could have been caused by her former partner.

In an affidavit, Ms Hand had described the allegations are untrue and lies.

The former MMA fighter’s legal team announced in court that they were now withdrawing their application to have the new evidence admitted.

A barrister for McGregor said he was withdrawing the application to introduce the new evidence partly on the basis that there was no legal authority to bring in other evidence supporting the claims made by Ms O’Reilly.

A barrister for Ms Hand said his client had been put through the wringer over the issue and should receive an apology.

He said she had responded to the suggested new evidence by saying it was “all lies” and that had now been conceded.

He also said McGregor should be referred for “subornation of perjury”, meaning inducing people to commit perjury.

The barrister said an affidavit had been sworn calling Ms Hand and her then partner a liar.

McGregor has also abandoned an application to introduce new evidence from the former state pathologist for Northern Ireland state pathologist Prof Jack Crane.

The remainder of the appeal, before three Appeal Court judges, is now underway.

Ms Hand is at the hearing along with family and friends.

WIMBLEDON — Twelve months ago, Elisabetta Cocciaretto suffered the disappointment of having to withdraw from Wimbledon due to illness despite strong grass-court form.

The Italian made up for that on Tuesday by delivering the biggest upset of the 2025 tournament so far, ousting No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-3 in just 58 minutes.

Wimbledon: Scores | Order of play | Draw

The result is Cocciaretto’s second career Top 10 victory — both of which have come in the first round of a major, following her defeat of Petra Kvitova at that stage of Roland Garros 2023. The 24-year-old is a two-time grass-court semifinalist, having made the last four at Birmingham 2024 and again in ‘s-Hertogenbosch three weeks ago.

Pegula also came into the tournament in form, having picked up her second grass-court title last week in Bad Homburg. But Cocciaretto took the ball relentlessly early to redirect all of the American’s pace, tallying 17 winners to Pegula’s five. The World No. 116 also served flawlessly, conceding just eight points in total behind her delivery. She did not face a break point during the match, but captured Pegula’s serve three times.

More to come…

Smriti also led from the front as she was the captain in the first T20I in the absence of Harmanpreet Kaur. She missed the series opener following an injury that she sustained during a warm-up match against the ECB Select XI.

Harleen Deol got a chance in Harmanpreet Kaur’s place. However, the management now have a lot to ponder upon as the right-handed batter performed well, scoring 43 runs off 23 balls with the help of seven fours.

If Harmanpreet Kaur is deemed fit for the contest, then it needs to be seen who she replaces in the playing XI. Regarding England, nothing went right for the hosts. Skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt was the only bright spot, scoring 66 runs off 42 balls with the help of 10 fours.

Squads:

India Women: Harmanpreet Kaur (C), Smriti Mandhana (VC), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Yastika Bhatia (wk), Harleen Deol, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Sree Charani, Shuchi Upadhyay, Amanjot Kaur, Arundhati Reddy, Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare.

England Women: Nat Sciver-Brunt (C), Em Arlott, Tammy Beaumont (wk), Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Charlie Dean, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Amy Jones (wk), Paige Scholfield, Linsey Smith, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Issy Wong.

Here are all the live streaming details for the 2nd T20I between India and England Women

When will the India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match be played?

The India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match will be played on Tuesday, July 1. The match will begin at 11 PM IST with the toss scheduled for 10:30 PM IST.

Where will the India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match be played?

The India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match will be played at the Bristol County Ground.

Which channels will broadcast the India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match?

The India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match will be telecast live on the Sony Sports network.

Where will live streaming be available for the India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match?

The India Women vs England Women 2nd T20I match will be streamed live on the SonyLiv and Fancode app and website.

Intriguing details have come to the fore after former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali shed light on what led to Azhar Mahmood’s appointment as the national side’s Test head coach.

The PCB officially confirmed Mahmood’s appointment on Monday, stating that the 50-year-old will serve as acting red-ball head coach until the conclusion of his current contract in April 2026.

The former all-rounder, who signed a two-year deal with the PCB in April 2024, has previously served as the national side’s assistant coach.

Under his leadership, Pakistan will begin their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025–27 campaign with a two-match home series against South Africa in October-November, followed by a two-match away series against Bangladesh in March-April 2026.

Appearing on a local YouTube channel, Ali disclosed that Misbah-ul-Haq was initially set to become the head coach, according to Geo Super.

However, a shift in preferences within the PCB hierarchy, particularly votes of support from Director of High Performance Aqib Javed and T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, led to Mahmood’s appointment instead.

“Misbah was about to become the head coach, but things change with the wind. Now, considering what Javed said and what captain Salman Ali Agha said, [Azhar] Mahmood has been made the red-ball coach — I’m telling you this with authenticity, otherwise Misbah had already been finalised as coach,” Basit stated.

“It’s because of [Salman Ali] Agha’s vote that Mahmood was given the role of interim coach. Some things are like that — we can’t speak about them openly; we also have to be considerate,” he added.

The 54-year-old also criticised the inconsistent approach taken by the PCB in coaching appointments, questioning the prolonged delay in the official announcement and the unequal treatment of mentors who were previously let go.

“This delay that’s been happening — as you just mentioned, Mahmood’s contract is until April 2026 — well, the mentors also had a three-year contract. So what happened? Why were they sidelined after being paid off?” he questioned.

He emphasised the need for consistency and fairness in decision-making, highlighting that if early terminations were acceptable in one case, they should be equally applied across the board.

“If you’re using a scale of fairness, it should be applied equally to everyone. You didn’t let the mentors work for three years. If you intended to remove them, you could have done the same here — paid one or two months’ salary and let them go,” he concluded.

The last time the Lions toured Australia, Israel Folau, playing his first game of international rugby, scored two tries in Australia’s narrow first-Test defeat.

“Izzy was the most naturally freaky sort of athlete that I’ve ever played with,” says Horwill.

“Wherever we put him around the field, someone would have to mark his aerial threat – sometimes double mark him – and that would then create opportunities for others.

“Izzy just made everything look so easy, he moved and jumped so effortlessly for a big guy and Joseph’s got a lot of that about him.”

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – Australia’s 6ft 5in big-money import from rugby league – was inspired by Folau as a boy, and the 21-year-old has shown similar aerial ability.

With the Lions looking unconvincing in the battle for the skies against Argentina and struggling to regain kick-offs against Western Force, he will be chasing and leaping hard.

“Wherever Joseph is you are going to see defenders bunching around that area – maybe there’s an opportunity to kick elsewhere and get a bit of ascendancy,” says Horwill.

For all the interest in England flanker Henry Pollock’s supersonic ascent to the upper reaches, Australia have their own bolters.

Corey Toole was part of the Australian sevens team that finished fourth in the Olympics in Paris a year ago, but 11 tries in the Brumbies’ 16-game run to the Super Rugby Pacific semi-finals have given him a shot of stepping on to the biggest stage in the XV-man game.

And Max Jorgensen, the 20-year-old son of former Wallaby Peter Jorgensen, is back from an ankle injury in time to contend on the wing as well.

“The one thing you have got in Australia’s back three is genuine pace,” says Horwill.

“Corey Toole has got real gas and he has certainly bulked up a lot over the past year. He barged over Damian McKenzie to score against the Chiefs in that Super Rugby semi-final – if he does get an opportunity he is really exciting.

“Jorgensen is the sort of prodigious talent we’ve been building around.

“He has been a little bit unlucky with injuries, and just needs to get some some time in the saddle playing a bit of rugby.”

pa

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