List of All Articles with Tag 'port'

Liverpool have confirmed an “ongoing situation involving the family of Luis Diaz” amid reports the forward’s parents were kidnapped in Colombia. Colombia’s president has said Diaz’s mother “has been rescued” but his father remains missing. “Liverpool Football Club can confirm it is aware of an ongoing situation involving the family of Luis Diaz in Colombia,” read a club statement. “It is our fervent hope that the matter is resolved safely and at the earliest possible opportunity. In the meantime, the player’s welfare will continue to be our immediate priority.” Colombia president Gustavo Petro said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “In an operation in Barrancas, Luis Diaz’s mother has been rescued, we continue the search for the father.” The country’s football federation said in a statement that the kidnapping was regrettable and urged authorities to rescue Diaz’s father. “The Colombian Football Federation rejects the security situation that the parents of our player Luis Díaz are going through,” they said. “From the FCF we express our solidarity with him and his entire family and we call for the relevant authorities to act as quickly as possible to resolve the situation.” Liverpool signed Diaz from Porto in January 2022 in an initial £37.5million deal that included a potential extra £12.5million in add-ons. The 26-year-old winger has made 11 appearances this season and scored three goals. Diaz did not feature in Liverpool’s 5-1 Europa League victory over Toulouse on Thursday but had been expected to return for Nottingham Forest’s Premier League visit to Anfield on Sunday. Read More On This Day in 2012: UK Athletics appoints Peter Eriksson as Olympic head coach Joel Embiid leads Philadelphia 76ers to victory over Toronto Raptors Ketel Marte breaks record as Arizona Diamondbacks tie World Series

Joel Armia scored the tying goal early in the third period and Jake Allen stopped 42 shots, plus all three

England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to field first in its Cricket World Cup match against India

Sam Cane became the first player to be sent off in a men’s Rugby World Cup final after seeing his yellow card upgraded to a red following a review from the TMO bunker during the New Zealand v South Africa match in the Rugby World Cup final. In the first half of the Stade de France showpiece, the All Blacks captain’s shoulder connected with the head of Jesse Kriel. Referee Wayne Barnes initially sent the captain to the sin-bin but, using the bunker system, that was upgraded to a red card soon after. The foul play review officer ruled that it was a shoulder direct to head with significant force and not enough mitigation to remain a yellow card. After the review was complete, Barnes called over stand-in skipper Ardie Savea to deliver the bad news for the All Blacks. He responded in shock: "to red!?" Cane was then seen in agony after learning his fate on the touchline, closing his eyes and rocking back on his chair. Reacting to the decision at half-time, Ireland legend Brian O'Driscoll was adamant Cane deserved the red card, telling ITV Sport: "Any effective tackle is a hinge at the hips, Sam Cane can have no complaints, there's no late dip, he has a clear line of sight, it's considerable force to the head and a very, very clear red card." While All Blacks legend Sean Fitzpatrick reluctantly agreed: "In real time, it's a red card, we have to get on with it." But what are the laws around head contact and high tackles that referees are following and how do they decide on the punishment? Here’s everything you need to know: What are World Rugby’s laws on head contact? Head-on-head contact in the tackle comes under Law 9 of the Laws of Rugby Union, which covers foul play. Law 9.11 dictates “Players must not do anything that is reckless or dangerous to others, including leading with the elbow or forearm, or jumping into, or over, a tackler” and Law 9.13 goes on to say “A player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously. Dangerous tackling includes, but is not limited to, tackling or attempting to tackle an opponent above the line of the shoulders even if the tackle starts below the line of the shoulders.” If a player breaks these laws and the act is deemed to be reckless or dangerous, then the referee is entitled to issue a yellow or red card. World Rugby also clarify the intent of the laws, stating in their guidelines that: “ Player welfare drives World Rugby’s decision making for zero tolerance of foul play, especially where head contact occurs. The focus must be on the actions of those involved, not the injury – the need for an HIA [a Head Injury Assessment] does not necessarily mean that there has been illegal head contact.” What are the punishments for head-on-head contact? Ok, this is where things get technical and debates start to occur. In March 2023, World Rugby issued their latest ‘head contact process law application guidelines’ to guide referees on whether foul play has occurred and how it should be punished. The referee has to go through a four-step process (detailed below) to determine the extent of the foul play and the sanction. The four steps are: Has head contact occurred? Was there any foul play? What was the degree of danger? Is there any mitigation? Step 1 (has head contact occurred?) is relatively straightforward, with head contact including the head and the face as well as the neck and throat area. If any head contact is made at all, we move on to Step 2. Step 2 (was there foul play?) is a touch more complex. The referees are told to consider whether the head contact was either intentional, reckless or avoidable – e.g. the defender is always upright. If it was, the tackler will be penalised and they move on to Step 3. However, if the head contact was deemed not to be foul play, the game continues. Step 3 (what was the degree of danger?) – judged from high to low – determines the initial punishment. A degree of high danger is judged on any of: direct contact rather than indirect, a high-force impact, a lack of control from the tackler, the incident occurring at high speed, the tackler leading with the head/shoulder/elbow/forearm or the tackle being reckless. If the referee judges there to be a high degree of danger, a red card will be shown. Meanwhile, low danger is judged as indirect contact, low force, low speed or no leading head/shoulder/forearm/swinging arm and a yellow card or even just a penalty to the opposition may be awarded. The final step, Step 4 (is there any mitigation?) determines whether the punishment can be reduced by one grade (i.e red card down to yellow card or yellow card down to just a penalty). Mitigation includes a sudden or significant drop in height or change in direction from ball carrier, a late change in dynamics due to another player in the contact area, a clear effort from the tackler to reduce their height or the tackler having no time to adjust. However, mitigation will never apply for intentional or always-illegal acts of foul play. What about the Foul Play Review Officer/Bunker review? Introduced for this World Cup was the Bunker review system. This allows the referee to issue a yellow card to a player, sending them to the sin-bin while play goes on, where a Foul Play Review Official (FPRO) will then take another look at the incident and determine if the yellow card should be upgraded to red, allowing the game to continue rather than a long stoppage to debate this. This is what happened to Curry against Argentina. The referee crosses their arms to indicate a Bunker review will take place. Once a player is in the sin-bin, the FPRO has up to eight minutes to review the decision and decide if it warrants upgrading to a red card. If not, the player will return to the field after their 10 minutes in the sin-bin has elapsed. Read More South Africa become kings of rugby with dramatic World Cup win over greatest rivals Sam Cane, Siya Kolisi and a tale of two captains at the heart of this Rugby World Cup final New Zealand captain Sam Cane opens up on Rugby World Cup ‘heartbreak’ after red card in final New Zealand v South Africa LIVE: Rugby World Cup final score updates as Springboks lead 14-man All Blacks South Africa’s Bongi Mbonambi suffers Rugby World Cup final heartbreak with injury South Africa vs New Zealand: Who is the referee for the Rugby World Cup final?

Tyson Fury has vowed to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the chance to become the undisputed king of heavyweight boxing as the Ukrainian confirmed their meeting on 23 December in Saudi Arabia. Usyk was ringside for Fury’s unconvincing split-decision victory over ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou in Riyadh on Saturday night. MMA star Ngannou shockingly went the distance in his boxing debut, even knocking down reigning WBC heavyweight champion Fury at one point, but Fury remained undefeated. Two judges gave Fury the fight by scores of 96-93 and 95-94, and the other judge favoured Ngannou 95-94. Fury’s championship belt was never on the line in this bout, though it counts as an official fight. Good thing for Fury, because Ngannou showed early in the scheduled 10-round fight that he wasn’t going anywhere. Afterwards Usyk, who owns the other three global heavyweight belts, turned attention to their showdown, saying: “It’s a big fight. The whole world wants this fight. We’re back in this ring, 23 December, thank you very much, I go to sleep.” Fury said: “It’s been going on a long time, let’s do the fight, over here, for all the belts, the undisputed title of the world. Listen, it’s not up to me, we’d go now. These guys will sort it out, it’ll be my next fight guaranteed.” Fury’s promoter Frank Warren said: “I don’t think the date will be announced just yet. This fight is on. Both fighters want it. Tyson’s got a cut there. We’ll see how it heals. It’s the biggest fight in boxing. Everybody wants to see it. They’ll see it in Saudi, it’ll break all box office records.” Fury had previously criticised the timing of an initial announcement of his fight with Usyk, which came out during his preparations for Ngannou. “It wasn’t my choice,” the Briton, 35, said on The MMA Hour on Wednesday 25 October. “I would never in a million years do that, but the people who are putting these fights on, who are paying the money, they’re in control. They’re the promoters of the event. “So, the paymaster does what the paymaster wants, basically. But if it was up to me, I would have never, ever, ever done that, ever. Because I never count chickens before they hatch, ever [...] They should never announce fights before the first one happens, because that’s how people get knocked out. “But I’m not even looking at the next fight. I’m only concentrating on Francis. If it means breaking these two hands and getting a cut right through [my eyebrow] to win, I will do it. Don’t worry about that. Nothing else matters, only Saturday night. “I wasn’t happy at first, for them to announce it, but there was a lot going on in the background. For me, I don’t concentrate on any other fight other than Saturday night. What happens in the future stays in the future. “I’m living for today and this moment. My moment now is to fight Francis for the ‘baddest man on the planet’ title, and when I’ve won that, only after I’ve won that, I won’t even think about my next [fight] until I’ve had a week off and spent some time with my family. I’ve been in camp 12 weeks.” Read More Tyson Fury survives knockdown to beat Francis Ngannou by controversial decision David Adeleye punches referee on Fury v Ngannou undercard Fury vs Ngannou stream fails as fans left with screeching sound Amir Khan gifts Eminem luxury watch before clashing with fan over gesture Cristiano Ronaldo ‘punches’ Tyson Fury as pair joke ahead of Francis Ngannou fight How much money are Fury and Ngannou earning for fight tonight?

The Afghanistan team arrived in India with an aim to qualify for the Cricket World Cup semifinals

Kairee Robinson ran 17 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns, Quali Conley added 73 yards rushing, including a 5-yard touchdown, and San Jose State beat Hawaii 35-0

Jack Eichel scored the only goal in the shootout and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 to bounce back from their first loss of the season

By Liz Lee BEIJING Runners undeterred by thick smog engulfing the Chinese capital ran the Beijing Marathon maskless

Kevin Durant scored 26 points, Eric Gordon added 21 and the Phoenix Suns easily handled the Utah Jazz 126-104

Jordan McCloud threw for three touchdowns and ran for another, and No. 25 James Madison stretched its winning streak to 11 with a tense 30-27 victory over Old Dominion

DeCarlos Brooks rushed for a career-high 67 yards and three touchdowns in his first start of the season and Arizona State broke a six-game losing streak with a 38-27 Pac-12 victory over Washington State