Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 28 August 12:30 pm

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

# We start off with rugby: Former Springbok captain Jean de Villiers says fans prefer the national team to win despite playing boring rugby, and questions head coach Rassie Erasmus’s game-plan which he thinks is targeted at crowd-pleasing. He referred to South Africa’s recent loss to the Wallabies when they changed their style of play, but reverted back to a more conservative approach to win the next Test. De Villiers says spectators want to be entertained, but Bok fans still want their team to win even if it’s ugly.

# Soccer: The Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga will host the final of the MTN8 between Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch on the 13th of next month. The Premier League confirmed three-time defending champion Pirates has been drawn as the home team. The match will be a repeat of last year’s final when they beat Stellenbosch 3-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Pirates beat Mamelodi Sundowns in the semifinal, while Stellenbosch beat Sekhukhune United. Information on ticket sales will be announced later.

# Tennis: South Africa’s Lloyd Harris exited the US Open in the second round after he was beaten by last year’s losing finalist, American Taylor Fritz. World number two Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz eased past Italy’s Mattia Bellucci to reach the third round. Alcaraz’s potential semifinal opponent, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, beat American qualifier Zachary Svajda. In the women’s draw, last year’s runner-up, American Jessica Pegula, and Britain’s Emma Raducanu are also through to the third round.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Daniil Medvedev has been fined 750-thousand-rand for his meltdown during his first-round loss to France’s Benjamin Bonzi. The 2021 champion got angry when a photographer wandered onto the court while he was facing match point in the third set. He then smashed his racket at the end of the match. Medvedev has been fined 530-thousand-rand for unsportsmanlike conduct and another 220-thousand-rand for racket abuse. This means he forfeits almost 40-percent of his first-round prize money.

# And finally, golf news: Keegan Bradley has opted not to pick himself as a playing captain for the US Ryder Cup team. He has named Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Ben Griffin, Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay, and Sam Burns as his six captain’s picks for next month’s competition against Europe in New York. The six automatic qualifier spots were claimed by Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun, Xander Schauffele, Russell Henley, Harris English, and Bryson DeChambeau earlier. Bradley says deciding not to play was tough:

Stay tuned for more news………….