Australian skateboarder Harry Clarke has defended his downhill skateboarding title at the World Skate Games in Paraguay.

After winning his first world title in 2024, Clarke overtook France’s Adrien Paynel on the last corner in this year’s race to go back-to-back. The World Skate Games are held every two years.

Afterwards, he said: “I knew the final was going to be tough, that Frenchie is a bloody hard competitor…Back to back is unbelievable, I’m just happy to do it for my friends, my family and my country.”

If only 12-year-old me knew you could make a career out of bombing hills on a skateboard!

21
The number of consecutive years Novak Djokovic has won at least one ATP Tour title. The 39-year-old claimed his first title of 2026 at the China Open on Tuesday, extending the streak to 21 years. Djokovic won the tournament for a record seventh time after Australia’s Alex de Minaur retired with an injury midway through the final.

“I believe the punishment should not be reduced…I have already apologised, but I know that actions have consequences.”
Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo in a statement on social media apologising for walking out of Portugal’s team camp last week. The 41-year-old left the team camp after coach Jorge Jesus did not bring him onto the field in a match against Norway and then named him on the bench for the next match against Denmark. Ronaldo added that Jesus had committed an “absolute breach of trust” by promising him that he would get game time and then failing to follow through.

The ‘Produnova Vault’, sometimes referred to as the ‘vault of death’, is one of the most difficult vaults in gymnastics. The movement is named after former Russian Olympian Yelena Produnova, who was the first to land it in competition. In layman’s terms, the ‘Produnova’ is basically a double front flip and earned its nickname because of the high risk of serious injury.

⛳ LIV Golf has secured up to $US300 million ($AU430 million) in funding from private debt investors firm BC Partners Credit as it restructures following its bankruptcy filing. The breakaway men’s golf league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. last month after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirmed it would stop funding in the league from 2027. Chapter 11 allows LIV Golf to continue operating while it restructures its finances under court supervision. The new funding from BC Partners Credit, which is subject to bankruptcy court approval, is expected to help the league continue operating through the restructuring process.

🏅 Seven countries are currently in the running to host the 2036 Olympic Games. The International Olympics Committee (IOC) confirmed Germany, Hungary, India, Qatar, South Korea, South Africa and Türkiye were all in talks with them. The IOC has now outlined the next steps with a handbook guide, with no new bids to be considered after 31 October. The IOC Executive Board will shortlist potential hosts in March 2027, before a final selection process begins. IOC members are expected to elect the host in mid 2029.

🏉 Daniel Tupou has announced his retirement from the NRL after 15 seasons with the Sydney Roosters, ending his career with a fourth premiership after Sunday’s Grand Final win over the Newcastle Knights. Tupou played his 307th and final game in the decider and finished as the Roosters’ greatest try scorer with 198 tries. He became the club’s leading try scorer in 2023, surpassing Anthony Minichiello. Tupou said that the “time is right for [him] to finish playing” but that it was “hard to put into words what the Roosters have meant to [him]”.

🏉 Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Brazil have jointly bid to host the 2035 Rugby World Cup, which would bring the tournament to South America for the first time. The bid proposes 11 stadiums across 10 cities, including eight in Argentina and the iconic Maracana in Rio de Janeiro. Spain and Japan have also expressed interest in hosting the tournament. World Rugby will assess the bids before naming a preferred host by May 2027, with a final decision expected later that year. Argentina Rugby Union president Felix Paez Molina said: “Our hope is that, for the first time, a Rugby World Cup can be played in this part of the world”. Before then, Australia will host the men’s Rugby World Cup next year in October.

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.

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American tennis star Coco Gauff has spoken out about alleged racist abuse she received online after beating Chinese teenager Sun Xinran at the China Open.

The abuse came after a controversial replayed point during the match, with Gauff defending her decision to challenge the call.

Here’s what happened.

Gauff beat 16-year-old Sun 7-5, 6-1 on Monday to reach the fourth round.

The controversy came in the first set when Gauff stopped play after noticing a flickering advertising board as Sun was about to hit a winner.

The chair umpire reviewed the incident and ordered the point to be replayed. Gauff won the replayed point and went on to win the match comfortably.

She will face Belgium’s Elise Mertens in the fourth round.

After the match, Gauff addressed the comments and direct messages she had received online.

“You can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist. I’m not a cheater or a thief” the world No.4 said in a social media post.

She later defended her decision to challenge the point, saying she had noticed the advertising board “flicker in the beginning of the point”.

Gauff said players had been told before matches they were “allowed to continue to finish play” and pointed to the practice in other sports of reviewing a call after play has finished.

She also apologised to Sun, saying she “completely understood” and that “it was an honour to share the court” in front of her “home crowd.”

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) uses AI to track online abuse of players and officials.

A study by the WTA and World Tennis found players received over 12,000 abusive messages in 2025, up from 8,000 the year before.

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.

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Perth are still more than a year from their first NRL game and the club already has a boardroom crisis on its hands.

Chief executive Anthony de Ceglie has spent the past week fighting to keep his job, and has only survived thanks to intervention from the NRL’s executive chairman Peter Vlandys.

Before taking the job, de Ceglie spent years in media, rising to editor-in-chief of The West Australian before moving into a national role as Seven West Media’s director of news and current affairs.

He was appointed Perth Bears chief executive in May last year.

The Bears are one of the NRL’s incoming expansion clubs and are backed directly by the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC). They are preparing to play their first premiership game in the 2027 season under head coach Mal Meninga.

Several members of the Bears’ nine-person board pushed for de Ceglie to be removed immediately. However, the push carries little formal weight. Under the club’s constitution, the ARLC owns the franchise outright, and sign-off on the chief executive, head coach and head of football rests with the commission rather than the Bears’ own board.

Peter V’landys, the ARLC’s executive chairman, intervened on de Ceglie’s behalf, effectively pausing any removal for three months while he worked to rebuild support within the club. That reprieve was set to be tested at a board meeting this week.

On the field, the team is also struggling to build a competitive roster. The Bears, even with former Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga at the helm, have struggled to land a marquee signing and will start their first season as favourites to win the wooden spoon.

Money is playing a big part in the signups. The Papua New Guinea Chiefs, another expansion club that will join the competition in 2028, can offer players tax-free salaries. With that financial incentive, the Chiefs have already signed several stars, including Joey Manu, Jarome Luai, and four-time premiership-winning winger Brian To’o.

Last month it was reported that the Bears would seek to lure South Sydney centre Latrell Mitchell to Perth with a contract worth about $1.7 million a season. Mitchell can negotiate with rival clubs from 1 November.