Latest news with #womeninsports
National Post
4 hours ago
- Health
- National Post
J.K. Rowling, Piers Morgan slam ‘woke brigade,' call for cancellation of controversial boxer
J.K. Rowling is leading the charge, calling for Olympic boxer Imane Khelif to be stripped of a gold medal after a leaked report revealed the controversial champion has 'male' chromosomes. Article content The medical test on Khelif from the 2023 World Championships comes less than two days after World Boxing ruled the boxer would need to undergo sex screening to be eligible for any future appearances in female events. Article content Article content Article content Last year, the 26-year-old represented Algeria and won gold at the Paris Olympic Games. Article content Rowling, who has long criticized biological males competing in women's sports, took to X to call the news 'a win for women because they won't be battered to death in the ring by men.' Article content She responded to a post by someone who suggested the testing was a violation against Khelif. Article content 'If you had any idea what physical tests women go through routinely in their lives you'd know a cheek swab is no bigger deal than flossing your teeth,' the Harry Potter creator wrote. 'Any more moronic questions, wing them over.' Article content It's a win for women because they won't be battered to death in the ring by men. If you had any idea what physical tests women go through routinely in their lives you'd know a cheek swab is no bigger deal than flossing your teeth. Any more moronic questions, wing them over. — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 2, 2025 Article content Article content Former collegiate swimmer Riley Gaines, who competed against trans athlete Lia Thomas, agreed. Article content 'A cheek swab is far from invasive — certainly less invasive than having your brain prodded through your nose like they did with COVID tests, and definitely less invasive than being punched in the face by a man.' she wrote on X. Article content The women's sports advocate added in another post: 'To all the people that insisted Imane Khelif was a woman because his passport said so, you were wrong. We were right. Sincerely, People with functioning eyes and a shred of honesty.' Article content To all the people that insisted Imane Khelif was a woman because his passport said so, You were wrong. We were right. Sincerely, People with functioning eyes and a shred of honesty — Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) June 1, 2025
CTV News
4 days ago
- General
- CTV News
‘What dreams are made of': Canadian soccer legend Scott playing final international game in Winnipeg
Winnipeg's own Desiree Scott bids farewell to international soccer in a celebration match on home turf. A Winnipeg soccer legend is lacing up her cleats one last time in her hometown. Desiree Scott will hit the pitch Saturday afternoon with Canada Soccer's Women's National Team (CANWNT) in a friendly match against Haiti. It will be the final international game of the defensive midfielder's 14-year career playing for Canada. 'For me, it's all about a celebration. It's about another opportunity to wear the red and white and just enjoy the moment out there on the field with my team,' Scott told reporters Friday afternoon. 'Not a lot of players get to write their own script and how they end things. So, I'm grateful that I'm here in Winnipeg with family and friends in the stands and getting this opportunity to go for one more.' The defensive midfielder, known as 'The Destroyer' for her hard-nosed approach to soccer, has been a CANWNT mainstay since 2010, racking up 187 caps—the 4th most in team history. 'There's no greater honour than representing your country. I think we don't realize how special that is until you're no longer putting on that jersey and walking around with a maple leaf on your chest,' Scott said. She's played in three FIFA Women's World Cups for Canada and has captured three Olympic medals—one gold and two bronze—during her storied career. 'This team is like family, and we've just had so many great moments, not only on the field, but off it,' she explained. She said defeating the United States women's national team 1-0 in the Tokyo Olympics semifinal en route to the gold medal was a career highlight. 'I mean, that's what dreams are made of. And to see the rise of this team and its success, and to be along that journey playing and having a hand in it, has been my greatest joy.' Scott played for the University of Manitoba Bisons for five seasons prior to joining the women's national team. She's also played for club teams in Canada, England, and the United States. She currently plays for Ottawa Rapid FC in the newly formed Northern Super League. She was appointed to the Order of Manitoba in 2022. Scott's final game with CANWNT kicks off Saturday at 1 p.m. from Princess Auto Stadium.
News.com.au
5 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Chelsea match-winner! QLD avoid sweep
State of Origin: Chelsea Lenarduzzi has scored the match-winning try to give Queensland an important game three victory, avoiding a first ever sweep in a three-game Women’s State of Origin series.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
‘We work hard and have a plan': meet the team who have won their league 23 times in a row
There are many types of champions. Some win the league just as a one-off. There are those who enjoy periods of sustained success as well as the relentless winners who establish a long-term stranglehold on the silverware in their country. The next level up is the peerless teams who sustain it for a decade or so. Finally, in an entire category of their own, we have SFK 2000 Sarajevo. The Bosnia and Herzegovina women's champions recently extended their own world record by lifting their 23rd (!) consecutive title, continuing a streak that began before nearly half of their current squad were even born. On 21 May they added the Bosnian Cup, lifting it for 21st time this century, with a 1-0 victory over their nearest challengers Emina, and speaking to the Guardian before that cup success, trying to explain their dominance in the league, Sarajevo's secretary general, Azra Numanovic, said: 'I can't even describe it any more. We are changing the perspective towards women's football in Bosnia and in this region, because if you see our results, we're the most successful football club in Bosnia. Not women's football club, the most successful football club. 'I think the biggest question is, 'how do we do it psychologically, to motivate our players to do it from year to year?' Everyone says 'the league in Bosnia, the quality is not so high and so you do it easily' but actually no, that's not true, because we are human – we work so hard, we have our strategic plan, our tactics, our mentality, that we from year-to-year manage to be the best. 'The key point is we have our head coach, Samira Hurem, who is, at the same time, the president of this club. She formed this club in the year 2000 and she's the one who's been leading us since day one. Her vision, her energy is something that has been transferred to all of us younger ones.' Hurem is, like Numanovic, a former player for both SFK 2000 Sarajevo and the Bosnia and Herzegovina women's national team. This year their team won the title by a 21-point margin, but spare a thought for second-place Emina, who have finished as the runners-up for a sixth consecutive campaign. 'We have really good matches with them,' Numanovic says, of their rivalry. 'They're trying hard and it's good for us to have teams like that so we play better games because the rest of the league is really not that good, and then you don't have those kind of quality matches and then when the Champions League comes you have to play more defensively and it's really hard to switch over, so we're actually very happy to have Emina.' Naturally, amid such domestic dominance, it is in the Women's Champions League where Sarajevo face their toughest games each season. This season, they beat the Faroe Islands-based club KÍ Klaksvík Kvinnur in the first round of qualifying before being knocked out by Benfica. They have claimed some sizable scalps over the years, including beating Cardiff City 3-0 in 2013, but they have progressed through the qualifying rounds just four times, most recently in 2019, when they were eliminated by Chelsea in the round of 32, before the existing main-draw group-stage format was introduced. 'We try in our preparation period to have good friendly matches with the champions of Serbia and Montenegro who are pretty similar to us,' Numanovic says of the gap between domestic and European football. 'There was an idea to establish a regional league. The best teams from Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia would play each other, because all of us need to overcome this gap. All of us have the same problem. 'It [creating such a regional competition] is not easy because the biggest problem we have is how to finance it. We already had many meetings and everyone would be happy to do it, but we still cannot overcome the financial burden. What's interesting here is, for example, our men's colleagues in all of these countries could never organise that, because of security reasons. It is impossible. Imagine Sarajevo v Dinamo Zagreb? That would be a mess – but when we play each other it's a super happy, positive match, so we have overcome the political situation with women's football. It's a super beautiful atmosphere. Now we need a shift to more investment in women's football to see the potential in it, to make some of these projects come alive.' There is at least a new competition that has been introduced by Uefa, but it is Europe-wide. Bosnia and Herzegovina are ranked 25th in Uefa women's coefficient list but now have an extra incentive to improve their standing – from 24th place upwards, countries start to receive a spot in the new Women's Europa Cup competition from the 2025-26 campaign, meaning Emina have narrowly missed out this time, but Numanovic is enthusiastically welcoming that new competition as a means to grow the women's game around the entire continent. 'This is a big step forward,' she says. 'It will help a lot of teams. More teams will get access to Uefa competitions to work on their development so this will help a lot. We are close to having two teams – it will be amazing if Emina also gets to play in Europe and develop themselves, and it will also push the other teams here to also develop.' Numanovic, who started playing for Sarajevo at 14 in 2004, was a defensive midfielder who could also play at full-back, and although she hung up her boots three years ago, she has never been more active in the sport, having working in administration for the past 17 years, initially just to help the club out. She has spent 10 years working with the European Club Association, where she is now a board member, and she wants more women to have chances to get involved in running the sport. 'Another key reason why we [Sarajevo] are successful is most of our administration staff are former players of the club – we give everyone a chance to learn if they want to stay in the club. When you were a player and you remain to be a fighter on the administration field as well, you know what a player needs.' They are already in the Guinness book of World Records but, with that ethos, they intend to remain on top in Bosnia and Herzegovina for many more years to come. Major blow: The Tottenham defender Ella Morris has sustained an anterior cruciate ligament injury in her right knee during training with England after she received her first senior international call-up. She wrote on the social media platform X: 'From the highest high to the lowest low. Devastated doesn't even come close. So grateful for the incredible people around me. ACL round 2 – let's go.' Cutting it fine: The match venues for July's Women's Africa Cup of Nations, being hosted in Morocco a year later than originally planned, have finally been announced. The stadiums will include the Olympic Stadium in Rabat and Casablanca's Larbi Zaouli Stadium, among four other venues. An official fixture list is still yet to be released. Champions of Europe. Faye Carruthers is joined by Suzy Wrack, Tim Stillman and Sophie Downey to reflect on Arsenal's historic Champions League victory. There is also a chat with Adrian Jacob, head of football at World Sevens Football, about the inaugural tournament in Portugal. Listen here You can watch SFK 2000 Sarajevo clinch their latest domestic double in the Cup final against Emina, with Lili Jones-Baidoe heading in the only goal in the 37th minute. 'I had hoped that Mary would play an important role within the squad this summer, so of course I am disappointed. Mary has been clear on her reasons why she has made the decision and it is something we need to accept.' The England head coach, Sarina Wiegman, reacts to Mary Earps' decision to retire from international football. What is your favourite Mary Earps moment? The dancing on the table? The swearing? Taking on Nike? Suzanne Wrack pays tribute to a player who elevated the game in England to another level. The interim Matildas coach, Tom Sermanni, has hit out at the A-League Women for 'gross' underinvestment. 'We need a complete rethink,' he says. Tom Garry tracks the steps – from Linköping to Lisbon – that made Stina Blackstenius an Arsenal icon. Her former coaches are not surprised. The Guardian has exclusively revealed that the FA and the England players have agreed a bonus package that would see the squad receive up to £1.7m if they defend their Euro title this summer. And yes, it is already that time of the year. Sarah Rendell has already inputted more than 150 transfers into our transfer interactive, and this year we have added the NWSL as well. Take a look here.
CBC
27-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- CBC
See it, be it, and then tee it up: Black Women Golfers group opens new space in golf
The first time I ever played golf, it was at when my colleague and friend, Anastasia Bucsis, and her wife, Diana Matheson, organized an afternoon of connecting with really cool women in the sports space in Toronto. Golfing was really hard. I remember thinking I have to swing accurately, look, and not move my body too wildly even though I need momentum. Despite having the bragging rights on family mini-putt tournaments, it was far more difficult than I expected. I was terrible. I ended up enjoying the golf cart with my friend who was as bad as me so we had fun driving around the course. Golf was not necessarily a vibe I connected with. People playing golf always look so pristine. And I had never seen a South Asian woman on the greens. But an event this past weekend has me thinking about community, growth of sport, and about picking up a club again. I first met Amaya Athill, who founded Black Women Golf in 2022, through a mutual friend. They told me Athill worked in golf. "Really?" I said, not masking my surprise. Athill is Black and I hadn't known any Black women in golf and I know a lot of women in sport. She smiled and laughed at my reply. "Yes! You should come out one day," she said graciously. I finally made it out to an event with the group Black Women Golfers. It was an introductory session for racialized women who want to learn golf and sharpen their game. Athill started playing golf at the age of five in Antigua, where she was born. She was introduced to it through her father. The sport was played by everyone who looked like her. "In Antigua, a lot of the administrators, the leaders, the players, looked like me," Athill said. "They came from my community. They were folks of colour. I felt there was no question about whether I belonged." She appreciated golf because she didn't connect with traditional sports. "No other sport stuck," she said. "I'm not a runner. Gosh, I think running is like death. I can't do it. I'm sorry." But golfing wasn't available for her in university, where she attended school in the U.K and studied to become a lawyer. She moved back to Antigua, did her Masters in the U.S. and returned to the U.K. And then COVID hit. She had just been married but her husband got stuck because of the policies and travel restrictions associated with COVID. Athill needed something to keep her sane. She joined a local municipal golf club and played with a number of predominantly Nepalese golfers in the area. Athill Googled "Black golfers" and got in touch with the African Caribbean Golf Association. She joined them and played once a month. They became her home and her community during her time in England. She began to put on events for Black women in golf. They were a success. Athill later moved to Canada and instead of jumping right back into law, she applied for jobs in golf. She started working with the First Tee program in Ontario. She saw the need for people who look like her to be involved with the sport. She is now the regional director of Ontario for Golf Canada. In Canada, there are about 4,000 members of PGA of Canada, the association that governs club pros and instructors, of which seven per cent identify as people of colour, and seven per cent are women. There are two Black women with PGA credentials and Athill is one of them. The other is Chloe Wells, who had a different experience with golf than Athill did. She grew up in Greater Toronto Area with a West African mom and a white dad from Windsor, Ont.. She was four when her dad got her into the game. Unlike Athill, Wells was acutely aware that she looked different than others in the game, and found herself subjected to unkind microaggressions as a child. When she was registered in a golf camp at age nine, one of the instructors at the camp called her "Aunt Jemima" because she was wearing a bandana. That instructor was fired after she told her parents what happened. Wells was talented and a coach named Carrie Vaughan saw her potential and helped her develop her skills. "She was willing to teach me longterm," Wells said of Vaughan. Wells played golf at Georgian College where she received a Bachelor's degree in golf management. When Athill started working with community groups in 2023, she connected with Wells and both of them brought something special to Black Women Golfers. The impact of their presence while exposing new golfers to the sport is incredible. "I've actually received a lot more support than I expected," Athill said. "So I think overall, there's been a lot of 'Oh my gosh! This is amazing. I'm really happy for what you're doing!'" Other than one lady making snide remarks at an event, Athill nor the group have had no issues. They play soca music on the greens, wear the coolest fits and encourage women to be themselves. "I just love seeing more people join this sport," Wells said. "Golf will grow with you." Wells teaches all ages and she finds that as the sport community broadens it renders the space more accepting. "It's really about creating a judgment-free space." The purpose of Black Women Golfers is not only to create new and emboldened spaces in golf, but to fortify the work that has been done for racial equality in sport and society. "With what's happening now with the world taking a turn to the right, leaning to the right on the political spectrum, I have a lot of fear and anxieties that the remnants of what people saw to be racial injustice and decided to do something about, they're now closing their doors to or closing their ears to," Athill said. One of the ways that Athill and Wells show up for community is to teach golf and remind women that they have a place swinging the club, working in the sport or growing to love it. If anything, they convinced me to give it another go because of the sheer happiness and enjoyment of the women I saw. My lack of skill wouldn't matter, but my heart and presence would. That's a play I can get behind.
