State Man justified odds-on favouritism with consummate ease in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle at Punchestown.The Willie Mullins-trained gelding had won four Grade Ones in succession before having his colours lowered by Constitution Hill in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last month. But without Nicky Henderson’s star to contend with, Paul Townend’s mount was backed as if defeat was out of the question and those who took the restrictive odds of 2-5 never had a moment’s concern. Image: State Man and Paul Townend clear away to win the Punchestown Champion Hurdle Townend was happy to lob along in front with…
Author: National Tone
Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider joined Sportsnet’s Blair and Barker on Friday to provide an update on George Springer after the outfielder left Wednesday’s game against the Chicago White Sox with a contusion on his right hand. “He’s feeling better,” said Schneider, who indicated Springer may be available as early as Friday’s series opener against the Seattle Mariners. “We’re just going to kind of see how he is today and make a decision, you know, for his availability. “Yesterday was a real good step in the right direction in terms of how he felt to the day before, so…
The party calls on Kurds and other supporters to vote for the main opposition alliance’s presidential candidate, Kilidaroglu.Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party and its leftist allies have asked their voters to back President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival in the May 14 presidential election. Friday’s announcement pushes one of Turkey’s largest voting blocs behind opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the head of the People’s Republican Party, and further complicates Erdogan’s path to achieving more than two decades in power. The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), the third-largest in Turkey’s parliament, decided last month not to field a presidential candidate and strongly hinted that it…
Ryan Reynolds and the Remington Group led by real estate mogul Christopher Bratty are reportedly set to go all-in with their final bid for the Ottawa Senators. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the group “is prepared to bid more than $1 billion to buy the Senators and the Canadian Tire Centre.” Garrioch had previously reported the deadline for the second and final round of bids for the team is May 15. Reynolds was very visible around the Senators in the final weeks of the season and also had meetings with Ottawa mayor Mark Sutcliffe as well as the National Capital…
African leaders must not allow children to miss out on life-saving vaccinations.As we mark World Immunisation Week, UNICEF released last week The State of the World’s Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination report, sending a red alert on the steep decline in routine childhood immunisation coverage after the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccines have proven to be one the most successful public health interventions to control the deadliest infections, yet in Eastern and Southern Africa, we have experienced a 6 percent decline in child immunisation coverage compared with pre-COVID times, with more than 4.6 million children missing out on life-saving vaccines in…
At The Races pundit Declan Rix is taking on favourite and multiple Grade One winner Jonbon in Saturday’s feature Celebration Chase at Sandown. The seven-year-old has won on four of his five starts this season including last time out at Aintree, with his sole defeat coming against El Fabiolo in the Arkle at the Cheltenham Festival. But Saturday’s race will be a first outside of novice company, taking on established chasers in Editeur Du Gite, Captain Guinness and defending champion Greaneteen for champion trainer Paul Nicholls. Image: Jonbon and Aidan Coleman jump the last at Aintree Given Jonbon ran just…
Former world No 1 Simona Halep has called on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to give her the chance to clear her name after she was provisionally suspended in October for failing a drugs test.The 31-year-old Romanian former Wimbledon and French Open champion was tested during last year’s US Open and both her A and B samples confirmed the presence of banned blood-booster roxadustat. Halep strenuously denies knowingly taking a banned substance and says she has evidence which proves low quantities of the anti-anaemia drug entered her body because of an authorised supplement that was contaminated.In an interview with Tennis…
Australia’s oldest coal-fired power plant has been shut down, as the country – a once-notorious climate straggler – prepares for a seismic shift towards renewable energy. The Liddell power station, a three-hour drive north of Sydney, was one in a series of ageing coal-fired plants slated to close in the coming years. Built in 1971, Liddell provided about 10 percent of the electricity used in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state. Liddell’s owner AGL said on Friday it would take about two years to demolish the hulking facility, which would free up the site for new clean energy projects…
There is some cracking action live on Sky Sports Racing on Friday with Flat racing at Doncaster in the afternoon before evening jumping from Chepstow and Southwell.4.00 Doncaster – Quality heat featuring last-time winnersA decent renewal of the Sky Sports Racing Sky 415 Handicap (4:00) sees James Ferguson run Wonder Legenda last-time-out winner who will bid to win on handicap debut off a mark of 81. Another who scored last time is Harry and Roger Charlton’s It’s All About You – he steps up on seasonal reappearance for Daniel Tudhope.Westerton is also a handicap debutant who steps up in trip…
Planned legislation to strip top court of its powers has fuelled weeks of mass protests by those who oppose it.Tens of thousands of right-wing Israelis have taken to the streets of Jerusalem to show their support for controversial legislation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which would see the country’s highest court stripped of much of its power. Israelis remain polarised over the planned legislation that the government says is necessary to rein in a judiciary that wields too much power but that critics say removes a crucial check on those in power. Crowds of people, many carrying Israel’s blue…