Sports News – Page 880 – Worldwide Sports News

May 26, 2024

FA Cup final triumph a fitting last act of defiance for embattled Erik ten Hag | David Hytner

Manchester United have endured crisis after crisis this season but their head coach will always have Wembley glory

It was one of the great shows of ego and defiance, pure theatre, pure Louis van Gaal. As another embattled Manchester United manager from the Netherlands found himself in the same position, it was impossible to ignore the echoes. Erik ten Hag’s delivery was different, more measured and understated. But, like Van Gaal before him, he had entered the arena for a fight. He made his punches count.

“I show you the Cup,” Van Gaal said in 2016 after leading United to victory against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final as he headed for the sack; he was informed of the decision 24 hours later. Van Gaal strode into the Wembley press conference room with the trophy, which he set down on the end of the desk before repositioning it bang in front of him after he took his seat.

May 26, 2024

MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia wins in Catalonia to cut gap to Jorge Martín

Ducati rider finishes ahead of Martín and Marc Márquez
Márquez recovers from 14th grid start to make podium

Ducati Lenovo’s two-time defending world champion, Francesco Bagnaia, won the Catalunya Grand Prix to close the gap on the championship leader, Jorge Martín, who finished second, while Ducati’s Marc Márquez was third despite starting 14th on the grid.

Márquez repeated his heroics from the Saturday sprint when he finished an astonishing third from 14th, keeping the polesitter, Aleix Espargaró, at bay until the chequered flag and finishing five-hundredths of a second ahead to take third.

May 25, 2024

‘When they don’t want me I will hear it’: Ten Hag tight-lipped on future after FA Cup win – video

Erik ten Hag refused to give any answers on his future as Manchester United manager after his side beat their local rivals Manchester City 2-1 to win the FA Cup. Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo scored in the first half to give United victory over an uncharacteristically poor City side but Ten Hag was unmoved when asked about his future. 'When they don't want me I will hear it,' he said after the match. 'When I took over it was a mess at United. We are on out way to constructing a team for the future and that will go with ups and downs.'

May 25, 2024

Central Coast Mariners defeat Melbourne Victory in A-League Men grand final – as it happened

Central Coast Mariners 3-1 Melbourne Victory (AET)
Mariners surge to title defence after stoppage time equaliser

While today is a celebration for domestic football in Australia, it is impossible to overlook what has been another chastening season for the A-League.

The APL remains in omnicrisis, bungling its budget and communications as it fails abysmally at converting the promise of independence. And while there’s not a lot they can do about fan misbehaviour or the alleged conduct of players, it’s hard to avoid the creeping feeling of the competition succumbing to another doom spiral.

May 23, 2024

Premier League Darts: Luke Littler overcomes Luke Humphries to win title – as it happened

A rampant Luke Littler beat Michael Smith and Luke Humphries to become the youngest major winner in darts history

Littler 3-1 Smith No nine-darter – he managed seven perfect darts before missing T19 – but more importantly he has broken Smith already. He pinged his bestie D10 to complete a 12-darter, and now Smith is effectively two breaks behind.

Littler is six darts into a nine on the Smith throw…

May 21, 2024

‘I’d never play again’: Rugby world in shock over viral 20m tackle

A South African schoolboy rugby player has gone viral after he carried his opponent 20m backwards in wild scenes during a recent match.

May 20, 2024

NSW Waratahs coach Darren Coleman won’t get a new contract after two win season

Waratahs coach Darren Coleman was given credit for navigating “three challenging seasons” but won’t get a fourth after the battling Super Rugby outfit confirmed he wouldn’t be offered a new contract.

May 20, 2024

Tony O’Reilly: the Lions cub who earned place in Irish sporting folklore

Before entering business, O’Reilly played rugby for Ireland and the Lions and could have been ‘one of the world’s greats’

Tony O’Reilly has died aged 88 and this week’s business pages will pay tribute to a titan of the corporate world who struck commercial gold with Kerrygold and built a hill of beans with Heinz. It is a sign of a life remarkably well lived, then, that his name will also always have a place in the pantheon of Irish sporting heroes and prompt a wry smile whenever rugby union’s classic old-school anecdotes are retold.

As a player good enough to have been selected as the youngest Lion in history when chosen to tour South Africa as a teenager in 1955, O’Reilly might have reached even loftier heights in the game had his burgeoning business career not intervened at the age of 26. There was to be one last impromptu hurrah, however, when he was famously recalled seven years later to face England at Twickenham.

May 16, 2024

Michael Smith seals Premier League darts playoff spot and wins in Sheffield

Victory over friend Nathan Aspinall books Smith’s playoff place
‘I wanted him there with me but I’m really chuffed,’ says Smith

A tearful Michael Smith put friendship aside to win his Premier League shootout with Nathan Aspinall and qualify for next week’s playoffs at the O2 Arena.

The 2023 world champion beat his good friend Aspinall 6-3 in the quarter-final of the final round of the league phase in Sheffield to join Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen in London.

May 12, 2024

MotoGP: Martín edges duel with Bagnaia and Márquez to win at Le Mans

Pramac Racing rider tops MotoGP standings with 129 points
Márquez finishes second after final-lap overtake of Bagnaia

Jorge Martín of Pramac Racing, the MotoGP championship leader, won the French Grand Prix on Sunday to complete a weekend double while Gresini Ducati’s Marc Márquez finished second with a final-lap overtake of Francesco Bagnaia, the reigning champion, at Le Mans.

Bagnaia led for most of the race before Martín, having started on pole, regained the lead and powered to victory following an intense battle while Márquez, who started 13th on the grid, and finished on the podium once again after Saturday’s sprint.

May 10, 2024

Sports quiz of the week: Real Madrid, Tom Daley and Women’s FA Cup final

Have you been following the big stories in football, boxing, diving, snooker, rugby, cricket and motor racing?

May 9, 2024

Darts sensation Luke Littler to make Australian debut at Wollongong event

Star-studded line-up confirmed for Australian Darts Masters
World No 1 Luke Humphries also named in 16-player field

Teenage darts sensation Luke Littler is to make his debut in Australia when he headlines the country’s biggest event in Wollongong in August.

The 17-year-old English phenomenon, who has flourished as the sport’s biggest attraction since becoming the youngest ever world championship finalist at 16 in January, will feature in a star-studded line-up at the Australian Darts Masters in August.

May 8, 2024

Kyren Wilson’s world title helps us understand snooker’s fluctuating fortunes | Daniel Harris

The experiences of the world’s leading players are key to understanding snooker’s current unpredictability

Ostensibly, sport aims to answer one question: who is the best? Humans being humans, we naturally invest it with meaning beyond that – the teams we support are ours forever, a fixed part of our identity representing values and a way of life. We keep coming back because we have no choice.

Individual sports, though, are different, players necessarily transient, so what keeps us coming back is the competition itself. And for that reason, there is greater onus on it to provide a satisfying outcome: we want our world championships won by the best player in the world, and Kyren Wilson, snooker’s newly minted king – a terrific talent and worthy winner – is, on the face of it, no such thing.

May 5, 2024

Jak Jones attacks ‘pathetic’ rivals after booking world snooker final with Wilson

Welsh qualifier will face Kyren Wilson after shock run to final
Jones hits back at beaten opponents’ complaints over his style

Jak Jones sealed his shock World Snooker Championship final place by beating Stuart Bingham 17-12 – and branded his beaten opponents “pathetic” for complaining about his playing style.

The world No 44 will face Kyren Wilson in the two-day final starting on Sunday after Wilson overcame David Gilbert 17-11. Both Bingham and Judd Trump, whom the Welshman beat in the last eight, implied that Jones’ frustrating tactics had affected their rhythm and ultimately contributed to their defeats.

May 4, 2024

Kyren Wilson leads David Gilbert in world championship semi-final

Only remaining seed holds 14-10 advantage
Stuart Bingham and Jak Jones level at 8-8

Kyren Wilson needs three more frames to reach a second World Snooker Championship final after opening up a 14-10 lead over David Gilbert. The pair were tied at 8-8 after the morning session but Wilson, the only seed left, won six of the eight frames in the evening to take a commanding lead.

It would have been virtually game over had Gilbert not won the final frame with a break of 101, but he goes into Saturday’s final session as a big underdog, with the winner to face Stuart Bingham or Jak Jones, who are locked together at 8-8.