Latest – No fairytale finish for Paul Coll to his PSA squash season with a straight games loss to Mostafa Asla of Egypt in World Tour Finals decider in Cairo.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
World number two Coll was beaten by fourth ranked Asla in 75 minutes.
In a marathon first game which took just over 40 minutes Coll initially saved a game ball then had one in his favour before eventually falling 11-13 to a fired up Asal who was hitting the ball with incredible power and limiting the New Zealanders chances in rallies.
In the second game Asal was again hitting the ball with control and pace and while there was a little bit more niggle and questions of shots the Egyptian took his game to another level as Coll struggled to find a way through his opponent.
Asla won 13-11, 11-8, 11-7.
The loss ends the PSA season for Coll which has included three titles since January; Black Ball Open, Windy City Open and British Open as well as three months at the top of the world rankings.
There were also runner up finishes at the El Gouna International and in today’s World Tour Final.
Coll, 30 will now return home to New Zealand for the first time in over three years.
He and Joelle King will both play the New Zealand Champs.
Fox third in Germany
Ryan Fox’s good run of form on the World Tour has continued after he finished third at the BMW International in Germany.
Photo: AFP
Fox finished 20 under par for the tournament, two shots behind the winner,
The Aucklander picks up $211,000.
Fox has had six top ten results in his last nine tournaments on the tour.
China’s Li Haotong beat Thomas Pieters of Belgium in a play-off to take the title.
Fox is scheduled to play the Irish and Scottish Opens before the next major, The Open Championship.
Blues thump Maroons
New South Wales have squared the State of Origin series with a dominant 44-12 victory over Queensland in Game Two in Perth.
Photo: PHOTOSPORTBlues coach Brad Fittler made a number of changes after a first-up loss in Sydney and was vindicated as Matt Burton shone on debut and Jake Trbojevic was immense in his return to the Origin arena.
Playmaker Nathan Cleary scored 24 points that included two tries and eight goals.
The Blues scored seven tries two.
The series now heads to Brisbane for a decider on July 13 with NSW carrying huge momentum and Billy Slater’s Maroons needing to regroup.
Bagnaia wins Dutch Grand Prix
Italian Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati led from start to finish to win the Dutch MotoGP Grand Prix for his third victory of the season as world championship leader Fabio Quartararo crashed twice and was forced to retire from the race.
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Rookie Marco Bezzecchi of the VR46 Racing Team came second for his maiden MotoGP podium and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales was third, his first podium since last year’s Dutch Grand Prix at the TT Circuit Assen — also known as the “Cathedral of Speed”.
Bagnaia, last year’s championship runner-up, had failed to finish his last two races in Catalunya and Germany but made up for it with victory in Assen where Ducati last won in 2008 when twice-champion Casey Stoner was with the Italian outfit.
“It was a very long race,” said Bagnaia, who moved up to fourth in the riders’ standings. “I’m so happy after two difficult races where we were always competitive but we didn’t get any results.
“We did an incredible job because there was one phase when it started raining a bit and it was very scary, but we finally won here and it shows we are strong.”
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro now sits 21 points behind Quartararo in the championship.
-Reuters
Young Finn wins in Kenya
Kalle Rovanpera won Kenya’s Safari Rally on Sunday, with the young Finn leading a Toyota sweep of the top four places to stretch his world championship lead to 65 points.
The last time Toyota managed a 1-2-3-4 finish was at the same event in 1993 won by Juha Kankkunen.
Welsh team mate Elfyn Evans finished second, 52.8 seconds behind the 21-year-old, with Japan’s Takamoto Katsuta third and eight-times world champion Sebastien Ogier fourth.
Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville, fifth in the rally and second in the championship, won the final ‘Hell’s Gate’ Power Stage for five bonus points.
Nine-times world champion Sebastien Loeb, competing in the Safari for the first time in 20 years, took four bonus points for Ford ahead of last year’s winner Ogier.
Toyota are 62 points clear of Hyundai after six of 13 rounds.
-Reuters
Strong Kenyan athletics team named
All five Kenyans who won gold at the last World Athletics Championships will defend their titles in Oregon next month after being named in a 47-strong team from the East African track powerhouse.
The team, which also includes Olympic middle distance champions Emmanuel Korir and Faith Kipyegon, was named at the conclusion of the two-day national trials in Nairobi.
Timothy Cheruiyot, who won the men’s 1500m in Qatar three years ago, will back up along with Conseslus Kipruto and Beatrice Chepkoech, who won the men’s and women’s steeplechase titles in Doha, as well as women’s 5000m champion Hellen Obiri.
Reigning champion Ruth Chepngetich leads a four-strong team for the women’s marathon but Kenya’s Tokyo Olympic champions Peres Jepchirchir and Eliud Kipchoge have decided to skip the worlds in favour of other challenges.
The 18th World Athletics Championships, delayed for a year by the COVID-19 pandemic, will take place from July 15 to 24 at the Hayward Field stadium on the campus of the University of Oregon.
-Reuters
Murray won’t play in Saudi Arabia
Three-times Grand Slam winner Andy Murray has ruled out any possibility of playing in Saudi Arabia in the future, adding that he had previously turned down an offer to play in the kingdom.
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British media reports last week said Saudi Arabia had expressed an interest in hosting a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour.
Professional golf has become caught up in controversy in recent months over the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, which has been feuding with the PGA Tour and drawn criticism from several professional golfers, in part over human rights concerns.
Saudi Arabia has hosted exhibition tennis events, with world number one Daniil Medvedev winning the inaugural Diriyah Tennis Cup in Saudi Arabia in 2019, which featured a $4 million prize pot.
Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal had been due to meet in an exhibition match in Saudi Arabia in 2018 but it was called off after Nadal picked up an ankle injury.
“They put on an event in Saudi Arabia a few years ago and I was offered to play there,” Murray told a news conference, ahead of the start of Wimbledon.
“I know a number of the other guys on the tour were offered to play there,” he said. “A lot of the top players turned it down. I wouldn’t go and play there.”
The grasscourt Grand Slam begins tonight, with Murray facing Australia’s James Duckworth in the first round.
-Reuters
