Author: Sean Ingle

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Kyrgios defeats Sabalenka but Battle of the Sexes veers too close to circus

Nick Kyrgios won 6-3, 6-3 against Aryna Sabalenka in an intriguing Dubai contest with celebrity interruptions

Nick Kyrgios won tennis’s latest Battle of the Sexes against Aryna Sabalenka in a dispiriting contest in Dubai that veered uneasily between exhibition, gimmick and outright circus.

The Australian, who has won only one competitive singles match since the end of 2022 and has slipped to 671 in the world rankings, was sweating heavily and breathing hard as early as the fifth game of the match. Yet to no one’s great surprise, the extreme power of his serve, combined with the spin and velocity of his groundstrokes, proved too much for the women’s No 1 player.

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‘A great night for golf’: McIlroy hails Spoty success after individual and team awards

  • McIlroy: ‘Hopefully golf can build upon this’

  • ‘To get public’s recognition is really cool,’ says Fleetwood

Moments before Rory McIlroy was named BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year, and the cream of British sport rose to applaud him, a nervy thought raced through his mind. “I was, like, not an F1 driver again … ” he said.

This time, though, there was no late twist. Lando Norris was unable to emulate Lewis Hamilton, who had pipped McIlroy when the Northern Irishman was a warm favourite in 2014. And with Europe’s Ryder Cup winners also being named team of the year, a delighted McIlroy was able to reflect on a blockbuster night for him and his sport.

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Rory McIlroy named Sports Personality of the Year to end golf’s drought

  • Masters champion is first golfer in 36 years to claim award

  • Kildunne finishes second in vote and Norris third

  • Ryder Cup side win team award and Wiegman coach prize

A full-throated “Rory roar” reverberated around MediaCity in Salford as Rory McIlroy became the first golfer in 36 years to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award – and tie a bow on a year for the ages.

It was a fitting reward for the 36-year-old, who completed a career grand slam at the Masters in April and then led Europe to a thrilling Ryder Cup victory in New York, in the teeth of unrelenting hostility from American fans. For good measure, he also won the European Order of Merit too.

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Curse of Spoty? Rory McIlroy and golf could miss out again to Kelly or Norris

Annual jamboree can spring surprises and Masters champion could be at risk of repeating 2014 disappointment

It has been a 2025 for the ages for Rory McIlroy. He cemented his legacy by completing a career grand slam with victory at the Masters. Then he carried Europe on his back at the Ryder Cup, defying the venom and spite of a braying Maga crowd. Now, though, he has one final devilish sandtrap to navigate: the curse of golf at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.

Only twice in the 71-year history of the event has a golfer claimed the honour: the Welshman Dai Rees in 1957, when he captained Great Britain and Ireland to Ryder Cup success, and the Englishman Nick Faldo, following his Masters success in 1989. It is a pitiful return. Especially given athletics stars have won it 19 times, Formula One drivers eight, and football and tennis players seven apiece.

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Joshua v Paul makes Joe Louis’ ‘Bum of the Month’ look like the Rumble in the Jungle | Sean Ingle

The best we can hope for is that Paul does not get seriously hurt. Joshua, Netflix and the sport itself should know better

Precisely 85 years ago, one of the most fearsome heavyweight boxers in history stunk out the joint. Joe Louis was in the midst of his “Bum of the Month club”: a staggering run of 13 world title defences in 29 months against an assortment of stiffs, wild men and colourful characters. And when he arrived in Boston on 16 December 1940, most believed that Al McCoy would rapidly become his next victim. Only it didn’t quite turn out that way.

“McCoy was expected to crumple under the first punch Louis tossed in his direction,” the New York Times’ correspondent wrote. “Instead, the wily New England veteran made Louis appear ludicrous at times. Adopting a crouching, bobbing, weaving style, McCoy was an elusive target for the paralysing fists of the titleholder.” After the messy contest was stopped at the end of the fifth, a storm of jeers rang out. Louis had won, but only his bank balance had been enhanced.

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It’s Lionesses v Red Roses v Rory’s Europe as BBC names Spoty team of year shortlist

Public vote will decide winner among back-to-back European champions, Rugby World Cup winners and Team Europe

England’s Lionesses are up against their rugby union counterparts, the Red Roses, and Europe’s winning Ryder Cup side on the shortlist for team of the year at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award.

For the first time the BBC have swerved having to make the call themselves by making the team award a public vote, with the winners to be announced live at the ceremony on December 18.

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Arsenal v Bayern offers a stark reminder of the shift in football’s power balance | Sean Ingle

Ten years ago Arsenal were thrashed by the Bavarian giants – now Mikel Arteta’s men are rated the best side in Europe

November 2015. The Allianz Arena, Munich. A decade ago, yet a lifetime away for Arsenal in the Champions League.

That night Arsène Wenger’s team were so shredded in a 5-1 defeat by Bayern Munich that my Guardian colleague David Hytner likened them to “the chicken feed from the lower reaches of the Bundesliga that Bayern routinely gobble up”. It was Arsenal’s joint‑worst result in Europe. And to rub it in, Bayern repeated the trick the following season. Twice: 5-1 at home, then 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium.

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Golovkin to be elected World Boxing president and lead buildup to 2028 Olympics

  • Former world champion promises to restore trust in sport

  • World Boxing replaced IBA as governing body this year

The former world middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin is to be elected president of World Boxing and lead the sport as it heads towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

Golovkin, who won Olympic silver in Athens in 2004 and went on to make the most world title defences in middleweight history, is the only presidential candidate approved by the sport’s independent vetting panel for Sunday’s election. As a result he will take charge of World Boxing, which became the governing body for amateur Olympic boxing this year.

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Wimbledon’s expansion plans heading for court of appeal after judge’s ruling

  • Plans for 39 grass courts were given approval in 2024

  • Pressure has led to judicial review of that decision

Wimbledon’s battle to build 39 new grass courts on a nearby golf course has taken a fresh twist after local residents were granted permission to take a judicial review case to the court of appeal.

Last year the All England Club (AELTC) was given approval by Jules Pipe, the London deputy mayor for planning and regeneration, to build the courts on what used to be Wimbledon Park Golf Club – a decision that was then endorsed in the high court on 21 July. However, the Save Wimbledon Park pressure group challenged that verdict and on Monday it was announced that Lord Justice Holgate had granted a judicial review of the court’s decision.

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Women’s 100m final moved up to LA28 opening day in Olympics rejig

  • Sha’Carri Richardson hails athletics ‘having its moment’

  • ‘Innovative schedule also honours tradition,’ says Coe

The women’s 100m final will headline the first day of competition at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics as part of organisers’ plans to “open with a bang”.

The surprise decision, which will lead to all three rounds of the 100m taking place on the same day, was welcomed by the US sprint star Sha’Carri Richardson, who said it showed that “track and field is having its moment”.

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Haskell warns club rugby is heading off a cliff ‘like Thelma and Louise’ as £34m losses revealed

  • Report says franchise model could save up to £1.9m a year

  • ‘Smaller clubs are spending way above their means’

James Haskell, the former England international, has likened English rugby to “Thelma and Louise heading off a cliff” after an independent report found that Prem clubs made a combined loss of £34m last season.

The report by a leading UK corporate recovery and insolvency firm, Leonard Curtis, suggests the game should consider adopting a franchise model, which it says would help Prem clubs to save between £1.1m and 1.9m a year.

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IOC edges closer to ban on transgender women in female Olympic events

  • Sources expect ban within next six to 12 months

  • IOC president wants to protect the female category

The International Olympic Committee is edging closer towards implementing a ban on transgender women competing in the female category in time for the Los Angeles Olympic Games.

Multiple sources expect such a ban to come into effect over the next six to 12 months with the new IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, making clear she wants to drive through her campaign pledge to protect the female category.

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India to host 2030 Commonwealth Games – next stop the 2036 Olympics?

  • Ahmedabad is also bid city for 2036 summer Games

  • Concerns over mismanagement and governance issues

India will be formally approved as hosts of the centenary Commonwealth Games in 2030 next month as the country steps up its ambitions to stage the 2036 Olympics.

Commonwealth Sport says its executive board had recommended Ahmedabad, in the state of Gujarat, as the host city for the 2030 Games ahead of what it called an “ambitious bid” by Nigeria. The decision still needs to be ratified by a general assembly in Glasgow on 26 November, but multiple sources described that process a formality.

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Luke Littler’s poker face may be the key to his dominance in darts | Sean Ingle

A new study shows twitches and involuntary movements between throws can lead to things going wrong at the oche

Sunday night in Leicester. A study in contrast. At one point Luke Humphries’s eyes widen as another 22g Red Dragon dart flies past double 16. He shakes his head. Looks down. Bites his lip. Meanwhile, the automaton beside him powers on. Until the moment Luke Littler is pumping his fists, revelling in his 6-1 victory and a first World Grand Prix title.

Littler’s extraordinary immunity to pressure is fast reaching the stage where even peak-era Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal would be taking notes. In his quarter-final against Gerwyn Price, Littler looked down and out at times until he hit a 156 checkout to clinch the match. Against Humphries, it didn’t matter that his three-dart average was more than a point lower as he won five of his six sets in final-leg deciders.

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Cross-country running and cyclocross could be added to Winter Olympics by 2030

  • Indoor sports such as judo could switch to winter Games

  • Coe wants athletics events outside stadium at LA 2028

Cross-country running and cyclocross have a good chance of being added to the 2030 winter Games in France, Sebastian Coe has predicted, as part of what could be the biggest overhaul of the Olympics in a generation.

The World Athletics president also confirmed that switching some indoor sports – such as judo – to future winter Games was on the table as part of the International Olympic Committee’s new “fit for the future” plans, designed to keep the Games relevant.

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