Booming Saudi sports showcased with awards and first expo

SFA Expo and Community Sports Group Awards took place on Saturday night. (Supplied/SFA)

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Updated 21 May 2023

Arab News

May 21, 2023 21:54

Booming Saudi sports showcased with awards and first expo

Community groups honored at three-day SFA Expo in Riyadh

Updated 21 May 2023

Arab News

May 21, 2023 21:54

RIYADH: The Saudi Sports for All Federation on Saturday concluded the first SFA Expo in the presence of Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud.

The President of the Saudi Sports for All Federation was joined by Khalid Abdullah Albaker, CEO of Quality of Life, Shaima Saleh Al-Husseini, SFA Managing Director, and Kholoud Al Junaibi, Secretary-General of UAE Sports for All Federation.

The exhibition, at Riyadh Front Exhibition & Convention Center, included a range of sessions and workshops delivered by more than 90 sports experts and trainers, with many more from around the world attending with a view to invest in the Saudi market.

Prizes were given in the Community Sports Group Awards to groups advancing the Saudi sports industry and regional sports culture. The categories were: the most active community sports group on the SFA app; most unique event idea; most effective sustainable and community service initiative and most active male or female university group.

Al-Husseini said: “We are very pleased to have hosted the SFA Expo. The exhibition will help to raise the Kingdom’s profile on the global stage as a world-class sports hub.

“It will shine an even brighter spotlight on the importance of sport and physical activity to the economy and society, encouraging more people and families to lead healthy, active lifestyles.”

The exhibition allowed visitors to interact with leading global and regional brands in the sports and fitness sector, attend panel discussions and workshops, and view and participate in competitions that added more excitement and fun to the event.

It also provided professionals, athletes, trainers, and fitness enthusiasts worldwide with an appropriate platform to discuss challenges in the sports field.

It was launched to contribute to the growth and development of the Saudi sports industry, bolster local sports infrastructure, and transform regional community sports.

It was supported by leading bodies such as the Ministry of Sport, Ministry of Investment, Saudi Business Center, and Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Topics: Saudi Arabia Saudi sport

Kapalua to host PGA Tour opener in January, 5 months after deadly wildfires on Maui

Updated 22 September 2023

September 22, 2023 05:10

Kapalua to host PGA Tour opener in January, 5 months after deadly wildfires on Maui

The tour sent a memo to players Thursday that it will be back at Kapalua for the Jan. 4-7 opener
The wildfires killed at least 97 people, with at least 31 people still missing

Updated 22 September 2023

September 22, 2023 05:10

NEW YORK: The PGA Tour is returning to Maui to start the new season with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, five months after deadly wildfires destroyed nearby Lahaina and claimed at least 97 lives.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had said last month he hoped the tournament could be a source of inspiration for Maui and Lahaina, about 10 miles away from where the PGA Tour has started its year since 1999.

The tour sent a memo to players Thursday that it will be back at Kapalua for the Jan. 4-7 opener. The tour previously had said Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told them to “go forward” with plans for the tournament and volunteer registration opened.

The wildfires killed at least 97 people, with at least 31 people still missing. It devasted Lahaina, destroying more than 2,000 structures and wiping out fabled Front Street that runs along the ocean and was a popular destination with its restaurants, shops and art galleries.

The property at Kapalua Resort was not affected, though a third of the staff who live in the Lahaina area lost their homes.

“Like so many around the world, we’re absolutely heartbroken,” said tournament director Max Novena, who lives on West Maui. “It’s a tight-knit community and we’ve experienced and shared compassion and generosity and aloha, and it’s been inspiring.

“Playing the Sentry in January is our responsibility and it’s a privilege,” he said. “We fully intend to use our platform to bring awareness, bring fundraising and community service to help West Maui and Lahaina rebuild.”

Green recently signed a proclamation that most of West Maui will reopen to visitors on Oct. 8. The area has some 11,000 hotel rooms, half of Maui’s total. The Bay Course at Kapalua opened on Wednesday, and the Plantation Course where the tournament is held is to open on Oct. 18.

Tyler Dennis, the tour’s chief competitions officer, said in Thursday’s memo that Green “has been emphatic in his support of our event and others.”

“There is no other organization in sport which rallies around those in need like the PGA Tour,” Dennis wrote. “Given the overwhelming support for playing the tournament, the tour and The Sentry are currently working on plans to further raise awareness and assist with fundraising and community service to Maui in a thoughtful and respectful manner.”

The tournament last year raised $694,705 that went to local charities, bringing the total to over $8.5 million since it became part of the PGA Tour schedule in 1999.

Wisconsin-based Sentry has made initial contributions to Maui United Way, Maui Food Bank and UH-Maui County, and Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa are among players contributing to relief efforts.

The Sentry Tournament of Champions, for years only for PGA Tour winners, now is for the top 50 from the previous year’s FedEx Cup along with any tour winner from 2023. Jon Rahm is the defending champion.

Topics: PGA Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions

’We’ll see:’ Messi unsure about 2026 World Cup

Updated 22 September 2023

AFP

September 22, 2023 05:08

’We’ll see:’ Messi unsure about 2026 World Cup

For now, Messi said he is focused on the 2024 US-hosted Copa America tournament
Messi reiterated his disappointment with not having received sufficient “recognition” at his former French club Paris Saint-Germain after holding aloft the 2022 World Cup in Qatar

Updated 22 September 2023

AFP

September 22, 2023 05:08

BUENOS AIRES: Argentina captain Lionel Messi has said he is unsure about his participation in the next World Cup to be co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada in 2026, when he will be 39.

“I don’t know if I will get there,” he told Argentine media personality Miguel Garrados in an interview broadcast on YouTube Thursday. “I don’t think about it yet because it is far away.”

For now, Messi said he is focused on the 2024 US-hosted Copa America tournament.

“After the Copa America we’ll see, it will depend on how I feel,” he said. “There are still three years left.”

Messi led Argentina to victory against France in the World Cup final in Qatar last December.

In the interview, he reiterated his disappointment with not having received sufficient “recognition” at his former French club Paris Saint-Germain after holding aloft the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

He claimed he was the only one of his Argentine team mates “who got no recognition” from his club.

“It was not what I expected but I’ve always said that things happen for a reason,” Messi said of his Paris years, adding he “wasn’t well there.”

The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner had already stated on numerous occasions that he was unhappy at PSG before moving to Florida to play for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.

Topics: Lionel Messi

Dupont’s facial injury mars France’s 14-try romp against Namibia at the Rugby World Cup

Updated 22 September 2023

September 22, 2023 05:06

Dupont’s facial injury mars France’s 14-try romp against Namibia at the Rugby World Cup

The Rugby World Cup’s seventh highest score was marred by Dupont’s game-ending injury, after he was in a head-on-head collision with Namibia captain Johan Deysel in the 45th minute
The heavy-hitters who made the scoreboard this time included winger Damian Penaud with a hat trick, and winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey, center Jonathan Danty and flanker Charles Ollivon who grabbed two each

Updated 22 September 2023

September 22, 2023 05:06

MARSEILLE, France: A serious-looking facial injury to captain Antoine Dupont took the gloss off France’s highest ever score, a 96-0 romp against hapless Namibia at the Rugby World Cup on Thursday.

There were 14 tries, including a penalty try, and Thomas Ramos converted 12 of 13.

The Rugby World Cup’s seventh highest score was marred by his game-ending injury, after he was in a head-on-head collision with Namibia captain Johan Deysel in the 45th minute. Deysel was yellow-carded for the dangerous upright hit while Dupont walked off in distress. He left Stade Velodrome immediately for hospital scans.

“There’s a suspicion of a crack or fracture to his jaw. He’s gone for tests,” coach Fabien Galthie said. “We’ll wait for the (test) results before moving forward.”

Dupont will likely miss France’s last pool game against Italy in two weeks. The quarterfinals are in three weeks. Galthie will be second-guessed for leaving his best player on the field while the team was leading 54-0.

“How do you expect me to answer that? I can’t take 15 players off at halftime. We had planned to make changes to the rest of the team in the 55th minute,” Galthie said. “We’re always very concerned when a player goes off injured.”

France lost star flyhalf Romain Ntamack to a serious knee injury before the tournament and Matthieu Jalibert is a top-class replacement. But Dupont is considered the world’s best player, France’s inspiration, and irreplaceable.

Deysel’s yellow card was upgraded to red by a bunker review. By coincidence, Namibia’s only other Rugby World Cup red card was to Jacques Nieuwenhuis in 2007 also against France, which went on to achieve its previous record test score, 87-10.

The heavy-hitters who made the scoreboard this time included winger Damian Penaud with a hat trick, and winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey, center Jonathan Danty and flanker Charles Ollivon who grabbed two each.

“The tries are anecdotal. We’ll remember today’s victory,” Penaud said. “Now we’ve found a bit of cohesion on the pitch, it bodes well for the future.”

The other try scorers in the Marseille mauling were lock Thibaud Flament, replacement scrumhalf Baptiste Couilloud, replacement fullback Melyvn Jaminet and a last-gasp penalty try.

Penaud’s try-scoring run extended to six games and gave him a national record 13 in a calendar year, beating Phillipe Saint-André’s record from 1995, and put him one ahead of Saint-André for Les Tricolores with 33 tries overall.

France extended Namibia’s tournament losing run to a record 25 games.

“It was a tough day at the office. A little bit humiliating,” Namibia coach Allister Coetzee said. “Our objective is still alive, to win a game at the World Cup.”

Namibia had an intercept try five minutes into the second half scratched off after the TMO showed Deysel’s collision with Dupont.

Les Tricolores opened the tournament beating New Zealand 27-13 and followed with an uninspiring 27-12 victory against Uruguay. That game drew criticism and so Galthié picked a full-strength side which had the four-try bonus point inside 20 minutes.

“We got outmuscled and outclassed by a quality French side,” Namibia hooker Louis van der Westhuizen said. “We’ve got a lot of local boys only playing (club) rugby in Namibia, so for them to play on a world stage like this in front of a crowd like this is massive.”

France’s two-week break will include time with families. Italy on Oct. 6 will offer Penaud a chance to overtake winger Vincent Clerc on 34 tries and move closer to France’s record-holder Serge Blanco on 38.

Namibia lost 52-8 to Italy and were overwhelmed by the All Blacks 71-3. They conclude against Uruguay in Lyon next Wednesday when they hope to end a record 25-game losing run at the tournament since 1999.

Topics: Rugby World Cup

Liverpool fight back again to edge LASK on Europa League return

Updated 21 September 2023

AFP

September 21, 2023 22:21

Liverpool fight back again to edge LASK on Europa League return

Romelu Lukaku earned last year’s beaten finalists Roma a 2-1 victory at Sheriff
Bayer Leverkusen crushed Swedes Hacken 4-0, Rennes cruised past Maccabi Haifa 3-0 in France, Spaniards Villarreal lost 2-0 to Panathinakos in Greece

Updated 21 September 2023

AFP

September 21, 2023 22:21

PARIS: Liverpool fell behind for the fourth time in five matches this season but fought back to beat LASK 3-1 in Linz in the Europa League on Thursday.
Elsewhere in the early matches in the first round of the group stage of the second-tier European competition, Romelu Lukaku earned last year’s beaten finalists Roma a 2-1 victory at Sheriff.
Bayer Leverkusen crushed Swedes Hacken 4-0, Rennes cruised past Maccabi Haifa 3-0 in France, Spaniards Villarreal lost 2-0 to Panathinakos in Greece.
Liverpool, playing in the Europa League for the first time since finishing runners up in 2016, changed their entire starting 11 away to LASK and quickly fell behind.
In the 14th minute, Sascha Horvath lobbed a corner to Florian Flecker just outside the Liverpool box. The Austrian midfielder controlled the dropping ball before smashing a rocket shot past Caoimhin Kelleher in the Liverpool goal.
Darwin Nunez levelled with a 55th-minute penalty kick after Luis Diaz was brought down.
After 61 minutes, Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp started to replace teenagers with regular starters.
Within two minutes they were ahead when Ryan Gravenberch burst down the right and crossed low for Diaz to score from close range.
Two minutes from the end Mohamed Salah, a second-half replacement, poked home a third.
In Moldova, Leandro Paredes scored four minutes into first-half injury time to give Roma the lead away to Sheriff.
Colombian Cristian Tovar levelled but Romelu Lukaku gave Jose Mourinho’s team a narrow victory.
In the Conference League, Aston Villa, returning to European competition after a 12-year gap, fell behind in the third minute to Legia Warsaw and despite equalising twice lost 3-2.
Pawel Wszolek met a cross from the left with a sliding volley to put Legia ahead.
Jhon Duran levelled after six minutes heading in a rebound after a Nicolo Zaniolo shot.
But the Poles regained the lead after 25 minutes when Wszolek crossed from the right and Ernest Muci scored on the half volley.
Lucas Digne levelled with a deflected shot from the edge of the box after 38 minutes but Muci settled the game with a low shot after 51 minutes.
Croatians Zrinjski Mostar came from three goals down to beat visiting AZ Alkmaar 4-3.
Myron Van Brederode, Sven Mijnans and Dani de Wit put the Dutch side three goals up by half-time.
Zvonimir Kozulj started the comeback after 48 minutes and ended it in the 81st minute, sandwiching goals from Josip Corluka and Aldin Hrvanovic.

Topics: Liverpool Europa League Romelu Lukaku Bayer Leverkusen Mohamed Salah

Neymar draws blank as Al-Hilal draw with Damac

Updated 21 September 2023

John Duerden

September 21, 2023 21:36

Neymar draws blank as Al-Hilal draw with Damac

Early goal from Malcom put the visitors ahead as Al-Hilal looked to bounce back from a disappointing opening game 1-1 draw in the Asian Champions League with Navbahor
Nicolae Stanciu lined up a free-kick for Damac and the Romanian’s shot took an awkward bounce as Bounou went down to make the save and it ended up in the net

Updated 21 September 2023

John Duerden

September 21, 2023 21:36

Neymar is still looking for his first goal in Saudi Arabia as Al-Hilal were held to a 1-1 draw with lowly Damac on Thursday. Despite the dropped points, the Riyadh giants return to the capital as league leaders with 17 points from the first seven games of the season.

An early goal from Malcom put the visitors ahead as they looked to bounce back from a disappointing opening game 1-1 draw in the Asian Champions League on Monday with Navbahor of Uzbekistan. It didn’t quite work out that way as Damac produced a performance that belied their next-to-bottom league standing.

Hilal coach Jorge Jesus fielded a strong line-up containing the club’s big summer signings. Neymar was in attack alongside fellow Brazilian Malcom. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic also started, as did Kalidou Koulibaly in defense and Yassine Bounou between the sticks. Ruben Neves came off the bench at the start of the second half.

By that time the men in white were looking for a bit of a cushion as Damac, still looking for a first win of the season with just three points from the opening six games, had their moments.

Malcom fired the opener after just nine minutes but there was much to thank Neymar for. The former Barcelona star had dropped deep — as he did on numerous occasions — to pick up possession. He then threaded a pass through two defenders on the left for Salem Al-Dawsari to get to the byline — to pull back for the Brazilian to smash the ball high into the net from the edge of the six-yard box.

Al-Hilal wanted a second, and almost immediately from the restart, attacked down the same side but this time Al-Dawsari’s low ball, with Neymar waiting in the middle, was cut out.

Damac almost levelled after 14 minutes. Abdulaziz Al-Bishi blocked a poor clearance, and after pushing Bounou out of the way on the right side, could not curl the ball into the empty net from the tightest of angles. It was a let-off for the 18-time champions.

There was another warning on the half-hour. Assan Ceesay looked like he was going to give Damac the lead as he shot from inside the area but Bounou was quick off his line to make the save.

Then Neymar should have scored. With eight minutes of the first half remaining, Malcom drew a number of defenders on the right side and then slipped the perfect pass into his fellow Brazilian, unmarked near the penalty spot. Neymar shot toward the bottom corner but was denied by the heel of Sultan Faqihi.

Just before the break, Damac came even closer as Farouk Chafai headed against the Hilal crossbar. The hosts continued to push for the equalizer after the break and got back on level terms midway through the second half. It was a deserved goal though slightly soft from the point of view of the visitors.

There didn’t seem to be a huge amount of danger when Nicolae Stanciu lined up a free-kick more than 30 meters from goal, but the Romanian’s shot took an awkward bounce as Bounou went down to make the save and it ended up in the net.

Soon after, Milinkovic-Savic produced a pass of beauty to dissect the Damac defense and while Neymar made his run behind the backline, he could not quite guide the ball between the posts.

Both teams continued to push forward for the winner but neither managed it. It was a second successive disappointing 1-1 draw for Al-Hilal.

Elsewhere, Gina Wijnaldum announced his arrival in Saudi Arabia with a brace as Ettifaq picked up a dramatic 4-3 win at home to Al-Tai.

The former Liverpool star scored the fastest goal of the season so far, after 79 seconds, to give the Dammam men the lead. A hat-trick from Bernand Mensah ensured that Al-Tai were in the game as Moussa Dembele and then a second from Wijnaldum ensured it was 3-3 as the game entered injury time.

With 94 minutes on the clock Dembele struck again to send the team third, just a point behind leaders Al-Hilal.

Al-Taawoun are second after a 2-1 win at home to Al-Raed.

Topics: Al-Hilal Damac Neymar Roshn Saudi League (RSL)

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Booming Saudi sports showcased with awards and first expo

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