Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 5 November 12:30 pm

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

# First up is rugby: The Springboks have changed their preparations this week since the weekend’s Test against Scotland at Murrayfield only takes place on Sunday. They arrived in Edinburgh this past Sunday after a week-long training camp in Jersey and had the day off yesterday before resuming training today. Tighthead prop Wilco Louw says the camp gave them the opportunity to align as a squad and they’re excited about the week culminating in the Murrayfield clash. Head coach Rassie Erasmus is expected to name his matchday-23 tomorrow or on Thursday.

# Cricket: The ICC Women’s ODI Championship has been expanded to eleven teams, with Zimbabwe becoming the latest entrant. This follows the addition of Bangladesh and Ireland leading up to next year’s ODI World Cup in India in October. Zimbabwe’s inclusion means all of the ICC’s full members are part of the championship, except Afghanistan which doesn’t field a women’s team. With the expansion of the Women’s Championship, each country will play four teams at home and four away over a three-year cycle. 

# Tennis: World number one Aryna Sabalenka is through to the semifinals of the season-ending WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Belarusian defeated Italian Jasmine Paolini in the Purple Group. Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen of China is in contention for a semifinal spot after beating Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina to knock her out of the tournament. Today in the Orange Group, American Jessica Pegula will face Czech’s Barbora Krejcikova before defending champion Iga Swiatek of Poland plays American Coco Gauff.

# Roadrunning: Sydney’s marathon was elevated to the World Marathon Majors to join six others at the pinnacle of global distance racing. The others are London, New York, Boston, Tokyo, Berlin and Chicago. Sydney’s elevation followed a three-year programme to enhance the event. The CEO of World Marathon Majors, Dawna Stone, says Sydney’s race operations and event experience had been deeply impressive. The Cape Town marathon is currently being evaluated for inclusion in the majors by 2026.

# And finally: World Athletics has announced the finalists for each of its six Athlete of the Year award categories. Botswana’s 200-metre Olympic champion, Letsile Tebogo, has been nominated for the men’s track athlete of the year alongside Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen. The women’s category sees Olympic 100-metre gold medalist Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia up against America’s 400-metre hurdles Olympic champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. World marathon record-holder Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya is up for the women’s out-of-stadium athlete of the year award.

Stay tuned for more news………….