Five most memorable goals of 2022 World Cup
DOHA: Acrobatic volleys, long-range piledrivers and sweeping team goals: AFP looks at some of the most memorable goals of the 2022 World Cup:
Abu Dhabi Sport News
Mubadala World Tennis Championship set for gripping finale
ABU DHABI: The final of the 14th Mubadala World Tennis Championship promises to be a thrilling affair between defending champion Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas following a scintillating day of semifinal action at the International Tennis Centre, Zayed Sports City, in Abu Dhabi.
World Cup hits and misses
DOHA: Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have dazzled at the World Cup in Qatar, while Morocco caught the imagination of a continent on their run to the semifinals. But the host nation flopped badly, Germany made a swift exit and Cristiano Ronaldo discovered he was no longer an automatic pick for Portugal. AFP Sport looks at the hits and misses from a month-long festival of football. Overachievers Morocco became the first African side and the first Arab team to reach the semifinals of a World Cup. And it was no fluke. Walid Regragui’s men, ranked 22nd in the world, beat Belgium and drew with Croatia on the way to topping their group before dumping 2010 champions Spain and Portugal out of the tournament. Roared on by tens of thousands of fans and supported across Africa and the Arab world, they came up short in the semifinals, losing 2-0 to France, but they have broken new ground. Japan shocked Germany and Spain to top their group before losing on penalties to Croatia in the round of 16. South Korea underlined the progress Asian football is making by beating Portugal to qualify from their group but came unstuck against Brazil in the first knockout round.
World Cup of firsts ends with clash of titans
DOHA: There is no new name on the trophy and many of football’s global superstars are taking their final bow but the most controversial World Cup in history will be remembered as a tournament of firsts. Heavyweights France and Argentina progressed to the final, each looking to win the trophy for a third time after a tournament packed with shocks and surprises. Four-time winners Germany crashed out at the group stage for the second successive time while Argentina were beaten by Saudi Arabia in their opener in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history.
British No 1 Norrie wants Russians back at Wimbledon
British number one Cameron Norrie wants Russian players like Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev back playing at Wimbledon next year after a "tough year" being banned from the Grand Slam.
Raducanu hires Sachs as coach on trial until end of year
Emma Raducanu says her new coach Sebastian Sachs has been appointed on a trial basis until the end of the year.
Ons Jabeur set for big 2023 with landmark defense of Mubadala World Tennis Championship crown
ABU DHABI: Ons Jabeur can look forward to an exciting 2023 after defending her Mubadala World Tennis Championship title at the International Tennis Center at Zayed Sports City.
Becker deported to Germany from UK after prison release
BERLIN: Disgraced former tennis superstar Boris Becker was due back in Germany on Thursday after being deported following his release from a British prison where he served a sentence relating to his 2017 bankruptcy, his lawyer said. The 55-year-old German six-time Grand Slam champion “was released from custody in England and has left for Germany today,” his Berlin-based attorney Christian-Oliver Moser said in a statement.