Sports
Anna Hall and Sander Skotheim win World Athletics Combined Events Tour
Anna Hall and Sander Skotheim have been confirmed as the winners of the 2025 World Athletics Combined Events Tour, which rewards their season-long consistency in the heptathlon and decathlon, respectively.
The Combined Events Tour takes each athlete’s best three marks across the series and converts them into result scores (also used as the basis of the world rankings system). Winners of the Combined Events Tour, which features both indoor and outdoor meetings, receive a US$30,000 prize.
The top eight at the end of the season are:
Heptathlon
1 Anna Hall (USA) 3781
2 Taliyah Brooks (USA) 3514
3 Martha Araujo (COL) 3485
4 Michelle Atherley (USA) 3420
5 Beatrice Juskeviciute (LTU) 3366
6 Allie Jones (USA) 3340
7 Vanessa Grimm (GER) 3336
8 Paulina Ligarska (POL) 3329
Decathlon
1 Sander Skotheim (NOR) 3754
2 Kyle Garland (USA) 3719
3 Ayden Owens-Delerme (PUR) 3650
4 Simon Ehammer (SUI) 3633
5 Heath Baldwin (USA) 3560
6 Jente Hauttekeete (BEL) 3473
7 Kendrick Thompson (BAH) 3445
8 Vilem Strasky (CZE) 3437
Hall produced the three best heptathlon performances in the world this year. She won at the Hypo Meeting in Gotzis with 7032, elevating her to equal second on the world all-time list. She followed that with a 6899 victory at the US Championships and then capped the best season of her career by winning the world title in Tokyo with 6888.
It meant she topped the end-of-season Combined Events Tour standings with a score of 3781, the highest tally ever achieved in the tour’s current format.
Hall’s US compatriot Taliyah Brooks finished second in the tour for the second year in a row. Brooks started her year by earning her first global medal, taking bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. She then finished second in Talence and at the US Championships, setting a PB of 6526 at the latter. She improved on that to take bronze at the World Championships with 6581.
Colombia’s Martha Araujo was another consistent performer throughout the season. She finished third in Gotzis with a South American record of 6475, then won the Decastar meeting in Talence with 6451 before placing 10th at the World Championships.
Skotheim enjoyed an incredible indoor season, starting with a European indoor heptathlon record of 6484 in Tallinn. He won the European indoor title five weeks later with another continental record, 6558, and then claimed world indoor gold in Nanjing with 6475. He continued that momentum outdoors, winning in Gotzis with a world-leading Norwegian record of 8909.
USA’s Kyle Garland finished second in this year’s Combined Events Tour, after producing three of the top six performances in the world. He finished second to Skotheim in Gotzis with 8626, then won the US title with a lifetime best of 8869. He ended his season by taking the bronze medal at the World Championships in Tokyo.
Puerto Rico’s Ayden Owens-Delerme claimed third place in the 2025 tour. He opened his outdoor campaign with a seventh-place finish in Gotzis with 8486, then followed it with an 8478 victory in Talence. He capped his season by taking silver at the World Championships, improving his own national record to 8784.
[World Athletics]
The inaugural Sastralian Premier League (SPL), a T10 cricket tournament aimed at strengthening the cricketing fortunes of Ananda Shasthralaya National School, Matugama, will get underway next month, bringing together eight teams.
Organised by the Old Sastralians Cricket Association in collaboration with the school, the tournament is designed to provide a platform for emerging talent while generating much needed financial support for the school’s cricket development programme.
Each franchise will be required to assemble a squad of 16 players, excluding the captain, with the competition featuring a unique set of regulations aimed at encouraging participation across different age groups.
Cricketers from other schools in the Matugama area will also have an opportunity to showcase their skills under the ‘Guest Players’ category. Each team can recruit up to six guest players, with four required to feature in the playing XI.
In a move designed to nurture the next generation, every team must include two current school cricketers in its squad, with at least one guaranteed a place in the playing XI.
The tournament will also accommodate experienced campaigners, with teams permitted to select five players over the age of 20 and three over 40. The provision to use an ‘Impact Player’ is another feature of the competition.
The eight teams have been divided into two groups. Group A comprises JSD Challengers, Jagath Express, Liveka Power Lions and Rexhill Warriors, while JPI Royals, Five Star Heroes, Marine Titans and Finnk Falcons make up Group B.
A total of 16 matches will be played across November 7, 8 and 15, with November 16 set aside as a reserve day.
Beyond the action on the field, organisers hope the tournament will provide a financial boost to school cricket while forging stronger ties between past and present cricketers.
Squad for the first three ODIs: Shubman Gill [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer [VC], KL Rahul [WK], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna*, Kuldeep Yadav
Squad for fourth and fifth ODIs: Shreyas Iyer [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan [WK, VC], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Yash Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav
[Cricbuzz]
Football’s Asian Cup, hosted by Saudi Arabia, could be moved back a year to 2028 following a series of attacks on the country by Yemen’s Houthis.
The continental tournament will be rescheduled “if we need to” but the organisers are in “no hurry” to make a decision, Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said on Thursday.
The 2027 Asian Cup is supposed to kick off on January 7 in the Saudi cities of Jeddah, Riyadh and al-Khobar.
The kingdom has in recent days come under sustained attack in a dramatic escalation from the Houthis.
“We can wait until the end of November,” Al Khalifa told reporters in Zurich on Wednesday about a decision on the fate of the Asian Cup.
“Things can change very quickly for better or worse in the region, and it is a question of seeing what happens,” he added.
“If we need to make a decision then we will, but we could move back a year to 2028 if we need to.
“But at the moment we are monitoring the situation and everything is on schedule.”
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr saw their Asian Champions League match delayed by an hour on Monday after Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence said it had intercepted a missile fired towards Riyadh.
Three matches in Saudi domestic football, including one involving Al-Nassr, were postponed this week.
(Aljazeera)
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