Regime is using sport as a tool for soft power but has failed to wash away sickening track record on human rightsLooking back, so much of it was already there on that night in Diriyah when a storm raged across the desert and Anthony Joshua made history – and £60m – by retaining his world heavyweight title belts. Not just the good, the bad and the ugly of Saudi Arabia’s sporting ambitions, but the half-truths and accommodations of those willing to take the money and look the other way.One moment from the fight in December 2019 lingers more than most: Joshua absorbing the cheers from the young crowd, many of whom were women in western clothes, before averting his gaze...
Disrupter Greg Norman is not the only one attached to LIV who will surely soon discover services are no longer requiredThe playing of a Presidents Cup, for so long the Ryder Cup’s poor relation, in Saudi Arabia now has to be on the table. The deal struck between LIV Golf and one-time rivals, the PGA and DP World Tours, is all about bang for buck.The Saudis will believe they have saved face by joining forces with golf’s establishment – there will be no more potentially embarrassing litigation – but their desperate bid to earn legitimacy via sport also means this deal has to work two ways. Continue reading...
Argentina’s maestro against Poland’s star striker was no contest but both ended up embracing in celebration after a tense nightLionel Messi headed one way, put the brakes on and with a turn of the ankle and a dip of the shoulder set off in the other direction, defender desperately chasing. Robert Lewandowski was the man there, following him and then fouling him. The Argentinian didn’t look pleased; the Pole didn’t either, but there was no way he was going to complain; doing so could cost his country a place in the World Cup, he knew.It was the 94th minute and it was the first time Lewandowski had got anywhere near Messi, and this wasn’t the way he had imagined it....
There is time for Messi and Argentina to save their World Cup campaign, however, despite a shock defeat by Saudi ArabiaThere was more time. When you are Lionel Messi, there is always more time. Another split-second to play the pass. Another couple of beats to wait for the space to open up. Another year to mount a challenge. Another World Cup to fight. And here, on a bright warm day in November, with the clocks striking 13 minutes of injury time, there were still a few more seconds for Argentina to make things right.Messi advanced down the right channel, nudging the ball along with impatient taps of his left outstep. A little space had opened up in front of him...
The oil giant’s place in cricket’s landscape shows once more the Saudi regime’s art of blending into the sporting canvasThree years ago, Aramco, the oil giant predominantly owned by the Saudi royal family, underwent a subtle rebrand. And subtle is the operative word here: the company’s distinctive logo, a white star on a blue and green background, remained in place. But somehow the blue was rendered just a little bluer, the green just a little greener, the typeface softened into grey lowercase, the word “Saudi” and the Arabic script above it quietly removed.This was the logo upon which Sam Curran stood as he prepared to bowl for England against Pakistan in their final Twenty20 World Cup warm-up on Monday, a...