Britain has one of the worlds most renowned and watched football competitions in the form of the Premier League. With billions of pounds invested in the sport by multiple backers from multiple nations, it is a dominant force to be reckoned with on the pitch, however, can football influence politics?

Arsenal footballer, Mesut Ozil, has caused uproar in China after Tweeting comments regarding the Uighur Muslims in China. Ozil, himself a Muslim, has broken ranks with the protocol of mixing opinion with sport, and as such, China has removed the scheduled game between Arsenal and Manchester City today from their airtime.

Arsenal were quick to distance themselves from the controversial comments made by Ozil, stating that the club will always remain an apolitical organisation, the Global Times described Ozil’s comments as false, and the Chinese, who have a large Arsenal fan base, both in China and abroad, have been left disappointed by the Germany star’s unprecedented comments.

Sports personalities have caused further controversy in the past, notably in the US where the Houston Rockets manager, Darly Morey, caused tensions by Tweeting his support for the Hong Kong protesters. This again sparked a backlash from the Chinese, who again questioned why a sporting icon should involve himself in politics.

The underlying notion behind this involvement may be deeper than first meets the eye. The UK are bitterly sore at losing Hong Kong to the Chinese, and further more, the UK’s reliance on China, is far greater than China’s reliance on the UK.

Hence, from every possible angle, from sport to sympathy with protestors, from human rights to criticism of the Chinese military, the UK is doing is upmost to smear China, and albeit from a football star playing for Arsenal, the UK has once again come under the spotlight as it unofficially agitates the waves of social media from within.

Culled from Presstv

Tiger Woods has won 15 majors and a record 82 US PGA Tour events all over the world but the US superstar admitted Sunday there was something extra special in winning the Presidents Cup.

Woods became only the second playing-captain to lift the biennial matchplay trophy after Hale Irwin in the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994, juggling both roles seamlessly.

The 43-year-old won all three matches he played, skipping only the Saturday fourballs and foursomes to focus solely on his captaincy duties.

Competing in his ninth Presidents Cup, Woods said it was an emotional moment when he realised all the hard work had paid off as his team edged Ernie Els’ Internationals 16-14 at Royal Melbourne after a stirring comeback.

“I’ve been a part of teams before where we have won. Also been a part of, unfortunately, this Presidents Cup when we lost 21 years ago,” he said, referring to the US team’s only defeat in 1998, also in Melbourne.

“So to come here and to do it in this fashion, to do it with this team, in particular, it was an honour for me as a player and even more of an honour to be their captain.

“I’ve cried in pretty much every Cup we’ve won,” he added.

“I’ve been doing this a long time. Any time you have moments where you’re able to do something that is bigger than us as an individual, is so much more meaningful and so much more special.”

Woods went out first in the singles matches Sunday and once more led from the front, beating battling Mexican Abraham Ancer 3 and 2 as his team began to reel in the Internationals’ 10-8 overnight lead.

In doing so he passed Phil Mickelson to become the most successful Presidents Cup golfer in history with a 27-15-1 win-loss-tie record to his countryman’s 26-16-13.

Woods was keen to deflect attention from himself, insisting it was team effort despite his individual exploits.

“We did it together. We came here as a team. My teammates and my boys all played well,” he said.

“The (vice) captains did an amazing job of just being there for every little detail,” he added, referring to Fred Couples, Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker.

“I couldn’t have done it without all their help and all my boys. They did it.”

Source: AFP

The World Anti-Doping Agency on Monday banned Russia for four years from major global sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar over manipulated doping data, prompting an angry response from President Vladimir Putin.

WADA’s executive committee, meeting in Lausanne, handed Russia the “robust” four-year suspension after accusing Moscow of falsifying data from a doping testing laboratory that was handed over to investigators earlier this year.

The toughest ever sanctions imposed on Russian state authorities will see government officials barred from attending any major events, while the country will lose the right to host or bid for tournaments.

“For too long, Russian doping has detracted from clean sport,” WADA president Craig Reedie said.

“Russia was afforded every opportunity to get its house in order and rejoin the global anti-doping community for the good of its athletes and of the integrity of sport, but it chose instead to continue in its stance of deception and denial.”

Under the sanctions, Russian sportsmen and women will still be allowed to compete at the Olympics next year and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, but only as neutrals and if they can demonstrate that they were not part of what WADA believes was a state-sponsored system of doping.

Russia will still be allowed to compete in qualifiers for the 2022 football World Cup, but WADA director general Olivier Niggli added that should they progress to the finals in Qatar, “the team there will not be representing the Russian federation”.

Russia’s participation in Euro 2020 — and Saint Petersburg’s hosting of four matches — is not affected by the ban because it is not defined as a “major event” for anti-doping purposes.

Speaking in Paris, Putin slammed the decision as a “politically motivated” ruling that “contradicted” the Olympic Charter.

“There is nothing to reproach the Russian Olympic Committee for and if there is no reproach towards this committee, the country should take part in competitions under its own flag,” Putin said.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev also said the ban was politically motivated. “This is the continuation of this anti-Russian hysteria that has already become chronic,” Medvedev told domestic news agencies.

‘A tragedy’ 

The significant extent of state-sponsored doping in Russia, notably between 2011 and 2015, was revealed in the independent report by sports lawyer Richard McLaren, released in 2016.

It led to the Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) being suspended for nearly three years previously over revelations of a vast state-supported doping programme.

Full disclosure of data from the Moscow laboratory was a key condition of Russia’s controversial reinstatement by WADA in September 2018.

RUSADA’s supervisory board is set to meet on December 19 to take a decision on whether to appeal against the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Yury Ganus, the head of RUSADA, told AFP Monday that his country had “no chance” of winning an appeal.

“There is no chance of winning this case in court,” Ganus said.

“This is a tragedy,” he added. “Clean athletes are seeing their rights limited.”

Documents released Monday show WADA’s Compliance Review Committee (CRC) believes “deletions and alterations” to Russia’s doping data “materially prejudiced the ability to pursue cases against 145 of the 298 athletes” whose doping controls between 2011 and 2015 WADA thought to be suspicious.

About one third of the 145 athletes are still active, WADA chief of investigators Gunter Younger said Monday.

The WADA decision was widely predicted, with Reedie having made a presentation Saturday to the Olympic Summit, participants of which “strongly condemned those responsible for the manipulation of the data from the Moscow laboratory”.

“It was agreed that this was an attack on sport and that these actions should lead to the toughest sanctions against those responsible,” the IOC said, asking that the Russian authorities deliver the “fully authenticated raw data”.

Positive doping tests contained in data leaked by a whistleblower in 2017 were missing from the laboratory data supplied in January 2019, which prompted a new inquiry.

Source (AFP)

Former Argentina playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme has won a three-way battle with bitter rival Diego Maradona and Gabriel Batistuta after his group won the elections at Boca Juniors, striking a big blow against his old foe Maradona.

The list headed by Jorge Ameal, who was club president between 2008 and 2011, won 52.8 percent of the vote from Boca’s 84,000 members, bringing Riquelme into the 33-time Argentine champions’ hierarchy.

The 41-year-old stood alongside Ameal as prospective second vice-president and helped see off the faction supported by Maradona and powerful outgoing president of Argentina Mauricio Macri, which was led by Christian Gribaldo and only gathered 30.6 percent of the vote.

The list supported by Batistuta came in a distant third with 16.1 percent.

“It was a big party. Our fans voted for the love of the club colours, I’m satisfied,” said Riquelme after his side’s victory.

There has been bad blood between the pair since Riquelme snubbed Maradona, then Argentina’s coach, by refusing to come out of retirement for the 2010 World Cup, making it clear the refusal was personal.

Maradona, who is a hero in Argentina but won little with Boca, warned fans against voting for Riquelme’s faction, saying results would worsen on the pitch.

There was also a concerted effort by the previous club administration, backed by Macri, to block out Riquelme’s presence in the campaigning.

A photo showing him wearing the Boca number 10 was banned from the ballot paper, and the club warned fans ahead of election day that anyone wearing a Riquelme T-shirt would not be allowed to vote at the club’s Bombonera stadium.

However Riquelme’s support was key to Ameal’s victory as a highly successful playmaker for the capital city club.

He scored three times in the 5-0 aggregate win over Gremio to win their last Copa Libertadores in 2007, Riquelme’s third for the club and Boca’s sixth overall.

Boca reached the Libertadores final again last year only to lose to fierce rivals River Plate in a controversial final that saw the second leg moved to Madrid following fan trouble. River also eliminated Boca in this year’s semi-finals.

The new board’s priority will be to bring back the international lustre that Riquelme experienced as a player for one of South America’s biggest clubs.

The loss was second defeat for Macri in less than two months. He was Boca president from 1995 to 2006 and used that as a springboard to nationwide political success.

He became president of Argentina in 2015 as the head of his centre-right Cambiemos party, but his rule will end on December 10 after losing October’s presidential elections to leftist Alberto Fernandez.

Source: AFP

Joshua won by unanimous decision! The judges had it 118-110, 118-110 and 119-109. The two men hugged in the centre of the ring, it’s clear they have tremendous respect for each other and Joshua chatted with Ruiz for 30 seconds.

Joshua made a point of thanking the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and members of the royalty after his victory, which will not go down well with those who see the fight as little more than an exercise in sportswashing.