Athletes: Last News

Tunde Ajibike, the Acting General Manager of Oyo State Sports Council, has advised the state’s athletes to ensure they strike a balance in both sports and education for maximum effect.

MUNICH: Paris Saint-Germain supporters displayed a banner saying “Stop genocide in Gaza” during the Champions League final on Saturday.

PARIS: Novak Djokovic was in a hurry on Saturday as the 24-time Grand Slam winner dismissed world number 153 Filip Misolic 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to book his place spot in the last 16 at Roland Garros. The three-time French Open champion needed just over two hours to beat his Austrian opponent in the night session on Court Philippe Chatrier. Djokovic had previously joked that he was not keen on potentially playing the late match on center court on Saturday as it would overlap with the UEFA Champions League final between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. “It’s going to be PSG that I will support. I will definitely watch it if I’m not playing night session,” said AC Milan fan Djokovic. “Yeah, that will be nice.

ABUJA: A bus crash on a Nigerian highway on Saturday killed 21 athletes returning from a national sports tournament, with authorities saying the accident might have been the result of driver fatigue or excessive speed.

SUZUKA: Four-time world champion Max Verstappen led from pole to checkered flag to win the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, his first victory of the 2025 season, with McLaren’s Lando Norris second.

LONDON: Liverpool slumped to just their second Premier League defeat of the season as Fulham struck three times in 14 first-half minutes to boost their own European ambitions with a 3-2 win on Sunday. Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at Everton on Saturday left Liverpool needing just 11 points from their final eight games to secure a record-equalling 20th English top-flight title. Arne Slot’s men were unbeaten in 26 league games and looked set to take another step toward the title when Alexis Mac Allister’s stunning strike opened the scoring. But poor defending allowed Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz to turn the game around for Fulham. Liverpool still enjoy an 11-point lead at the top with seven games remaining. Victory lifts Fulham to eighth and within three points of the top five, which is almost certain to be enough for a place in next season’s Champions League. Despite a stellar first season under Slot, Liverpool have shown signs of slowing down in recent weeks and came off the rails in west London. After a Champions League exit to Paris Saint-Germain and League Cup final defeat to Newcastle, Liverpool edged out Everton 1-0 in a feisty Merseyside derby on Wednesday to get back to winning ways. But the Reds appear to be running out of steam after challenging in four competitions for most of the season. Mac Allister’s blistering long range strike into the top corner after 14 minutes gave Liverpool the dream start. The Reds wilted in the Craven Cottage sunshine, with a series of individual errors leading to Fulham’s three quickfire goals. Curtis Jones, deputising out of position at right-back, failed to control Andreas Pereira’s cross and the ball fell kindly for Sessegnon to fire home his third goal in five games. Andy

Chennai Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming said they have yet to get the balance right at the top of the order after they slipped to a third straight loss in the Indian Premier League while chasing after poor starts in the powerplay. Chennai’s top order collapsed as they lost three wickets in the first six overs after Delhi Capitals had posted 183-6 on Saturday. An unbeaten 84-run partnership between Vijay Shankar (69 off 54) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30 off 26) for the sixth wicket was not enough to get the hosts over the line as Delhi won by 25 runs. The defeat mirrored Chennai’s previous two matches, where they also scored less than eight runs per over in the powerplay. Fleming told reporters that finding the balance was a “conundrum.” “To get more solidity at the top we have to remove, obviously, an overseas player, so we’re grappling just with the combination that we need,” Fleming said. IPL rules allow only four overseas players in the playing 11. Chennai openers Rachin Ravindra and Devon Conway are both overseas players, while overseas bowlers Noor Ahmad and Matheesha Pathirana are among their top-three wicket-takers this season, leaving Fleming with a difficult choice. Fleming also said Chennai had to improve during powerplays. “We felt that our batting in the powerplays has been below par and going too hard was probably not the way, particularly on our wicket, which is a little bit tricky,” he said. “So we’re looking just to settle that with guys that have been in good form and have done it before, so that’s the theory behind that and that’s what we’ll possibly continue with.”

Valencia coach Carlos Corberan said his side had shown terrific mental strength in securing their first win at Real Madrid since 2008 on Saturday. Hugo Duro netted the winner in added time as Valencia moved seven points clear of the relegation zone with their shock 2-1 victory. Corberan praised his players for not letting their heads drop after Vinicius Junior equalized for the hosts five minutes after the break, canceling out Valencia’s first-half lead from Mouctar Diakhaby’s goal. “They competed with the necessary personality and mental strength to overcome any setback,” Corberan told reporters. “In football, you can’t separate the emotional from the tactical.

SUZUKA: Max Verstappen of Red Bull won Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix and broke a “mini-slump” of only two wins in his previous 16 races. It was his 64th career win. It was the Dutchman’s fourth straight victory on the Suzuka circuit in central Japan and breaks the momentum of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who won the season’s first two races in Melbourne, Australia, and Shanghai, China. The four-time defending Formula 1 champion, Verstappen started from pole position after setting a course-record time in qualifying, which he called “insane.” Norris placed second and Piastri was third.