Athletics
Great Britain’s Olympic champion Mo Farah is one of three athletes still in contention for the men’s IAAF World Athlete of the Year award. The 33-year-old will go up against Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt and South Africa’s 400m star Wayde van Niekerk.
The women’s award is between Ethiopia’s 10,000m champion Almaz Ayana, Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson and hammer thrower Anita Wlodarczyk from Poland. The awards will be presented in Monaco on December 2.
Hockey
India defeated defending champions Pakistan 3-2 in an exciting final of the Asian Champions Trophy here at the Wisma Belia Hockey Stadium in the Malaysian city of Kuantan on October 30.
The first quarter ended goalless. In the second quarter, Rupinder Pal Singh converted a penalty corner into a goal to give India a 1-0 lead. Seven minutes later, Affan Yousuf scored another goal for India, taking the lead to 2-0.
Pakistan staged a comeback and reduced the gap to one when Aleem Bilal scored the first goal for Pakistan on a penalty corner in the 26th minute of the match. The third quarter saw an intense battle between the arch-rivals. Pakistan put up a good show and managed to draw par when Ali Shan netted a superb goal in the 38th minute to even the scores. However, India’s Nikkin Thimmaiah scored a field goal during the last quarter, helping his side to clinch the title from the defending champions.
In the third-place match, hosts Malaysia claimed their fourth successive bronze medal in the Asian Champions Trophy hockey event as they trounced South Korea 3-1 in the penalty shootout.
Cricket
Zafar Ansari has spoken of his pride at being one of four players representing the ethnic diversity in the current England Test team and has said the value that others see in this is good for society.
According to England and Wales Cricket Board figures quoted in Wisden, players of Asian Heritage make up almost 40% of recreational cricketers in the UK and with Ansari, his fellow spin-bowlers Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid, and the opening batsman Haseeb Hameed, all playing in the first Test in Rajkot, India. It was the first time that the national team has reflected this figure.
“As a collective, as a group of four British Muslims, there is something in that,” said the 24-year-old. “There’s no doubt that’s really exciting and something we’re proud of. A lot of people outside the group clearly care about that and value that a lot. And that is a good thing in our society.”
Football
Leicester City and Algeria forward Riyad Mahrez and Borussia Dortmund and Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang lead the five-man shortlist for this year’s BBC African Footballer of the Year award.
They are joined by Liverpool and Senegal striker Sadio Mane, West Ham United and Ghana’s Andre Ayew, and Yaya Toure of Manchester City and Ivory Coast. Mahrez scored 17 goals and provided 11 assists as Leicester stormed to a shock Premier League title success last season, and was voted the PFA Player of the Year by his peers.
Mesut Ozil is close to extending his stay at Arsenal by penning a bumper new contract worth £200,000 a week.
Ozil, 28, currently earns £140,000 a week and is already the club’s highest-paid player. That deal has only 18 months left to run and talks had previously stalled, with Ozil understood to be holding out for closer to £250,000.
Beach football
Beach Soccer International Cup, Dubai (November 1-5): Iran became the runners-up at the Beach Soccer International Cup after suffering a 6-2 defeat against mighty Brazil in the final.
After wrapping up 3 wins in the group stage against the US, Egypt and Russia, Mohammad Hossein Mirshamsi’s lads put-on a great performance against Taahiti in the semis and booked their place in the final showdown against Brazil, press tv reported.
Team Brazil, which had scored an incredible 33 goals in their past four matches at the tournament, were put behind immediately after the Start of the match, as Moslem Mesigar opened the scoring for Iran.
The Iranians then conceded five times before getting one back through Mohammad Ahmadzadeh. The Iranians conceded once more as Brazil won Dubai’s Beach Soccer International Cup by posting a 6-2 win over Iran.
Elsewhere in the play-off match, Russia edged Taahiti 4-3 to take the third place at the tournament.
