Fifth Saudi Esports Federation Awards in Riyadh celebrate excellence

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Updated 03 February 2025
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Fifth Saudi Esports Federation Awards in Riyadh celebrate excellence

  • Faisal bin Homran, chief product officer at the Esports World Cup, reflected on the Kingdom’s endeavors in the gaming sector

RIYADH: The Saudi Esports Federation hosted the fifth SEF Awards, featuring 19 eSport categories, at the SEF Arena at Boulevard Riyadh City on Friday night.

It was “a celebration of excellence, achievement and vision,” Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan, the organization’s chairman, said at the gala event.

Faisal bin Homran, chief product officer at the Esports World Cup, reflected on the Kingdom’s endeavors in the gaming sector.

“Honestly, in the past few years, the progress of the industry is changing dramatically, especially with the Kingdom doing solid moves toward it, especially with changing the sector when it comes to projects like the Esports World Cup.”

“I think Saudi is now shaping the industry toward something sustainable for the industry overall and for any lover of eSports, specific games, audience, players (and) clubs.

Bin Homran told Arab News that he believed eSports would lead the field globally.

“Personally, (I think) it will be the number one sports in the world,” he said. “Overall, I think the future is amazing. There’s a lot of projects coming in. I’m really happy. I’m a passionate gamer myself and I’m living the dream.”

Saudi player Raef Alturkistani won the award for “best fighting game player,” taking the prize for the second consecutive year, and retaining the world title for a third year for his performance at the Tekken World Tour Finals.

“I am grateful for this,” he said. “I want to do my best next time so I can win it (best fighting game player) for the third time, hopefully … This year was the hardest year for me because I had so many competitors with me, in the same game and different games. But I achieved it ... going third in the world.”

Team Falcons of Saudi Arabia, also known as the first Esports World Cup club champions, took home the title for “best club.”

Musaad Al-Dossary, CEO of Falcons, said that the future of eSports in the Kingdom was promising.

“It’s rewarding, what we have achieved, the nights that we have been working, and sometimes it’s a hectic night, so nights like this (are for) rewards of what we have accomplished … We have been honored to have, the Esports World Cup here, thankfully we have won it and obviously looking to do more. I’m sure that everyone here in Saudi wants to do more and more.”

Rawan Al-Butairi, chief partnerships and corporate affairs at the Saudi Esports Federation, highlighted the success of the Kingdom’s national gaming strategy.

“Saudi Arabia has a national gaming strategy, eSports strategy, and other potential and impact ... It is Bollywood and Hollywood combined. So it is absolutely large in size and grasping such opportunity to amplify the impact through the players, through the content creators and through the community by creating an event like this will help us grow it substantially in the Kingdom to inspire the world.”

Adel Almeqeren, executive director of marketing and branding at the Saudi Esports Federation, said that this year it would establish a women’s eLeague.

“A lot of players, have both male and female play in the Saudi eLeague, but the challenge is that sometimes they can’t compete with each other. So by us doing that and segregating, in a good way, the women’s league, it gives them more light and it gives them more awareness to the public.”

Award categories included best rising player; best rising talent; best female player, presented by Hilton; best club, presented by Richy; best content creator, presented by SAIB; and best roster, presented by Golden Scent.

The winners of the 19 categories in this year’s SEF Awards are:

1. Best female talent: Ghala Al-Qahtani

2. Best host: Wajeh Fahad

3. Best rising player: Abdulaziz Altamimi

4. Best rising club: Al-Qadsiah

5. Best eSports media coverage: Sama News

6. Best female player: Mohdi Alkanhal

7. Best roster: Team Falcons — Rocket League

8. Best coach: Abdulrahman bin Fayez

9. Best rising talent: Saleh Alrakaf

10. Best FPS games player: Ibrahim Alali

11. Best fighting game player: Raef Alturkistani

12. Best battle royale player: Khalid Alomar

13. Best MOBA game player: Orifan Alsulaimany

14. Best sports player: Mohammed Alotaibi

15. Best club: Team Falcons

16. Best caster: Abdulaziz Almehmadi

17. Best analyst: Fahad Ghzwani

18. Best content creator: Saleh Alzahrani

19. Best streamer: Mufrih Assiri


Jason Gillespie says he was undermined before quitting as Pakistan coach

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Jason Gillespie says he was undermined before quitting as Pakistan coach

  • Former Australian fast bowler accuses interim coach Aaqib Javed of working against him
  • Gillespie was appointed last April for two years as Pakistan’s coach but quit eight months later

ISLAMABAD: Jason Gillespie says he was undermined before quitting as Pakistan test cricket coach last December and has used a social media post to describe interim head coach Aaqib Javed as a “clown.”
Gillespie was a fast bowler who played 71 tests and 97 one-day internationals for Australia from 1996-2006 before going into coaching.
He was appointed last April for two years as Pakistan’s test coach but quit before a series in South Africa less than eight months later after an unsuccessful start.
He was the second foreigner to leave Pakistan’s program in less than two months after South African Gary Kirsten stepped down as limited-overs coach in October.
Aaqib, Pakistan’s national selector and interim head coach, acknowledged this week after Pakistan’s failure to reach the knockout stage of the Champions Trophy — following losses to New Zealand and India — that the chopping and changing hasn’t helped the national team.
“We have changed nearly 16 coaches and 26 selectors in the last two years or so,” he was quoted as saying at a news conference to announce the latest overhaul of Pakistan’s limited-overs squads. “You put that formula on any team in the world, I think they will also be in the same situation.
“Until you get consistency right from the top down to the bottom, from the chairman down, then your team will not progress.”
Gillespie responded to those comments by posting an Instagram story late Wednesday describing the analysis as “hilarious.”
“Aaqib was clearly undermining Gary and I behind the scenes campaigning to be the coach in all formats,” Gillespie posted. “He is a clown.”
Aaqib, a former Pakistan cricket international, had been acting as interim coach of the limited-overs squads following Kirsten’s departure when he took over the test squad from Gillespie.
Aaqib’s contract initially ran until the Champions Trophy but he is set to continue in the role while the Pakistan Cricket Board searches for a full-time replacement.


2026 World Cup final to have Super Bowl-style show: Infantino

Updated 06 March 2025
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2026 World Cup final to have Super Bowl-style show: Infantino

  • Infantino: This will be a historic moment for the FIFA World Cup and a show befitting the biggest sporting event in the world
  • The move mirrors the show held during the final of last year’s Copa America in Miami, when Colombian star Shakira performed at half-time at the Hard Rock Stadium

PARIS: The 2026 World Cup final in New Jersey will make history by having a Super Bowl-style half-time show, world football chief Gianni Infantino said Wednesday.

Coldplay band members Chris Martin and Phil Harvey will determine the artists who will perform, FIFA president Infantino said.

“I can confirm the first-ever halftime show at a FIFA World Cup final in New York/New Jersey,” Infantino wrote on Instagram.

“This will be a historic moment for the FIFA World Cup and a show befitting the biggest sporting event in the world.”

Infantino revealed the decision following a meeting of FIFA’s commercial and media partners in Dallas ahead of the 2026 tournament, which will be co-hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico.

No further information about specific details or duration of the half-time show were revealed by Infantino.

The move mirrors the show held during the final of last year’s Copa America in Miami, when Colombian star Shakira performed at half-time at the Hard Rock Stadium.

Infantino added that FIFA also planned to “take over” New York’s Times Square on the final weekend of the tournament.


Schauffele is ready to return from rib injury with modest expectations

Updated 06 March 2025
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Schauffele is ready to return from rib injury with modest expectations

  • Bay Hill is loaded again as a signature event, the third time the top three players — Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Schauffele — are in the same field since the Tour Championship last August
  • Because it’s a player-hosted event (Palmer), the 72-man field features a 36-hole cut to top 50 and ties

ORLANDO, Florida: Xander Schauffele took his first swing on a PGA Tour course in 57 days and found the middle of the fairway.

And then he took another golf ball from his bag and tossed it into the thick rough. That was the real test.

“If this doesn’t go well,” he recalled telling his caddie, “then I’m going to get in my car and drive back to Jupiter.”

Schauffele gave it a rip and didn’t feel any twinge in his right ribs from an intercostal strain and slight tear in his cartilage that has kept him out of golf for two months. He returns to the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill this week with modest expectations.

He started the year as the top threat to Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player. Schauffele broke through in a big way in 2024 by winning two majors at the PGA Championship and the British Open, going from no majors to halfway to the career Grand Slam.

That lasted all of one week at The Sentry at Kapalua, where he finished in the middle of the pack and then realized that nagging pain was more serious than he thought.

He isn’t sure if the injury stemmed from trying to gain more speed in his swing or something during a workout. He describes it as a perfect storm — it happened right when his trainer left the country to get his visa renewed. He didn’t get any soft tissue therapy, like usual. He figured it was not a big deal, until it became one.

He missed two tournaments at Torrey Pines in his hometown of San Diego. He watched way too much golf on TV to see what he was missing.

And now he has some catching up to do.

Bay Hill is loaded again as a signature event, the third time the top three players — Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Schauffele — are in the same field since the Tour Championship last August.

“I wouldn’t call it like the dream place to come back to, to be completely honest,” Schauffele said. “Everyone knows what Bay Hill gives you — it takes a lot more than it gives — and you have to earn every par or birdie or bogey that you make. It’s a tough place.”

But it’s a dream part of the schedule — Bay Hill, The Players Championship next week and the Masters is right around the corner.

“I would be lying if I said I was in the most comfortable position ever,” Schauffele said. “I’ve been practicing mentally to convince myself that I’m still in some crazy-good form. Trying to use that sort of low expectation with serious focus to try and get the most out of what you’re doing. Just think about all the greats that have had to take some time off and came back and played really well.

“I think Scottie came back and he wasn’t close to winning, but played pretty decent and put himself back in the mix, so I don’t see why I can’t do that.”

Scheffler can appreciate what Schauffele faces this week. He also went two months without playing because of a freak injury when he was trying to cut ravioli with a wine glass and it punctured his right palm.

He has two top 10s in his three starts since returning.

“I think it’s challenging any time you’re coming off an injury,” Scheffler said. “That first time you step back out inside the ropes, it’s different playing competition tournament golf, and there’s definitely challenges to it and it takes a little bit of time to get used to.

“I’m a big routine guy and so being injured and being out of my routine was definitely an unusual thing. Xander’s a guy that’s fairly routine as well, so I’m sure there will be some adjustments, but it’s definitely good to have him back out playing.”

Because it’s a player-hosted event (Palmer), the 72-man field features a 36-hole cut to top 50 and ties. Schauffele has the longest active streak on the PGA Tour at 57 in a row.

In three previous trips to Bay Hill, he has only one round in the 60s.

Schauffele said he relied on plenty of scans to make sure he couldn’t reinjure his ribs, and that shot he took out of the rough was another indication. He played nine holes using only his irons in San Diego. He returned to his South Florida home and played nine holes on a par-3 course with Justin Thomas, 18 holes on his own, and then came to Bay Hill.

“So this is as good as it’s going to get,” he said.


Ex-Wimbledon champion Kvitova falls in Indian Wells first round

Updated 06 March 2025
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Ex-Wimbledon champion Kvitova falls in Indian Wells first round

  • Gracheva, 24, was full of admiration for her 34-year-old opponent, who lifted the trophy at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014
  • In men’s action, China’s Bu Yunchaokete defeated American Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-4 to book a second-round match against Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev

INDIAN WELLS, Californa: Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, on the comeback trail seven months after giving birth to a son, was ousted in the first round at Indian Wells on Wednesday by France’s 70th-ranked Varvara Gracheva.

The Czech, who welcomed son Petr last July, was playing her second tournament since her return from an 18-month maternity leave but remains in search of her first match win.

Wednesday’s match looked a lot like her loss to Jodie Burrage in Austin last week, with Kvitova unable to close it out after pocketing the first set.

Gracheva, 24, was full of admiration for her 34-year-old opponent, who lifted the trophy at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.

“If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her,” Gracheva said. “Because she had a child quite recently, and I’m so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It’s very inspiring for sports, athletes, women — it’s just amazing.”

All 32 men’s and women’s seeds have first round byes in this combined ATP Masters and WTA 1000 tournament, the first leg of the US hard court “Sunshine Double” that will conclude in Miami.

Gracheva lined up a second-round meeting with ninth-seeded Mirra Andreeva, the 17-year-old Russian who ousted three Grand Slam winners on the way to becoming the youngest ever WTA 1000 champion in Dubai last month.

Former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka, who returned from a 15-month break last year after giving birth to daughter Shai in 2023, headlines the night session taking on Colombian Camila Osorio.

Japan’s Osaka, who won her first WTA title at Indian Wells in 2018, hasn’t played since the Australian Open, where she retired from her third-round match with an abdominal strain.

In other early matches, French veteran Caroline Garcia beat US wild card Bernarda Pera 6-3, 6-4 to line up a second-round meeting with second-seeded defending champion Iga Swiatek.

Poland’s Swiatek, who also lifted the trophy in the California desert in 2022, is vying to become the only woman besides Martina Navratilova in 1990-91 to win back-to-back Indian Wells titles, and the first woman to win more than two.

In men’s action, China’s Bu Yunchaokete defeated American Nishesh Basavareddy 7-5, 6-4 to book a second-round match against Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz the past two years.

Alcaraz is seeded second as he chases a rare three-peat. Germany’s Alexander Zverev is the top seed in a men’s field that is missing world No. 1 Jannik Sinner as he serves a three-month drugs ban but that includes Serbian star Novak Djokovic — chasing a record sixth title.

Japanese veteran Kei Nishikori, who revealed during the Australian Open that he almost quit tennis last year after lengthy battles with injury, defeated Spain’s Jaume Munar 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3) to line up a second-round match against 18th-seeded Ugo Humbert of France.

Nishikori was treated for a leg injury in the third set and then soldiered through cramp to close out the victory.

“It was not easy,” Nishikori said. “In the third set I was cramping pretty badly, but somehow I came back and won, so a very good match.”

In other men’s first-round action, Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild saved a pair of match points on the way to a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) victory over France’s Alexandre Muller.


Slot hails ‘lucky’ Liverpool after Elliott goal sinks PSG

Updated 06 March 2025
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Slot hails ‘lucky’ Liverpool after Elliott goal sinks PSG

PARIS:  Liverpool boss Arne Slot admitted his team had been extremely fortunate in their 1-0 win away to Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League last 16 first leg on Wednesday as he heaped praise on goal-scoring hero Harvey Elliott.

“If we had a draw over here we would have already been the lucky one. That is clear for everyone,” Slot accepted after his side withstood a pummelling from the hosts in Paris.

PSG dominated the first leg of the heavyweight last-16 tie, but Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker was in inspired form and the visitors snatched an unlikely victory to take back to Anfield for the return as substitute Elliott scored in the 87th minute.

“They were the much better team today, especially in the first half,” Slot said of PSG, who had a Khvicha Kvaratskhelia goal disallowed for a tight offside in the 20th minute and had 28 attempts in total.

“They had three or four open chances in the first half, and it was almost a miracle that it was 0-0 then.

“But we were already in the game three, four or five times, I felt like we could hurt them in transitions, but we didn’t, but we waited until the last moment and then we hurt them.”

Elliott, 21, was sent on for Mohamed Salah late on after the Egyptian had failed to make any impact on proceedings. He then scored with his first touch after being set up by Darwin Nunez.

“It was a big moment for him. I can understand that he is sometimes frustrated about the playing time he gets,” Slot said of Elliott, who has nevertheless now scored in three straight Champions League games.

“He has to do it with limited playing time but he just keeps on going. I have to give him big compliments for that.

“It wasn’t only Harvey but also the one who assisted him, Darwin Nunez, who came from a difficult two games, but was absolutely there again tonight because from the moment he came on we were more of a threat than before.”

Before Elliott’s remarkable strike, Liverpool looked set to finish a game without scoring for just the fourth time all season after they were pushed back by their opponents all evening.

“We were not under-par, it was purely the quality of Paris Saint-Germain and the way they have played this whole season,” the Liverpool coach added.

“Luis Enrique made an incredible team here. It was an unbelievable challenge for us to get away with a result and we know it will be a hard one in a week.”

Slot’s opposite number admitted the result was a sore one to take as PSG’s run of 10 straight wins in all competitions was brought to a halt.

“We were far superior to Liverpool in terms of how we played, and chances created,” Luis Enrique said.

“Against the best team in their league and in Europe, we put in a complete performance, defended well, took risks, and clearly deserved another result, but that is football.

“It is often unfair and we just have to accept it.”

Asked if he still believed his team could reach the quarter-finals going into next Tuesday’s return leg, he added: “Without any doubt. We are a team with absolutely nothing to lose.

“Today we deserved much more. Their best player was the goalkeeper, which indicates how the game went.”