Sifan Hassan: from ‘shy’ refugee to Olympic champion

Sifan Hassan: from ‘shy’ refugee to Olympic champion
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands celebrates after winning the 2023 Chicago Marathon professional women's division at Grant Park on October 08, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (AFP/File)
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Updated 05 August 2024
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Sifan Hassan: from ‘shy’ refugee to Olympic champion

Sifan Hassan: from ‘shy’ refugee to Olympic champion

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands: On a gloriously sunny Tuesday night training session at the Eindhoven athletics club, young hopefuls are put through their paces, dreaming of emulating their most famous member — double Olympic champion Sifan Hassan.

It was on these tracks more than a decade ago that Hassan, a young asylum-seeker from Ethiopia, embarked on a journey that would lead to history at the Tokyo Olympics and make her a top medal contender in Paris.

“We immediately saw she was a talented athlete. Even a blind horse could see she would be a good runner,” said Ad Peeters, president of the Eindhoven Atletiek coaching team.

But her first appearance came about as pure chance and in slightly farcical circumstances, explained Peeters, also a middle-distance runner who competed with Hassan in the early days.

She tagged along with a friend representing the club at a 1,000m race nearby — and decided to join in.

“But 1,000 meters is two and a half laps of the track. They hadn’t realized that, so they actually tried to finish at the starting line,” laughed Peeters, 58.

“So that’s how we got to know her. We could already see she was a talented athlete at that time, but she wasn’t really a runner then yet,” he told AFP.

One of Hassan’s favorite mottos, taken from the Qur'an, is “with hardship will be ease,” and her formative years were anything but easy.

Born in Adama, southeast of the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, she was raised on a farm by her mother and grandmother. Aged 15, she left for the Netherlands — she has never explained why.

She was first housed in a center for underaged asylum-seekers in Zuidlaren, in the northern Netherlands. She told De Volkskrant daily she cried there every day.

“I was like a flower that got no sun,” she said.

She finally arrived at Eindhoven to do a nursing course and fell in with other Ethiopians, some of whom were members of the local athletics club.

She took some time to “de-ice,” as Peeters puts it, describing her as a “shy girl” in the shadow of some of the more established Ethiopian runners.

Hassan herself has recalled training so hard “that my leg was bleeding” but Peeters tells a slightly different story.

“I actually don’t think she was lazy, but it was not always easy to get her to training on time,” he remembered with a chuckle.

“She didn’t yet have the discipline to do the training. But I also do not want to underestimate what it’s like to be here as a youngster, as a 17-year-old girl, be lonely, uncertain about your future,” said Peeters.

The club worked on her technique. She was clearly a “natural” runner, but “her legs and arms were going everywhere” said the coach.

But Peeters feels the club’s main role in her success came as much off the track as on it — helping her navigate life as a solo teenage asylum-seeker.

“We made sure she did not do the wrong things, neither in training, nor in her personal life. We kept her safe, picked her up by car to go to training, took her to competitions,” he said.

“We kept her in one piece basically.”

Progress came quickly, as did a Dutch passport. The Dutch athletics coaches recognized her talent and sent her to the elite Olympic training center in Papendal.

The rest is history: at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, she became the first athlete ever to win medals (two gold, one bronze) in the 1,500m, 5,000m, and 10,000m.

In Paris, she is attempting the even more arduous combination of 5,000m, 10,000m and the marathon — the first big test comes in the 5,000m final on Monday.

Despite Hassan’s success, her Eindhoven links have stayed strong, said Peeters. The club helped her financially at the start of her career and she would often return for training.

Hassan remains a club member despite living and training in the United States, and Peeters collects her fan mail.

Nothing stops the training, he said, but admitted the club would gather round the bar to cheer on their famous alumna in Paris.

“We don’t stop our training for football, but we do for Sifo.”


Iconic Sphere in Las Vegas to host Riyadh Season Noche UFC

Iconic Sphere in Las Vegas to host Riyadh Season Noche UFC
Updated 48 sec ago
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Iconic Sphere in Las Vegas to host Riyadh Season Noche UFC

Iconic Sphere in Las Vegas to host Riyadh Season Noche UFC

LAS VEGAS: The city of Las Vegas is gearing up to host the Riyadh Season Noche UFC at the iconic Sphere in Las Vegas on Saturday.
This event will be the first-ever sports championship held at the Las Vegas Sphere as part of UFC events, and it also marks Riyadh Season’s debut as a sponsor in the United States.
Following the success of the Riyadh Season Card in Los Angeles, this event is granting UFC the prestigious title of naming partner for the first time to a sponsor, renaming UFC 306 to Riyadh Season Noche UFC.
The highly anticipated event features a bantamweight title bout, headlined by Sean O’Malley from the United States defending his title against Georgia’s Merab Dvalishvili.
The octagon will also feature an electrifying women’s flyweight title bout, as Mexico’s Alexa Grasso faces off against Valentina Shevchenko from Kyrgyzstan.
Additionally, the event will feature a featherweight bout between Brian Ortega from the United States and Diego Lopes from Brazil.
Raul Rosas Jr. from Mexico will face Aoriqileng from China in the bantamweight category. Another bout will see Irene Aldama from Mexico taking on Norma Dumont from Brazil in a women’s bantamweight bout.
In the lightweight category, Manuel Torres from Mexico and Ignacio Bahamondes from Chile will compete for the title. Edgar Chairez from Mexico will face Joshua Van from the United States in a flyweight bout. Another flyweight fight will feature Ronaldo Rodriguez from Mexico versus Ode Osbourne from Jamaica.
The event will also feature a women’s strawweight bout between Yazmin Jauregui from Mexico and Ketlen Souza from Brazil, with the event concluding with a lightweight fight between Daniel Zellhuber from Mexico and Esteban Ribovics from Argentina.
Riyadh Season previously hosted UFC Fight Night on June, 22, 2024, where Australian Robert Whittaker delivered a knockout victory against Russia’s Ikram Aliskerov in the main middleweight event at Kingdom Arena.


Next test for Slot is navigating Liverpool’s busy schedule amid Salah contract questions

Next test for Slot is navigating Liverpool’s busy schedule amid Salah contract questions
Updated 25 min 39 sec ago
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Next test for Slot is navigating Liverpool’s busy schedule amid Salah contract questions

Next test for Slot is navigating Liverpool’s busy schedule amid Salah contract questions

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool has yet to allow a goal this season and Mohamed Salah has scored in each of the three games — all victories.
If this is what contract distractions look like at Anfield, new manager Arne Slot is fine with it.
Salah, captain Virgil van Dijk and right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold are all in the final year of their deals, and though it’s still early in the Premier League season Liverpool is the only team keeping pace with defending champion Manchester City.
Slot reiterated Friday at a press conference that “we don’t talk about contract situations over here” — unless there’s a new deal — and said the focus is on making it four wins in a row when Nottingham Forest visits Merseyside on Saturday.
“I’m fully focused on the individuals and the team,” he said about the trio in question, “and they are part of the team and trying to work with them in the best possible way to get the best out of them. So it’s not a distraction for me at all.”
The transition from Jurgen Klopp has been seamless.
Slot is the first manager to win his first three Premier League games without conceding a goal since Sven-Göran Eriksson at Man City in 2007.
“It’s not the defense who keeps a clean sheet — it’s 11 players who keep a clean sheet,” Slot said. “We try to convince them constantly about this because in an ideal world we don’t need (goalkeeper) Allison. It’s a team performance that we don’t concede and that has a lot to do with us putting in a lot of work without the ball.”
The schedule gets busy now, though, with seven games in the next three weeks. Liverpool plays at Inter Milan on Tuesday in the Champions League.
The international break saw lots of Liverpool players logging heavy minutes for their national teams.
“Maybe in the future I sometimes would love it to be a bit different,” Slot said. “It’s a positive thing that we are in such a good place that we have 10 players that can play every minute for the national team. It says a lot about the quality we have.”
Salah marked his 100th cap for Egypt with a goal in a 4-0 victory over Botswana on Tuesday in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. In the Premier League this season, Salah is the only player to have scored three goals and provided three assists.
Harvey Elliott will be sidelined for several weeks because of a foot fracture, which Slot said is “a blow” for both the team and the midfielder.
“He would have had a lot of playing time in the upcoming fixtures,” the manager said.


Unwanted history as Afghanistan-New Zealand test match is rained out after 5 days of trying

Unwanted history as Afghanistan-New Zealand test match is rained out after 5 days of trying
Updated 13 September 2024
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Unwanted history as Afghanistan-New Zealand test match is rained out after 5 days of trying

Unwanted history as Afghanistan-New Zealand test match is rained out after 5 days of trying
  • After continuing steady rain, officials called off the test match on the fifth and final scheduled day on Friday

GREATER NOIDA: A test match between New Zealand and Afghanistan at Greater Noida, India has joined some select company in the history of cricket — just not necessarily for the best reason.
After continuing rain, officials called off the test match on the fifth and final scheduled day on Friday without a ball being bowled.
It marked only the eighth time that a test match had been abandoned without any play because of rain. The first was in 1890 and the most-recent nearly 26 years ago also involved New Zealand.
On Dec. 18, 1998, New Zealand’s home test against India was abandoned on day three because of persistent rain at Carisbrook Oval in Dunedin.
The Greater Noida region received more than a week of drenching rain, leaving the ground staff at Greater Noida Sports Complex struggling to get the ground fit for play.
It was Afghanistan’s third cricket test in 2024, following one-off matches against Ireland and a 10-wicket loss to Sri Lanka.
New Zealand was scheduled to kick off a three-month subcontinental tour that will involve series against Sri Lanka and India.


LIV golfer Jon Rahm appeals European tour fines and is clear to play in the Spanish Open

LIV golfer Jon Rahm appeals European tour fines and is clear to play in the Spanish Open
Updated 13 September 2024
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LIV golfer Jon Rahm appeals European tour fines and is clear to play in the Spanish Open

LIV golfer Jon Rahm appeals European tour fines and is clear to play in the Spanish Open
  • Rahm’s formal appeal was a pivotal move because it allows him a chance to reach the minimum four European tour starts required to be considered for the Ryder Cup next year
  • European tour: Jon Rahm has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the (Spanish Open) later this month

NEW YORK: Jon Rahm on Thursday appealed the European tour sanctions against him for playing the LIV Golf circuit, allowing him to play the Spanish Open and other European tour events until an independent panel decides if he must pay fines.

Rahm’s formal appeal was a pivotal move because it allows him a chance to reach the minimum four European tour starts required to be considered for the Ryder Cup next year.

Rahm, a former Masters champion and world No. 1, joined the Saudi-funded league late last year for a signing bonus reported to be in the $300 million to $400 million range.

Other players who defected to LIV, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk, are going through the same appeal and are allowed into tournaments as the process plays out.

Hatton played the British Masters two weeks ago. Both are entered in the Spanish Open.

The European tour said in a statement, “Jon Rahm has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the (Spanish Open) later this month.”

The DP World Tour is the commercial name of the European tour.

“I don’t intend to pay the fines, and we keep trying to have a discussion with them about how we can make this happen,” Rahm said on Wednesday from LIV Golf Chicago, where he is battling Joaquin Niemann for the individual title worth $18 million to the winner.

Rahm said he has entered the Dunhill Links Championship and the Andalucia Masters. That would give him four starts because the Olympics counts toward the minimum.

The appeals process is the same as it was when several Europeans first joined LIV Golf in the summer of 2022. An independent panel, Sport Resolutions, ruled in April 2023 the players committed serious breaches and the European tour was within its rights to penalize them.

“I’m glad Jon decided to appeal and he can play his events in which he wants to play and be eligible,” European captain Luke Donald said Thursday from the Irish Open. “I know the Ryder Cup means so much to him, and I’m sure that was a massive factor in his decision.”

Rahm is primarily opposed to being fined for playing LIV events opposite tournaments he had never played or did not intend to play. Among European tour events opposite LIV this year were stops in Bahrain, South Africa, Japan, China and the Czech Republic.

“He has his thoughts and he doesn’t agree with the fines and paying fines, especially for events that he would never have played on the DP World Tour. But those rules are the rules, and they were certainly in place when he signed with LIV,” Donald said.

Donald said he hoped golf’s landscape would be different before the September 2025 matches at Bethpage Black. Executives with the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia met this week in New York to continue negotiations about PIF becoming a minority investor in PGA Tour Enterprises and what that would mean for players on both sides.

The tour and PIF first had a framework agreement announced in June 2023.

“I’ll take today as a nice little victory for me personally to know that Jon is eligible and can play his three events now,” Donald said. “What happens in the future, I can’t tell. What happens in 15 months, I think all of us thought something more would happen.”


Canada, Australia and Germany set to advance in Davis Cup Finals after group-stage wins

Canada, Australia and Germany set to advance in Davis Cup Finals after group-stage wins
Updated 13 September 2024
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Canada, Australia and Germany set to advance in Davis Cup Finals after group-stage wins

Canada, Australia and Germany set to advance in Davis Cup Finals after group-stage wins
  • Canada won 3-0 against Finland, Australia beat the Czech Republic by the same score, and Germany swept aside Chile 3-0
  • The Netherlands picked up their first win against Brazil in the only one of Thursday’s ties that was decided in doubles
  • Four groups of teams are playing in four cities this week to qualify for the eight-team Finals in Malaga, Spain, in November

MANCHESTER, England: Canada, Australia and Germany remained unbeaten in the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals after each winning their second straight match on Thursday, while Czech player Tomas Machac retired injured for the second time in two days after playing only six minutes.

Canada won 3-0 against Finland, Australia beat the Czech Republic by the same score, and Germany swept aside Chile 3-0.

Denis Shapovalov beat Eero Vasa 7-6 (2), 6-2 and Felix Auger-Aliassime followed up with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Otto Virtanen for the 2022 Davis Cup champions in Manchester, England.

There was an element of revenge after Canada lost to Finland in last year’s quarterfinals.

“Everybody’s in good spirits, so it’s very good,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Any motivation is good, but I think it’s a different year, a different time, and (last year’s loss) was behind us. This year we have a full team and everybody’s playing better than last year. Everybody’s improved.”

Auger-Aliassime was back on court soon after with Shapovalov in doubles to wrap up the tie with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Virtanen and Harri Heliovaara.

Machac’s injury was the focus as Australia marched into a 2-0 lead against the Czech Republic in Valencia, Spain.

What had seemed to be simply cramps when he retired against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday proved more serious and long-lasting as Machac played just nine points in his match with Alexei Popyrin.

Machac was playing with bandages around his right calf and called for a medical timeout after Popyrin held serve in the first game, before retiring at 30-15 down in the second.

“We saw him last night, and he didn’t look too good last night, so we wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully he’s back on tour quickly,” Popyrin said.

Earlier, Thanasi Kokkinakis had given Australia the lead in the opening match by beating Jakub Mensik 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-3. Australia made it 3-0 in the doubles as Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell beat Mensik and Adam Pavlasek 6-4, 6-2.

On an indoor hard court in Zhuhai, China, Germany’s Maximilian Marterer beat Tomas Barrios Vera 6-1, 6-3, then Yannick Hanfmann defeated Alejandro Tabilo 7-5, 6-4 to clinch the tie. Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, who have lost only one cup match, beat Barrios Vera and Matias Soto 6-1, 6-3. In no match was Germany broken. Germany has never lost to Chile, which didn’t use an ill Nicolas Jarry.

The Netherlands picked up their first win against Brazil in the only one of Thursday’s ties that was decided in doubles. Wesley Koolhof and Botic van de Zandschulp won a close match 6-4, 7-6 (5) against Brazil’s Rafael Matos and Marcelo Melo to hand Brazil its second loss in Bologna, Italy.

Brazil had led after Joao Fonseca beat van de Zandschulp 6-4, 7-6 (3) in the first match but Tallon Griekspoor leveled the tie with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 win over Thiago Monteiro.

Four groups of teams are playing in four cities this week to qualify for the eight-team Finals in Malaga, Spain, in November. The top two countries in each four-team group advance.