SPORT - The African Mirror

Apr

04

2023

Team-by-team analysis of the Australian Grand Prix

MOTORSPORT

TEAM-BY-TEAM analysis of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Albert Park, round three of the 23-race Formula One season (listed in current championship order): RED BULL (Max Verstappen 1, Sergio Perez 5) Red Bull won the opening three races of a season for the first time. This was also their 350th race. The victory, from pole, was double champion Verstappen's second of 2023 and first in Australia. The Dutchman lost out to Russell and Hamilton at the start, complaining about Hamilton's turn-three move forcing him wide, but retook the lead by passing the seven-times champion around the outside on lap…

Apr

03

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia’s Ayana takes Paris win on marathon debut

MOTORSPORT

ETHIOPIA'S Abeje Ayana won the men's race at the Paris Marathon in his first competitive run over the distance and Kenya's Helah Kiprop claimed the women's title. The 20-year-old Ayana won with a time of two hours, seven minutes and 15 seconds, 20 seconds ahead of compatriot and pre-race favourite Guye Adola with Kenya's Josphat Boit a further five seconds back in third. After clocking 59:39 in a half marathon in Poznan, Poland in 2021, Ayana was one of the men to watch on a grey, windy morning in the French capital. He sped away from a group of four…

Mar

31

2023

By The African Mirror

Hamilton sees himself at Mercedes until ‘last days’

MOTORSPORT

IAN RANSOM LEWIS Hamilton will only leave Mercedes if he feels he has nothing left to give them but would rather see out his "last days" with the Formula One team, the seven-times world champion said. Hamilton is out of contract at the end of the year and speculation about his future is already rife as Mercedes struggle to recapture their past dominance. However, Hamilton said he felt "amazing" about his future with the outfit. "I continue to feel very much at home in this family," the 38-year-old Briton told reporters at Albert Park. "I see myself with Mercedes until…

Mar

31

2023

By The African Mirror

Formula One statistics for the Australian Grand Prix

MOTORSPORT

FORMULA One statistics for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, the third round of the 23-race season:Lap distance: 5.278km. Total distance: 306.124km (58 laps)2022 pole position: Charles Leclerc (Monaco) Ferrari, one minute 17.868 seconds.2022 winner: LeclercRace lap record: Leclerc (2022) 1:20.260Start time: 0500 GMT (1500 local) There was no grand prix at Albert Park in 2020 and 2021. The circuit was shortened by 28 metres, with two turns taken out and seven corners modified, for last year's race and is now considered a new layout from 2019. A fourth DRS zone has been added for this year. AUSTRALIAMcLaren rookie Oscar…

Mar

30

2023

By The African Mirror

Holders Senegal through to Cup of Nations finals

FOOTBALL

MARK GLEESON DEFENDING champions Senegal, Burkina Faso, South Africa and Tunisia added their names to the list of qualified teams for next year’s African Cup of Nations finals after away successes in Tuesday’s qualifiers. Senegal, who won the tournament in Cameroon some 14 months ago, beat Mozambique 1-0 away to keep up their 100% record and secure the top spot in Group L while a point away from Burkina Faso at Togo in a 1-1 draw was enough for them to progress from Group B. South Africa scrambled a 2-1 away win over Liberia to join Morocco, who qualified without…

Mar

30

2023

By The African Mirror

The South African Council on Sport at 50: the fight for sports development is still relevant today

FOOTBALL

IT'S 50 years since the official formation of the South African Council on Sport (Sacos). Sacos was the sports wing of the anti-apartheid liberation movement. It was established in 1973 and disbanded in 2005. It’s main aim, at the time, was to lay the ground for all national sports federations to be able to compete in international competition – and not just the teams of the white-minority apartheid state. Author FRANCOIS CLEOPHAS, Senior Lecturer in Sport History, Stellenbosch University As a remembrance campaign, regional committees were established in various South African cities to commemorate this nearly forgotten but historically important…

Mar

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Spain hotel worker arrested for hate crime against Morocco players

FOOTBALL

A 27-year-old worker at a Madrid hotel hosting the Morocco team was arrested for an alleged hate crime after posting derogatory comments on Islam and racist slurs against the players on social media, Spanish police and the hotel said. Local police told Reuters the employee, a waiter at the Spanish capital's five-star Eurostars Hotel Tower, asked players to take photographs with him. He then uploaded the images to Instagram with xenophobic insults and tagged the Moroccan team's account, with the post quickly receiving over 70,000 views. The man is due to appear before a judge shortly, police said. "We wish…

Mar

24

2023

By The African Mirror

Egyptian FA suspend referee after he watched replay on mobile phone

FOOTBALL

AN Egyptian referee has been suspended indefinitely after using a mobile phone before disallowing a goal in a second-division match last week, the Egyptian Football Association said. With the video assistant referee (VAR) system not in use in second-tier games, referee Mohamed Farouk used the phone of a crowd member to watch a replay of a goal during the match between Suez and Al-Nasr. Al-Nasr thought they had scored a late equaliser, but the hosts protested due to a handball, and after a long time spent reviewing the video on the phone, the referee decided to rule it out. The Egyptian FA…

Mar

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Algeria win to join teams qualified for 2024 Africa Cup of Nations

FOOTBALL

MARK GLEESON ALGERIA secured a place at the next Africa Cup of Nations finals with a 1-0 away win over Niger that ensured a top-two finish in their qualifying group with two games to go. They will join neighbours Morocco, who qualified last Friday without kicking a ball, in the field of 24-team for the finals in the Ivory Coast next January. Nigeria, Congo, Guinea, Sudan and the Central African Republic, who have never previously qualified for the finals, were also winners on Monday. Algeria's Baghdad Bounedjah slipped through the defence in the fifth minute to put the visitors ahead…

Mar

29

2023

By The African Mirror

Messi statue to stand next to Maradona, Pele at CONMEBOL museum

SPORT

LIONEL Messi stepped out of Diego Maradona's shadow by leading Argentina to World Cup victory last year and a statue of the diminutive forward will stand alongside those of his predecessor and Brazil great Pele at the South American federation's museum. Messi, holding a replica of the World Cup trophy, stood beside the life-size statue at an unveiling ceremony at the South American Football Federation (CONMEBOL) headquarters in Luque, Paraguay before the Copa Libertadores draw on Monday. The 35-year-old emulated the late Maradona by leading Argentina to their first World Cup triumph in 36 years in Qatar in December. "I…