Author: Guardian sport

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Matheus Cunha banned for two games and fined after Ipswich melee

  • Brazilian pushed Ipswich security guard in the face
  • Wolves forward to miss Forest and Bristol City games

The Wolves forward Matheus Cunha has been suspended for two games and fined £80,000 following a melee after the Premier League game against Ipswich this month.

The hugely influential Cunha will now miss games against Nottingham Forest in the league and the FA Cup tie against Bristol City.

The forward was charged with misconduct and it was alleged that he acted in an improper manner after the final whistle. He admitted the charge and the sanctions were subsequently imposed by an independent regulatory commission.

Full written reasons for this case will be published in due course.

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Puerto Rican boxer Paul Bamba dies aged 35, six days after last fight

  • Bamba dies six days after knockout of Rogelio Medina
  • Puerto Rican boxer won all 14 of his 2024 fights by KO

Puerto Rican boxer Paul Bamba has died at the age of 35, his manager, the R&B singer Shaffer ‘Ne-Yo’ Smith, announced Friday. The news comes less than a week after Bamba claimed the WBA’s secondary ‘gold’ cruiserweight title with a sixth-round knockout of Rogelio Medina in New Jersey.

Bamba’s death was confirmed in a joint statement from Ne-Yo and Bamba’s family. “It is with profound sorrow that we announce the passing of beloved son, brother, friend, and boxing champion Paul Bamba, whose light and love touched countless lives,” the statement read. It also described Bamba as a fierce competitor with an unrelenting drive for greatness.

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Sport in 2024: the moments that made us smile

Guardian writers recall their memorable occasions over the past year, from fraternity in the F1 paddock to an indiscreet moment in the darts

You hear all sorts of whispers at the Olympics; my favourite this year was about the 61-year-old grandmother Ni Xialian, who had an outside shot in the women’s table tennis. She won world titles for China in the early 1980s, then fell in love with another player, Tommy Danielsson, and moved to Luxembourg to run a hotel. She still plays and at this year’s Games she won her first match but lost to the world champion in the second. Afterwards, she spent a happy hour offering life advice to the assembled press. “I was worried if I was good enough, but if you never play, you’ll never know,” she said, “and as I always say: ‘I’m always younger today than I will be tomorrow.’” Andy Bull

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Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Liverpool make a statement, Pep Guardiola tries to see the funny side and Sandro Tonali fires on all cylinders

Midway through Ruben Amorim’s post-defeat media conference the roof in the press room, located in the bowels of Old Trafford, did what some of the outside sections of the stadium do: leak. Spots of water hit a scribe perched in the front row, merriment ensued, and Manchester United’s head coach offered a wry smile, a fitting end to an afternoon on which Bournemouth had rained on his side’s pre-Christmas Day parade. Nine games into his tenure, the Portuguese’s coach record is poor – four wins, four losses and a draw – and the next four matches look tough: Wolves (away), Newcastle (home), Liverpool (away) and a trip to Arsenal in the FA Cup. Amorim, who continually repeats the need for victory, knows things have to improve. Jamie Jackson

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American BMX star Hannah Roberts wins fifth straight freestyle world title

  • Roberts rebounds from Paris heartbreak with world title
  • Tokyo Olympic champion Martin wins third world gold

American Hannah Roberts roared back from her Paris Olympic heartbreak on Saturday by claiming her fifth consecutive BMX freestyle world title at the UCI Urban Cycling World Championships in Abu Dhabi.

Roberts, 22, set the bar with a 95.70-point first run, a score no competitor could beat. Her second run scored 94.58, a mark that would have been high enough to win the event.

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Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend

Bournemouth look to repeat Old Trafford heroics, Saints must get ugly and it’s Füllkrug time for West Ham

Approaching the halfway point, it is hard to gauge where Aston Villa are at. Regardless of Manchester City’s extended wobble, a result at home to Pep Guardiola’s side will go a long way to providing an indication. It was always going to be a big ask for Villa to better or even equal last season’s achievements but, with automatic qualification to the Champions League last 16 a distinct possibility and a top-four finish within reach, it has been another solid, if imperfect, start. Only once this season have Villa recorded victory after a European night, in September after winning at Young Boys. This time last season Villa were third in the division, two points off the summit, on 35 points. They may be 10 points worse off now but, despite defeat at Nottingham Forest last time out, they remain in a good spot. Ben Fisher

Aston Villa v Manchester City, Saturday 12.30pm (all times GMT)

Brentford v Nottingham Forest, Saturday 3pm

Ipswich v Newcastle, Saturday 3pm

West Ham v Brighton, Saturday 3pm

Crystal Palace v Arsenal, Saturday 5.30pm

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Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Nottingham Forest are dreaming of Europe while Ismaïla Sarr is a reason for Crystal Palace fans to be cheerful

Manchester United’s selection was something of a surprise, with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho left out of the squad completely and Ruben Amorim further raising eyebrows by saying the decision had been made after analysing “everything – training, performance, engagement with teammates”. It was only something of a surprise, however, because the XI was posted on Facebook by Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News at 10.23pm on Saturday night, a little over 18 hours before kick-off. “Interesting an XI has already leaked this evening,” he wrote. “Teams have leaked out of United for years but the current regularity, brazen manner of it and apparently public identity of the source make it more of an issue.” Amorim’s twin tasks are to create a successful team and a disciplined club where nobody threatening the collective to promote their individual agendas. Despite this welcome result, he has a lot to do on both fronts. Simon Burnton

Match report: Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United

Guardiola feels he is ‘not good enough’ after City’s late defeat by United

Match report: Liverpool 2-2 Fulham

Match report: Arsenal 0-0 Everton

Match report: Wolves 1-2 Ipswich

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Cricket commentator Isa Guha apologises for Jasprit Bumrah ‘primate’ comment

  • Guha ‘deeply sorry’ for choosing wrong word to describe India quick
  • ‘Let’s move on,’ Indian cricket great Ravi Shastri says

The respected cricket commentator Isa Guha has issued an apology after she referred to the Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah as a “primate” during the third Test against Australia.

Guha was commentating for Fox Sports during the first session of play on day two of the match in Brisbane when she made the remark.

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Dawn Fraser ‘not out of the woods’ after serious injuries from fall, daughter says

Daughter confirms swimming great broke four ribs and required a hip replacement after accident last week

Dawn Fraser’s family has spoken of their fear of losing the Australian swimming great after she fell on the driveway of her home and sustained a broken hip and four broken ribs.

Fraser, 87, is convalescing in hospital after the “scary” incident last week that initially prompted fears she had suffered internal bleeding.

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USA’s Gretchen Walsh smashes 15-year-old 50m butterfly world record

  • Olympic champion beats mark set during ‘shiny suit’ era
  • 21-year-old in action at Short Course World Championships

US Olympic champion Gretchen Walsh continued her sparkling year by shattering the 15-year-old world record for the 50m butterfly on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old set a mark of 24.02 in the heats of the 50m butterfly on the opening morning of the Short Course World Championships in Budapest. The previous record was held by Sweden’s Therese Alshammar, whose time of 24.38 came during the so-called “shiny suit” era in 2009 when records fell regularly.

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Millwall manager Neil Harris to step down from role this weekend

  • Lions confirm that Harris will leave after next two games
  • ‘I always said I would leave when the time felt right’

The Millwall manager Neil Harris will step down from his role for a second time after Saturday’s Championship game at Middlesbrough.

The former Lions striker returned to the Den as manager in February, more than four years after resigning from the role, and led the Championship side away from relegation danger. Millwall currently sit 11th with 25 points after 18 matches – just six points outside the playoffs. The club said a “mutual decision” had been taken for Harris to leave after taking charge of Wednesday’s match against Sheffield United and the game on Teesside.

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