Liverpool’s Sadio Mané, Riyad Mahrez and Man City’s Mohamed Salah make African Player of the Year Short-list (Credit: WikiCommons)
Athletics
Four-time Olympic champ Sir Mo Farah will defend his 10,000m title at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Great Britain’s Farah, 36, quit track events in 2017 to concentrate on the marathon. But having won gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, he has decided to return to where he has been most successful.
Cricket
Sussex Sharks have re-signed Afghanistan Captain Rashid Khan for next season’s Twenty20 Blast group stages. The 21-year-old leg-spinner is the number one bowler in the T20 world rankings and was first pick in the inaugural The Hundred draft last month. Rashid has taken 24 wickets in 20 games — with an economy rate of 6.97 — across his previous two spells with Sussex. The T20 Blast group stage will be played from May 28 to July 12, with Rashid set to earn £125,000 after being picked by Trent Rockets for the new 100-ball competition which launches on July 17.
Mixed Martial Arts
An amateur Mixed Martial Arts fighter has died after she suffered a brain injury during a match. Saeideh Sai Aletaha, collapsed at a “Fast & Furious Fight Series” event at the Central Hall venue in Southampton on November 16. The 26-year-old British Iranian was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition but died the next day.
Khabib Nurmagomedov (Credit: Kremlin.ru/president/CC)
Khabib Nurmagomedov will fight Tony Ferguson for the UFC lightweight title in New York on April 18. Nurmagomedov will defend his belt against his long-standing rival at the Barclays Centre after both fighters agreed to the 155-pound fight. ESPN reported that Ferguson signed the contract on November 29. It is a fight that has been a long time coming, with the pair previously scheduled to meet four times since 2015 but still yet to go head-to-head in the Octagon.
Tennis
Former Wimbledon doubles champion Sania Mirza will return to competitive tennis in January, two years after taking a break to have a baby. The Indian will play at the Hobart International in Australia alongside Nadiia Kichenok of Ukraine.
Football
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah is targeting a third consecutive African Player of the Year accolade after being named on the 30 player shortlist. But the Egyptian is set to face tough competition from his team-mate Sadio Mané and Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the trophy. Salah scooped the award in 2017 and 2018 and had a good chance of completing a hat-trick after his 27 goals and 13 assists last season helped Liverpool win the Champions League.
But Senegal international Mane and Gabon forward Aubameyang shared the Premier League Golden Boot award with Salah last season after scoring 22 league goals apiece. A host of other Premier League stars have been nominated by the African football confederation, including Manchester City’s Riyad Mahrez. Among the European-based players on the shortlist are Idrissa Gueye of Paris Saint-Germain, Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli and Hakim Ziyech of Ajax. The winner will be crowned at the Citadel Azure in Hurghada, Egypt on January 7.
African Player of the Year Short-list
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco) Borussia Dortmund
André Onana (Cameroon) Ajax
Baghdad Bounedjah (Algeria) Al-Sadd
Carolus Andriamatsinoro (Madagascar) Al Adalah
Denis Onyango (Uganda) Mamelodi Sundowns
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (Cameroon) Paris Saint-Germain
Ferjani Sassi (Tunisia) Zamalek
Hakim Ziyech (Morocco) Ajax
Idrissa Gueye Senegal) Paris Saint-Germain
Ismail Bennacer (Algeria) AC Milan
Jordan Ayew (Ghana) Crystal Palace
Kalidou Koulibaly (Senegal) Napoli
Kodjo Fo Doh Laba (Togo) Al Ain
Mahmoud Hassan (Egypt) Aston Villa
Mbwana Samatta (Tanzania) Genk
Mohamed Salah (Egypt) Liverpool
Moussa Marega (Mali) Porto
Naby Keita (Guinea) Liverpool
Nicolas Pepe (Ivory Coast) Arsenal
Odion Ighalo (Nigeria) Shanghai Shenhua
Percy Tau (South Africa) Club Brugge
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon) Arsenal
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) Manchester City
Sadio Mané (Senegal) Liverpool
Taha Yassine Khenissi (Tunisia) Esperance
Thomas Teye Partey (Ghana) Atletico Madrid
Victor Osimhen (Nigeria) Lille
Wilfred Ndidi (Nigeria) Leicester City
Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast) Crystal Palace
Youcef Belaili (Algeria) Ahli Jeddah
Berna Gözbasi (Credit: Müzahim Z Tüzün/AA)
A Turkish businesswoman, set to be elected the first chair of a club in the Turkish Süper Lig. Berna Gözbasi served as Vice-Chair for Kayseri Spor Kulübü, but could not actively take part in the club’s affairs due to her workload. Following the resignation of former chair Hamdi Elcuman, the executive board selected Gözbasi as president.
World Para Athletics Championships: Dubai, UAE (November 7-15)
Muslim Medallists
