Sport

Alaalatoa says crucial Australia keep win streak going against Georgia

Wallabies skipper Allan Alaalatoa stressed on Friday the importance of maintaining momentum under new coach Joe Schmidt, forecasting a physical game against Georgia this weekend. Australia won back-to-back Tests this month against Wales to get the New Zealander's reign off to a flying start. "It's massive, it's something we addressed early in the week," Alaalatoa -- Australia's third captain in as many Tests -- said of keeping the […]

July 19, 2024 10

Sport

England’s Brown takes shock lead in British Open

English journeyman Dan Brown birdied the last hole to card a first-round 65 and lead the Open Championship by one shot from Ireland's Shane Lowry on Thursday. The 29-year-old Brown, a one-time European Tour winner who came through qualifying to earn his place in the year's final major, took advantage of benign late conditions. He sank an eight-foot birdie putt at the last to move top of the […]

July 19, 2024 9

Sport

Mascherano says Argentina racist chants video ‘taken out of context’

Javier Mascherano, the coach of Argentina's Olympic football squad, said Wednesday that a video showing racist chants by national team players after they won the Copa America was "taken out of context". "Argentines, if there's one thing we're not, it's racists, far from that," Mascherano said at Argentina's pre-Olympic training base in northwestern France. The chants were heard during a live video posted on social media by Chelsea […]

July 18, 2024 17

Sport

Zverev plays through the pain to advance in Hamburg

Top seed Alexander Zverev shrugged off a knee issue to ease past Jesper de Jong in straight sets and into the last 16 at his home tournament in Hamburg on Wednesday. The defending champion hurt his left knee in a fall at Wimbledon but advanced 6-2, 6-2 past 114th-ranked Dutchman De Jong to set up a meeting with France's Hugo Gaston in the pre-Olympic clay-court tournament. "I was […]

July 18, 2024 20

Sport

Olympic swim star Titmus warns she is better now than Tokyo

Swim star Ariarne Titmus says she has never prepared as well for a major event and is in better shape now than when she won Olympic 200m and 400m freestyle gold in Tokyo. The Australian heads to Paris on the back of shattering the 200m world record last month and clocking the second quickest 400m of all time, behind only her own world best. It makes her red-hot […]

July 18, 2024 7

Sport

Central Paris locks down for Olympics as athletes arrive

French security forces began locking down large parts of central Paris on Thursday ahead of the hugely complex Olympics opening ceremony next week on the river Seine. The opening parade along six kilometres (four miles) of the river led to the closure of riverside central districts to most vehicles from 5:00 am (0300 GMT) on Thursday. Anyone wanting to enter the highest-security "grey zone" along both banks of […]

July 18, 2024 11

Sport

Barrett starts as All Blacks ring changes for Fiji Test in US

New Zealand on Thursday made 11 changes to the team to face Fiji in San Diego, with Beauden Barrett starting at fullback, a debut for centre Billy Proctor and five uncapped players on the bench. Proctor, who plays for Wellington Hurricanes, lines up with the experienced Anton Lienert-Brown in midfield for the game on Friday night in California. Playmaker Barrett is restored after hugely influential performances coming off the […]

July 18, 2024 13

Sport

Mercedes chasing a hat-trick at hot Hungaroring

Mercedes will be chasing a hat-trick in the heat of the Hungaroring on Sunday as Lewis Hamilton returns to a track where he has won a record eight times and last year secured his most recent pole position. The idea of Mercedes being in a position to win anything, let alone three races in a row, after a 2023 season dominated by Red Bull and Max Verstappen […]

July 18, 2024 9

Sport

Carapaz ticks off Tour win as Evenepoel edges Pogacar, Vingegaard

Ecuador's Richard Carapaz won stage 17 of the Tour de France after the remnants of a breakaway finished ahead of the main pretenders in the High Alps on Wednesday. EF rider Carapaz dropped Simon Yates and soloed the final 10km to win his first ever Tour de France stage after finishing third overall in 2021. The former Giro d'Italia champion, who won the Tokyo Olympics road race, also […]

July 18, 2024 8