Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 13 August 12:30 pm

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

# We start with mixed martial arts: A huge battle is expected when reigning champion Dricus du Plessis of South Africa faces Nigerian-born Israel Adesanya for the UFC world middleweight title in Perth, Australia, on Sunday. Du Plessis clinched the title in January when he beat American Sean Strickland in Canada. Adesanya, known as “The Last Stylebender”, lost the title to Strickland in September last year. Du Plessis, nick-named “Stillknocks”, believes victory over Adesanya will make him one of the all-time greats of the sport.

# Olympic Games: The Court of Arbitration for Sport will not reconsider its ruling that led to the revocation of American gymnast Jordan Chiles’s bronze medal in Paris. This is despite USA Gymnastics submitting video evidence. The court upheld an appeal by the Romanian Olympic Committee that an inquiry submitted by the US team over Chiles’ score fell outside the one-minute limit for such appeals and should be disregarded. Romania’s Ana Barbosu will get the bronze medal. USA Gymnastics says it will continue to pursue every possible avenue and appeal process.

# Cricket: England has another injury worry before the Test series against Sri Lanka, with allrounder Chris Woakes withdrawing from The Hundred due to injury. His team, Birmingham Phoenix, says he won’t be available for the rest of this year’s competition. This follows after captain Ben Stokes injured his leg in the same competition on Sunday while playing for Northern Superchargers against Manchester Originals. He suffered a suspected hamstring injury, but the extent of the injury isn’t clear yet. The Test series starts next Wednesday.

# Tennis: Australian Alexei Popyrin stunned Russia’s Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-4 to win the Canadian Open, becoming the second-lowest-ranked champion in the tournament’s history. The 25-year-old is the first Australian to win a Masters 1000 event since Lleyton Hewitt. Popyrin will rise to a career-high world ranking of 23, all but ensuring that he will be seeded at the US Open. In the women’s draw, American Jessica Pegula defeated compatriot Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 to win the title for the second consecutive year.

# And soccer: The hearing into Manchester City’s alleged 115 breaches of Premier League financial regulations could reportedly be brought forward to next month. The reigning Premier League champions were charged last year for breaking financial fair play rules over nine years between 2009 and 2018. During this time the club won the Premier League three times. A hearing was set for November. City has denied all charges. According to reports, if the hearing is moved to mid-to-late September, the verdict will likely be delivered early next year.