Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 14 May 12:30 pm

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

# We start with rugby: Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, says he will not rest until South Africa hosts the World Cup again. The country last hosted the tournament in 1995, when the Springboks famously lifted the trophy at their first attempt. SA Rugby has launched several unsuccessful bids since. Australia will host the 2027 World Cup, with the USA staging the 2031 edition. McKenzie says he is seeking sponsorship and government support for a possible bid for 2035.

More rugby news: Japan’s national team will be without head coach Eddie Jones for the next six weeks after he was suspended for abusing match officials during the under-23s tour of his home country of Australia last month. The Japanese governing body says the 66-year-old was banned for a very serious matter. He will miss the Nations Championship Test against Italy in early July, two matches against Hong Kong China and one against the Maori All Blacks. Jones accepted his punishment and says he deeply regrets his behaviour.

# Soccer: FIFA president Gianni Infantino says with less than a month until the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, preparations for the tournament are going well. Forty-eight teams will compete in the expanded tournament across 16 cities from June 11 to July 19, with Mexico hosting South Africa in the opening match. As of late last month, more than five million tickets were already sold. Infantino is expecting some surprises:

# Cricket: England reshaped its squad for the first Test against New Zealand, choosing Emilio Gay as Ben Duckett’s opening partner in place of Zak Crawley. This is reportedly pointing to a rebuild after their woes in the recent Ashes Series against Australia. Twenty-six-year-old Gay is being rewarded for an impressive county championship where he hit three centuries for Durham. Uncapped fast bowler Sonny Baker and wicketkeeper James Rew were also included. The first of three Tests starts at Lord’s in London on the fourth of next month.

# And tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner looks destined for a sixth consecutive Masters One-thousand title in the Italian Open in his homeland. He meets Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals in Rome today, with the Russian beating him in only three of their previous ten encounters. Rublev has dropped to 16th in the world rankings after reaching his best position of fifth in September 2021. Sinner is regarded as absolute favourite after winning his last 31 matches at this level – equal to Serbian Novak Djokovic’s record.

Stay tuned for more news………….