The third weekend of October is behind us, and it was an action-packed and at times, controversial one in the world of sports.
Here we look at the results and news headlines from the weekend sport from around the world and here in South Africa.
Weekend sports review – Friday news
SA Rugby reluctantly decided to withdraw the Springboks from the 2020 Rugby Championship, citing player welfare among other concerns.
Steven Gerrard ruled Bongani Zungu out of the big clash against fierce rivals Celtic on Saturday.
The Cheetahs battled their way to a close-fought 19-17 win over the Bulls in their clash in Bloemfontein on Friday evening. The home side led 13-3 at halftime and managed to hang on for their second successive win of the competition.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said Friday he embraced new track technology that features pacemaking lights, a system used to great effect in two stunning world records last week.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola revealed on Friday that Kevin De Bruyne would miss the visit of Arsenal after picking up an injury while on international duty.
Egypt will host the 2020 CAF Champions League final if one of their clubs qualifies to play a Moroccan team, the Confederation of African Football announced Friday.
Manchester United triggered the one-year option on Paul Pogba’s contract in a move that will keep the France midfielder at Old Trafford until 2022.
Bristol won their first piece of silverware since 1983 on Friday when they defeated Toulon in the European Challenge Cup final.
Top seed Alexander Zverev edged out South African qualifier Lloyd Harris 6-4, 3-6, 6-0 to reach the Cologne ATP semi-finals on Friday.
Weekend sports review – Saturday news
AB de Villiers blasted 55 off just 22 balls to see RCB home in a thrilling Indian Premier League chase in Dubai on Saturday 17 October.
Orlando Pirates got their 2020/21 campaign underway with a 1-0 victory over Cape Town City in the MTN8. Follow the highlights below.
Phakisa Pumas flyhalf Eddie Fouche delivered a superb individual performance to steer his team to a 27-21 victory over Tafel Lager Griquas in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon.
The Stormers delivered an improved second-half performance to grab a 23-17 comeback win over the Emirates Lions at DHL Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday evening.
The US PGA Tour plans to allow a limited number of golf fans to attend the Houston Open tournament next month in Texas.
Teofimo Lopez scored an upset over Vasiliy Lomachenko by a unanimous decision on Saturday 17 October in Las Vegas to become undisputed world lightweight champion.
Championship leader Fabio Quartararo is a MotoGP polesitter for the 10th time with the Petronas Yamaha SRT rider recovering from a crash in free practice to post a scorching hot lap at the Aragon GP qualifying.
Jurgen Klopp hailed his “dominant” Liverpool side after they were forced to settle for a 2-2 draw against Everton on Saturday when captain Jordan Henderson had a stoppage-time winner ruled out for offside.
Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea won a sixth successive World Superbike title on Saturday after finishing fourth in Estoril.
Frank Lampard demanded Chelsea cut out their costly mistakes after Jannik Vestergaard snatched a stoppage-time equaliser for Southampton in a dramatic 3-3 draw on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City need time to hit top form after they ground out a 1-0 win over Arsenal on Saturday to move three points off the top of the Premier League table.
Exeter were crowned champions of Europe for the first time on Saturday after a thrilling 31-27 win over Racing 92 in a dramatic Champions Cup final in Bristol.
Shikhar Dhawan hit his first Indian Premier League century on Saturday as Delhi Capitals beat Chennai Super Kings to go back top of the table.
Weekend sports review – Sunday news
Alex Rins became the eighth different race-winner in 2020 as he claimed Suzuki’s first Grand Prix win in 2020 at the Aragon MotoGP on Sunday 18 October.
The All Blacks may have unearthed the next Jonah Lomu after 21-year-old Caleb Clarke proved to be a one-man demolition squad in the 27-7 whipping of Australia in Auckland Sunday.
Kaizer Chiefs held on to secure a 2-1 win over Maritzburg United and a place in the MTN 8 semi-finals on Sunday.
Seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi’s quarantine after testing positive for Covid-19 means he will miss not only Sunday’s Aragon Grand Prix but also next weekend’s Grand Prix of Teruel, his Yamaha team said.
Serbia’s Laslo Djere ousted home hope Marco Cecchinato in two sets to win his second ATP title in the Sardinia Open tournament on Sunday.
Team Ineos’ British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart soloed to victory in the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday after a tough climb to the summit of Piancavallo.
Fulham striker Aleksandar Mitrovic missed a penalty and gave away a spot-kick as Sheffield United rescued a 1-1 draw in a battle of the Premier League strugglers on Sunday.
Friday results
Super Rugby Unlocked second round result Friday:
At Bloemfontein
Cheetahs 19 Bulls 17
French Ligue 1 results Friday:
Dijon 1 (Balde 54) Rennes 1 (Terrier 24)
Nimes 0 Paris Saint-Germain 4 (Mbappe 32, 83, Florenzi 78, Sarabia 88)
English Championship results Friday:
Derby 0 Watford 1
Saturday results
Super Rugby Unlocked second round results Saturday:
At Kimberley
Griquas 21 Pumas 27
At Cape Town
Stormers 23 Lions 17
German Bundesliga results on Saturday:
Hoffenheim 0 Borussia Dortmund 1 (Reus 76)
Freiburg 1 (Lienhart 15) Werder Bremen 1 (Fuellkrug 25-pen)
Hertha Berlin 0 Stuttgart 2 (Kempf 9, Castro 68)
Mainz 0 Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Alario 30)
Augsburg 0 RB Leipzig 2 (Angelino 45, Poulsen 66)
Arminia Bielefeld 1 (Doan 58) Bayern Munich 4 (Mueller 8, 51, Lewandowski 26, 45+1)
Spanish La Liga results on Saturday:
Granada 1 (Herrera 82) Sevilla 0
Celta Vigo 0 Atletico Madrid 2 (Suarez 6, Carrasco 90+5)
Real Madrid 0 Cadiz 1 (Lozano 16)
Getafe 1 (Mata 56-pen) Barcelona 0
French Ligue 1 results Saturday:
Reims 1 (Cassama 15) Lorient 3 (Hamel 61, Wissa 64, Moffi 80)
Marseille 3 (Thauvin 5, Amavi 54, Pablo 64-og) Bordeaux 1 (Maja 83)
Italian Serie A results Saturday:
Napoli 4 (Lozano 23, 27, Politano 30, Osimhen 43) Atalanta 1 (Lammers 69)
Inter Milan 1 (Lukaku 29) AC Milan 2 (Ibrahimovic 13, 16)
Sampdoria 3 (Quagliarella 32, Augello 41, Damsgaard 74) Lazio 0
Crotone 1 (Tochukwu Nwankwo 12-pen) Juventus 1 (Morata 21)
English Premier League results Saturday:
Everton 2 (Keane 19, Calvert-Lewin 81) Liverpool 2 (Mane 3, Salah 72)
Chelsea 3 (Werner 15, 28, Havertz 59) Southampton 3 (Ings 43, Adams 57, Vestergaard 90+2)
Manchester City 1 (Sterling 23) Arsenal 0
Newcastle 1 (Shaw 2-og) Manchester United 4 (Maguire 23, Fernandes 86, Wan-Bissaka 90, Rashford 90+6)
English Championship results Saturday:
Barnsley 2 Bristol City 2
Birmingham 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1
Blackburn 0 Nottingham Forest 1
Bournemouth 0 QPR 0
Brentford 2 Coventry 0
Luton 0 Stoke 2
Middlesbrough 0 Reading 0
Rotherham 1 Norwich 2
Swansea 1 Huddersfield 2
Wycombe 1 Millwall 2
Scottish Premiership results on Saturday:
Celtic 0 Rangers 2 (Goldson 9, 54)
Dundee United 0 Aberdeen 0
Hamilton Academical 3 (Hughes 40, 79, Ogboe 44) St. Johnstone 5 (May 2, 33, Wotherspoon 14, Conway 69, 82)
Livingston 1 (Pittman 11) Kilmarnock 3 (Tshibola 24, Burke 37-pen, Kiltie 57)
Ross County 0 Hibernian 0
French Top 14 results on Saturday:
Montpellier 42 Agen 13
Pau 29 Bordeaux-Begles 24
La Rochelle 62 Castres 3
Brive 16 Toulouse 36
MTN 8 results Saturday:
TTM 2 SuperSport United 3
Orlando Pirates 1 Cape Town City 0
Sunday results
Results of the Aragon motorcycling Grand Prix at Aragon MotorLand on Sunday:
MotoGP
1. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki): 41mins 54.391sec, 2. Alex Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 0.263sec, 3. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki) 2.644, 4. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 2.880, 5. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Honda-LCR) 4.570, 6. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 4.756, 7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) 8.639, 8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda-LCR) 8.913, 9. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati-Pramac) 9.390, 10. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Avintia) 9.617
Selected
18. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha-SRT) 21.498
Standings (after 10 of 14 races)
1. Joan Mir (ESP) 121 points, 2. Fabio Quartararo (FRA) 115, 3. Maverick Vinales (ESP) 109, 4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) 106, 5. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN) 92
Moto2
1. Sam Lowes (GBR/Kalex) 39:33.202, 2. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Kalex) 4.195, 3. Jorge Martín (ESP/Kalex) 4.340, 4. Jake Dixon (GBR) 9.298, 5. Remy Gardner (AUS/Kalex) 14.785
Standings (after 11 of 15 rounds)
1. Enea Bastianini (ITA) 155 pts, 2. Sam Lowes (GBR) 153, 3. Luca Marini (ITA) 150, 4. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) 130, 5. Jorge Martín (ESP) 95
Results and standings after the 15th stage of the Giro d’Italia on Sunday, over 185km from the Rivolto Air Base in Udine to the Piancavallo ski resort:
Stage
1. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR/Ineos) 4hr 58min 52sec (average: 37.1 km/h), 2. Wilco Kelderman (NED/SUN) at 02sec, 3. Jai Hindley (AUS/SUN) 04, 4. Joao Almeida (POR/DEC) 37, 5. Rafal Majka (POL/BOR) 1:22, 6. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOR) 1:29, 7. James Knox (GBR/DEC) 1:36, 8. Pello Bilbao (ESP/BAH) 1:36, 9. Jakob Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 1:36, 10. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/TRE) 1:36
Selected:
15. Brandon McNulty (USA/UAE) 2:43
Overall
1. Joao Almeida (POR/DEC) 59hr 27min 38sec, 2. Wilco Kelderman (NED/SUN) at 15sec, 3. Jai Hindley (AUS/SUN) 2:56, 4. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR/INE) 2:57, 5. Pello Bilbao (ESP/BAH) 3:10, 6. Rafal Majka (POL/BOR) 3:18, 7. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA/TRE) 3:29, 8. Domenico Pozzovivo (ITA/NTT) 3:50, 9. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOR) 4:09, 10. Fausto Masnada (ITA/DEC) 4:12, 11. Brandon McNulty (USA/UAE) 4:29, 12. Jakob Fuglsang (DEN/AST) 5:07.
Spanish La Liga results on Sunday:
Eibar 0 Osasuna 0
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Berenguer 68, Williams 79) Levante 0
Villarreal 2 (Paco Alcacer 6-pen, Parejo 69) Valencia 1 (Guedes 37)
Saint Petersburg ATP results on Sunday (x denotes seeded player):
Final
Andrey Rublev (RUS x3) bt Borna Coric (CRO x7) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4
French Ligue 1 results on Sunday:
Strasbourg 2 (Diallo 43, Aholou 55) Lyon 3 (Kadewere 12, Toko Ekambi 26, 42)
Angers 1 (Mangani 38-pen) Metz 1 (Nguette 39)
Monaco 1 (Ben Yedder 70-pen) Montpellier 1 (Mavididi 51)
Nantes 3 (Kolo Muani 16, Blas 30, Bamba 79) Brest 1 (Faivre 68
Italian Serie A results on Sunday:
Bologna 3 (Soriano 9, Svanberg 39, Orsolini 60) Sassuolo 4 (Berardi 18, Djuricic 64, Caputo 70, Tomiyasu 77-og)
Torino 2 (Belotti 4-pen, 49) Cagliari 3 (João Pedro 12, Simeone 19, 73)
Spezia 2 (Verde 39, Farias 75) Fiorentina 2 (Pezzela 2, Biraghi 4)
English Premier League results on Sunday:
Crystal Palace 1 (Zaha 19-pen) Brighton 1 (MacAllister 90)
Sheffield United 1 (Sharp 85-pen) Fulham 1 (Lookman 77)
English Championship results on Sunday:
Preston 0 Cardiff 1
MTN 8 results Sunday:
Kaizer Chiefs 2 Maritzburg United 1
