Latest news with #amateurs
Khaleej Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
MENA Golf Tour announces major 2025 relaunch in bid to boost regional golf
The MENA Golf Tour is set for a high-profile comeback this year, marking a significant boost for golf across the Middle East and North Africa region. Since its launch in 2011, the MENA Golf Tour has been a critical springboard for emerging golf professionals and amateurs, offering world-ranking points, competitive purses, and international exposure that have helped players from the Middle East and beyond break through to the game's top tours. After being abandoned for the entire 2018 season and enduring a stop-start return in 2020 that was cut short by the pandemic, the MENA Golf Tour is now poised for a full-scale comeback, aiming to reclaim its position as one of the Middle East's leading professional and amateur circuits and rebuild the momentum lost during years of disruption. Leading the Tour's resurgence is Keith Waters, former Chief Operating Officer of the DP World Tour and long-standing board member of the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR), who steps in as the new Chairman and Commissioner. Waters' appointment brings heavyweight experience to the only OWGR-recognised circuit headquartered in the Middle East. Now, with over four decades of top-tier golf administration, including his pivotal role in launching the OWGR in 2004, Waters is expected to drive the Tour into an ambitious new era. The 2025/2026 season will feature 12 events, opening in Portugal following a November Qualifying School for non-exempt players. Talks are underway with both the DP World Tour and the HotelPlanner Tour to create a formal development pathway, giving the MENA Golf Tour's top performers direct access to DP World Tour Qualifying School and the HotelPlanner Tour. Waters backs Tour revival 'I'm delighted to be involved in the relaunch of the MENA Golf Tour,' said Waters. 'This Tour has tremendous potential and serves as a crucial pathway for golfers, not just from the Middle East, but internationally. 'We have already seen success stories such as Robert MacIntyre, who progressed from the MENA Golf Tour to winning prestigious titles like the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA TOUR and the Genesis Scottish Open on the DP World Tour.' MacIntyre, now a two-time DP World Tour winner and sitting second on the European Ryder Cup ranking, paid tribute to the Tour's influence on his career. 'The MENA Golf Tour opened doors, taught me how to win, and prepared me for the challenges of the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR,' said the Scot. 'I'm excited to see it return and give the next generation of players the same opportunities I had.' OWGR status, prize hike Under Waters' leadership, the revitalised circuit will retain its OWGR eligibility while significantly increasing prize purses with each event. "We're pleased the MENA Golf Tour will remain an eligible Official World Golf Ranking tour as well as prize money of $100,000 per event," said Waters. "Each tournament will be contested over 54 holes, featuring a 36-hole cut to the top 60 players and ties, with the winner taking home $18,000." Rayhan Thomas is another standout product of the MENA Golf Tour's talent pipeline and proof of its reach beyond the region. The Indian golfer, who was born and raised in Dubai, made headlines in 2016 when, at just 16, he became the first amateur to win a MENA Golf Tour event, the Dubai Creek Open. The following year, he gained international attention by tying a world record with nine consecutive birdies during the same tournament.
South China Morning Post
03-08-2025
- Sport
- South China Morning Post
Passion, pride and live pigs: inside China's booming local basketball league
In China's hottest new basketball league, the players are all amateurs, the mascots are a pair of live chickens riding a remote control Jeep, and the winning teams are presented with plastic bags full of live fish. Welcome to the 'ZheBA' – an intercity competition in China's eastern Zhejiang province that has become a national sensation by tapping into the region's fierce local pride and diverse culture. The contest, officially named the Zhejiang Provincial City Basketball League, features dozens of local teams from across the region of more than 66 million people, which compete in a series of divisions leading to a final playoff to crown the eventual champion. It is a world away from the polished world of the CBA, China's answer to the NBA. The standard of play is uneven. Matches often take place in small local gymnasiums. On one occasion, a game was interrupted by a defecating goat. But for its legions of fans, that is all part of its charm. 'The ZheBA might not understand basketball, but it understands Zhejiang', one user wrote on the social platform RedNote, in a post that received thousands of likes. The ZheBA is part of a broader movement in China towards embracing grass roots amateur sports, after years of growing frustration with the dysfunctional state of the nation's professional leagues.
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Cycling like a pro… for a day: How amateurs measure themselves up to pros on one of the world's toughest stages
The Tour de France's reputation precedes it. Even if you've never seen a bike race or struggle to name a professional rider, the most casual sports fan is aware of just how physically and mentally demanding the event can be. After 23 days on the road and well over 3,000 km (roughly 1,870 miles) cycled mostly around France, there are often just a handful of seconds separating the final podium finishers. While the route changes each year, the 2025 iteration of the Tour follows tradition by being composed of 21 total stages. For this year's riders, though, Stage 19 stands above many others in terms of both difficulty and importance. Competitors will have to climb a grueling 4,550 meters (about 14,930 feet) over the course of 130 km (almost 80.8 miles), the stage runs through the heart of the French Alps from Albertville all the way up to La Plagne. For the Tour's top contenders, this stage could make or break their shot at the coveted yellow jersey. It represents perhaps the final – and most brutal – opportunity to gain time on rivals before the race heads toward its conclusion. But Stage 19 won't just decide the fate of the pros. For the amateur riders tackling L'Étape du Tour – the public version of this exact stage – it's a once-in-a-lifetime challenge and a chance to test themselves on the same roads as cycling's elite. 'The challenge of a lifetime' L'Étape has been offering cycling enthusiasts from around the globe the chance to complete a Tour de France stage for over three decades. This year, 16,000 riders are set to descend upon the hilly environs of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with over 90 nations represented. Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France, has described this year's L'Étape as a 'treat' for participants, who will endure each of the gargantuan climbs five days ahead of the pros. Speaking to CNN Sports, some of this year's participants shared their excitement and trepidation ahead of what many have dubbed 'the challenge of a lifetime.' The skill and experience levels of those taking part vary widely, from those hoping to one day go pro to others with full-time jobs taking part in their first-ever endurance event. For charity worker Amy Young, she classes herself as somewhere in between those two extremes. The English amateur rider will be taking part in her first L'Étape du Tour but has previously competed in other iterations of the famed amateur race, placing third in the female category at last year's Irish event. 'I'm a cycling addict, so I just always want to push myself and my bike and see how far I can go,' Young told CNN Sports ahead of setting off for France. 'It's the challenge of a lifetime, really, in terms of cycling. It's such an iconic route, and to say you've ridden the most challenging stage of the Tour de France would be quite something.' Extreme challenge with extreme conditions Living in Northamptonshire – an area of England not famed for its rolling hills – Young has found it tough to find training climbs comparable to the ones she is set to face in the French Alps. 'The amount of climbing we will have to do over the course of just one ride will be the biggest challenge I've faced on a bike,' the communications executive said. 'Being from where I'm from in the UK, it's hard to properly put into scale just how big and steep some of the climbs will be. 'I'm honestly struggling to visualize the length of some sections. We are talking climbs that will take in excess of an hour at a time.' For Young, the fifth and final climb is what makes her the most nervous. A grueling 19.1 km (roughly 11.9 miles) slog at a 7.2% gradient, riders will be tested with the most punishing portion of the race after having already completed over 100 km (roughly 62 miles), with 24 hairpin turns thrown in for good measure. It is not just the climbs that riders fear, though, with a record-breaking heatwave also gripping large parts of Europe over the course of the summer. Participants have been told that they could face highs of up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on the day of the race. The month of June was the region's hottest on record, with the mountainous jewel of the Alps, Mont Blanc, seeing temperatures at its snow-covered peak rise above zero for the first time in recorded history. 'A bucket list race' For 46-year-old civil servant Denny Kearns, the chance to compete at this year's L'Étape is one he is not taking for granted. Originally due to take part in last year's event, the Hastings native saw his world turned upside down when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in April 2024. With the cancer spreading to his abdomen and lungs, Kearns was forced to withdraw from the event and undergo an intense three-month period of chemotherapy. 'It was one of the toughest periods of my life,' Kearns told CNN Sports. 'I had trained for almost half a year and then overnight was told that all that work had been for nothing. 'The first question I asked the oncologist after my initial scan was: 'How long until I can get back cycling?' 'The cancer was hard to accept, but being told I couldn't compete in my bucket list race made it even tougher.' Thankfully, Kearns' treatment proved successful, and once he was given the all-clear from his doctors, he fixed his sights firmly on competing at this year's event. 'I'm trying not to think about the climbs too much. When I start, it gives me the jitters!' Kearns said apprehensively. 'It is going to be my first time ever doing something like this, so I don't fully know what to expect. 'The main thing for me is getting over that finish line. That's when I'll know that I'm finally back to being my old self and 100% healthy again.' The amateur training 'tightrope' Unlike the professional riders tackling Stage 19, the vast majority of L'Étape participants such as Young and Kearns must walk the training 'tightrope' in the lead-up to the race. Both balancing full-time jobs, the pair admit to their preparations being difficult to keep up with alongside the hectic nature of everyday life. 'It can get a bit much at times,' said Young. 'I'm going out riding before and after work each day during the week. 'When the weekend comes around, my partner and I then head off to a hillier area of the UK to try and get some climbing practice in.' Similarly, for Kearns, the training has come to consume much of his life since the turn of the new year. 'I began training in the winter with maybe six to eight hours per week of riding,' he said. 'I'm now at the stage where I'm doing 12 hours plus per week of training.' Much of this training has been indoors too, with Denny opting to train on a stationary bike in heated conditions to try and best replicate what he will face in the depths of the French summer. Stacking up to the pros In terms of goals and aspirations for the event itself, both participants winced when asked how they would shape up versus the professional riders. Elite names like last year's Tour winner, Tadej Pogačar, will be expected to complete the stage in and around the four-hour mark. Last year's L'Étape event, which ran through the Alpes-Maritimes near Nice, featured elevation and distances similar to this year's iteration. Pogačar won the same 133 km (roughly 82.6 miles) stage in just four hours and four minutes, averaging a speed of 32.6 kph (about 20.26 mph). Even when comparing the Slovenian's time to that of elite amateur riders taking part in last year's L'Étape, the difference is stark. French rider Damien Jeanjean claimed first place in last year's event with a time of four hours and 40 minutes. The impressive performance would have placed him around 100th in the Tour de France rankings for the same stage, but granted, the pro riders also have been riding anywhere between 15 to 18 stages before taking on the same course. Moreover, the average finishing time for last year's L'Étape riders was somewhere between six-and-a-half and seven hours, with an average speed of roughly 25 kph (about 15.5 mph). Conversely, the average time for the professionals was roughly 4.5 hours, equating to an average speed of around 30 kph (about 18.6 mph). For this year's L'Étape participants who spoke to CNN Sports, the goal is not necessarily to challenge elite amateurs such as Jeanjean, but rather to push themselves as far as they can. Young is aiming for anything close to seven hours, which she believes should see her finish in the top portion of the L'Étape female division. Kearns, too, isn't aiming to break any stage records but hopes to cross the line in just under eight hours. 'It has been a long journey to this point. I just can't wait until the end of the race – that's when I'll know I'm finally fully recovered and back to being my old self.'
CNN
19-07-2025
- Sport
- CNN
Cycling like a pro… for a day: How amateurs measure themselves up to pros on one of the world's toughest stages
The Tour de France's reputation precedes it. Even if you've never seen a bike race or struggle to name a professional rider, the most casual sports fan is aware of just how physically and mentally demanding the event can be. After 23 days on the road and well over 3,000 km (roughly 1,870 miles) cycled mostly around France, there are often just a handful of seconds separating the final podium finishers. While the route changes each year, the 2025 iteration of the Tour follows tradition by being composed of 21 total stages. For this year's riders, though, Stage 19 stands above many others in terms of both difficulty and importance. Competitors will have to climb a grueling 4,550 meters (about 14,930 feet) over the course of 130 km (almost 80.8 miles), the stage runs through the heart of the French Alps from Albertville all the way up to La Plagne. For the Tour's top contenders, this stage could make or break their shot at the coveted yellow jersey. It represents perhaps the final – and most brutal – opportunity to gain time on rivals before the race heads toward its conclusion. But Stage 19 won't just decide the fate of the pros. For the amateur riders tackling L'Étape du Tour – the public version of this exact stage – it's a once-in-a-lifetime challenge and a chance to test themselves on the same roads as cycling's elite. L'Étape has been offering cycling enthusiasts from around the globe the chance to complete a Tour de France stage for over three decades. This year, 16,000 riders are set to descend upon the hilly environs of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with over 90 nations represented. Christian Prudhomme, Director of the Tour de France, has described this year's L'Étape as a 'treat' for participants, who will endure each of the gargantuan climbs five days ahead of the pros. Speaking to CNN Sports, some of this year's participants shared their excitement and trepidation ahead of what many have dubbed 'the challenge of a lifetime.' The skill and experience levels of those taking part vary widely, from those hoping to one day go pro to others with full-time jobs taking part in their first-ever endurance event. For charity worker Amy Young, she classes herself as somewhere in between those two extremes. The English amateur rider will be taking part in her first L'Étape du Tour but has previously competed in other iterations of the famed amateur race, placing third in the female category at last year's Irish event. 'I'm a cycling addict, so I just always want to push myself and my bike and see how far I can go,' Young told CNN Sports ahead of setting off for France. 'It's the challenge of a lifetime, really, in terms of cycling. It's such an iconic route, and to say you've ridden the most challenging stage of the Tour de France would be quite something.' Living in Northamptonshire – an area of England not famed for its rolling hills – Young has found it tough to find training climbs comparable to the ones she is set to face in the French Alps. 'The amount of climbing we will have to do over the course of just one ride will be the biggest challenge I've faced on a bike,' the communications executive said. 'Being from where I'm from in the UK, it's hard to properly put into scale just how big and steep some of the climbs will be. 'I'm honestly struggling to visualize the length of some sections. We are talking climbs that will take in excess of an hour at a time.' For Young, the fifth and final climb is what makes her the most nervous. A grueling 19.1 km (roughly 11.9 miles) slog at a 7.2% gradient, riders will be tested with the most punishing portion of the race after having already completed over 100 km (roughly 62 miles), with 24 hairpin turns thrown in for good measure. It is not just the climbs that riders fear, though, with a record-breaking heatwave also gripping large parts of Europe over the course of the summer. Participants have been told that they could face highs of up to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) on the day of the race. The month of June was the region's hottest on record, with the mountainous jewel of the Alps, Mont Blanc, seeing temperatures at its snow-covered peak rise above zero for the first time in recorded history. For 46-year-old civil servant Denny Kearns, the chance to compete at this year's L'Étape is one he is not taking for granted. Originally due to take part in last year's event, the Hastings native saw his world turned upside down when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in April 2024. With the cancer spreading to his abdomen and lungs, Kearns was forced to withdraw from the event and undergo an intense three-month period of chemotherapy. 'It was one of the toughest periods of my life,' Kearns told CNN Sports. 'I had trained for almost half a year and then overnight was told that all that work had been for nothing. 'The first question I asked the oncologist after my initial scan was: 'How long until I can get back cycling?' 'The cancer was hard to accept, but being told I couldn't compete in my bucket list race made it even tougher.' Thankfully, Kearns' treatment proved successful, and once he was given the all-clear from his doctors, he fixed his sights firmly on competing at this year's event. 'I'm trying not to think about the climbs too much. When I start, it gives me the jitters!' Kearns said apprehensively. 'It is going to be my first time ever doing something like this, so I don't fully know what to expect. 'The main thing for me is getting over that finish line. That's when I'll know that I'm finally back to being my old self and 100% healthy again.' Unlike the professional riders tackling Stage 19, the vast majority of L'Étape participants such as Young and Kearns must walk the training 'tightrope' in the lead-up to the race. Both balancing full-time jobs, the pair admit to their preparations being difficult to keep up with alongside the hectic nature of everyday life. 'It can get a bit much at times,' said Young. 'I'm going out riding before and after work each day during the week. 'When the weekend comes around, my partner and I then head off to a hillier area of the UK to try and get some climbing practice in.' Similarly, for Kearns, the training has come to consume much of his life since the turn of the new year. 'I began training in the winter with maybe six to eight hours per week of riding,' he said. 'I'm now at the stage where I'm doing 12 hours plus per week of training.' Much of this training has been indoors too, with Denny opting to train on a stationary bike in heated conditions to try and best replicate what he will face in the depths of the French summer. In terms of goals and aspirations for the event itself, both participants winced when asked how they would shape up versus the professional riders. Elite names like last year's Tour winner, Tadej Pogačar, will be expected to complete the stage in and around the four-hour mark. Last year's L'Étape event, which ran through the Alpes-Maritimes near Nice, featured elevation and distances similar to this year's iteration. Pogačar won the same 133 km (roughly 82.6 miles) stage in just four hours and four minutes, averaging a speed of 32.6 kph (about 20.26 mph). Even when comparing the Slovenian's time to that of elite amateur riders taking part in last year's L'Étape, the difference is stark. French rider Damien Jeanjean claimed first place in last year's event with a time of four hours and 40 minutes. The impressive performance would have placed him around 100th in the Tour de France rankings for the same stage, but granted, the pro riders also have been riding anywhere between 15 to 18 stages before taking on the same course. Moreover, the average finishing time for last year's L'Étape riders was somewhere between six-and-a-half and seven hours, with an average speed of roughly 25 kph (about 15.5 mph). Conversely, the average time for the professionals was roughly 4.5 hours, equating to an average speed of around 30 kph (about 18.6 mph). For this year's L'Étape participants who spoke to CNN Sports, the goal is not necessarily to challenge elite amateurs such as Jeanjean, but rather to push themselves as far as they can. Young is aiming for anything close to seven hours, which she believes should see her finish in the top portion of the L'Étape female division. Kearns, too, isn't aiming to break any stage records but hopes to cross the line in just under eight hours. 'It has been a long journey to this point. I just can't wait until the end of the race – that's when I'll know I'm finally fully recovered and back to being my old self.'
CTV News
24-06-2025
- Sport
- CTV News
Mickelson Invitational golf event back for Year 3.
Calgary Watch One of Calgary's premier golf events is back for it's third year. The Mickelson Invitational, featuring pros, amateurs and creators, runs from July 3-5.
