Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 1 October 12:30 pm

Good day, let’s look at the latest sports news and scores:

# We start with rugby: The next World Cup starts in Australia a year from today. The tournament will be the biggest ever, with 24 countries competing in six pools, a first-ever round of 16 and a Super Sunday of five group matches on 17 October. Seven host cities will be used – Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Townsville and Newcastle. Spectators from 135 countries have already bought 750-thousand tickets. World Rugby CEO Brett Robinson says the tournament in his home country is going to be a party like nothing on Earth.

# Cricket: Australia beat South Africa by 45 runs on the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method as rain affected the third and final one-day match in Potchefstroom. Alex Carey top-scored with 74 from 88 balls as the tourists posted 322 for nine. Ryan Rickelton then scored an unbeaten 71 off 81 balls, but the Proteas were on 145 for four in the 28th over when the rain started while they needed to be on 192 at the time, giving Australia a consolidation victory. South Africa won the series 2-1.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana thrashed Eritrea 5-0 in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Cairo, Egypt, as they consolidated top spot in Group D with six points from two matches. Relebohile Mofokeng scored a first-half brace to lay the foundation for South Africa. Yaya Sithole, Iqraam Rayners and substitute Luther Singh also found the back of the net in the second half to secure the victory. Pitso Mosimane’s charges will now face Egypt in an international friendly at the Cairo International Stadium on Sunday.

More soccer, Cristiano Ronaldo has left Portugal’s camp ahead of tonight’s UEFA Nations League game against Denmark, vowing he will explain the reasons for his decision in due time. The 41-year-old was an unused substitute in Sunday’s 2-1 victory over Norway. This sparked rumours about a possible feud with coach Jorge Jesus, who also stated he was not planning to start Ronaldo for tonight’s game in Copenhagen. In a post on social media, Ronaldo wished his teammates good luck in their forthcoming games.

# And tennis: Six-time China Open champion Novak Djokovic marked his first appearance at the event since 2015 with a victory. The Serb defeated Portugal’s Nuno Borges to maintain his unbeaten record in Beijing. Djokovic will face Chinese wild card Bu Yunchaokete in the second round following his victory over Argentina’s Juan Manual Cerundolo. In the women’s draw, British number one Katie Boulter opened her campaign with a victory over Japanese qualifier Mai Hontama.

Stay tuned for more news………….