SPORTS

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  The 2019/2020 South African Premiership season kicks off Saturday with Mamelodi Sundowns favourites to complete a hat-trick despite uncertainty over the future of multiple title-winning coach Pitso Mosimane. He is reportedly upset that the 2016 CAF Champions League trophy-holders want to hire an unnamed Spanish …

  Munich, Germany | AFP | French striker Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick as Real Madrid defeated Fenerbahce 5-3 in a pre-season friendly on Wednesday which temporarily lifted the summer gloom which has engulfed the Spanish giants and coach Zinedine Zidane. However, problems remain for Real as they have now conceded 16 goals in just …

Kolkata, India | AFP |  When England and Scotland play rugby each year, the winner hoists the Calcutta Cup — a relic of the sport’s roots in India, and a nod to the city where it is still thriving to this day. In the 1870s, when the Calcutta Rugby Football Club …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP |  For Japanese breakdancer Shigeyuki Nakarai, the prospect of winning a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics has become something of an obsession. The proposal by Paris organisers in February to include the street dance lit a fire under the 17-year-old, aka Shigekix, who took bronze …

Edinburgh, United Kingdom | AFP | Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool’s Community Shield clash with Manchester City on Sunday will have no bearing on their battle for the Premier League title. The two sides will renew the rivalry that saw them take the title race to a tense final day last season. …

  Suzhou, China | AFP | Midfielder Julian Draxler said Monday that the single-minded “egos” of Neymar and Paris Saint-Germain’s other star forwards did not always make it easy for the team. And the German World Cup winner told AFP in an interview in China that he was still hurting from …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | More than 2,000 South Korean soccer fans will sue a sports agency after superstar Cristiano Ronaldo stayed on the bench when his Juventus side played a friendly in Seoul last week, a law firm said Monday. The star Portuguese striker did not play a single second of the match …

Sao Paulo, Brazil | AFP | Police in Brazil probing rape allegations against football superstar Neymar have closed the case due to a lack of evidence, the Sao Paulo attorney general’s office said Monday. The police decision will be sent to prosecutors on Tuesday, who will have 15 days to evaluate …

Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Kenya suffered international embarrassment in 2016 when a string of doping scandals brought the country famed for its distance runners within a whisker of disqualification from the Rio Olympics. “It was a time when Kenya faced an enormous challenge in terms of the very integrity of …

Melbourne, Australia | AFP | Swimming Australia insisted Sunday it followed the rules in dealing with a failed drug test by relay world-record holder Shayna Jack, rejecting claims it wasn’t transparent about the “embarrassing” result. The 20-year-old, part of Australia’s 4x100m freestyle team that set a world record at last year’s …