De Bruyne Bidding to Win England’s Player Award for 3rd Time

28 May 2022, Belgium, Gent: Belgian footballer Kevin De Bruyne is during the "Kevin de Bruyne Cup" youth football tournament for U15 teams. (dpa)
28 May 2022, Belgium, Gent: Belgian footballer Kevin De Bruyne is during the "Kevin de Bruyne Cup" youth football tournament for U15 teams. (dpa)
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De Bruyne Bidding to Win England’s Player Award for 3rd Time

28 May 2022, Belgium, Gent: Belgian footballer Kevin De Bruyne is during the "Kevin de Bruyne Cup" youth football tournament for U15 teams. (dpa)
28 May 2022, Belgium, Gent: Belgian footballer Kevin De Bruyne is during the "Kevin de Bruyne Cup" youth football tournament for U15 teams. (dpa)

Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is in contention to win English football's Player of the Year award for the third straight season.

De Bruyne was on a six-man shortlist for the award announced Wednesday, alongside Liverpool trio Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, Tottenham striker Harry Kane and Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo.

City was outnumbered by Liverpool on the shortlist despite beating its rival to the Premier League title to retain the trophy.

De Bruyne won the prestigious award, voted by the players, in 2020 and '21. Van Dijk and Salah won it the years before that.

The shortlist for the women’s Player of the Year award consisted of Chelsea duo Pernille Harder and Sam Kerr, Arsenal pair Vivianne Miedema and Kim Little and Manchester City's Alex Greenwood and Lauren Hemp.



China’s Huang and Sheng Win First Gold of Paris Games at Air Rifle Mixed Team Event

 China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
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China’s Huang and Sheng Win First Gold of Paris Games at Air Rifle Mixed Team Event

 China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)

China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao won the first gold medal of the Paris Games on Saturday in the 10 meters air rifle mixed team event.

Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun of South Korea claimed silver and Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev of Kazakhstan were awarded bronze.

Three years after Yang Qian and Yang Haoran won the gold in Tokyo, compatriots Huang and Sheng made sure China retained it.

The reigning world champions topped the qualifying round ahead of their Korean rivals at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.

The gold medal round was not really a cakewalk though despite them racing to a 14-8 lead after the first 11 shots.

Keum and Park staged a late comeback to reduce the gap at 14-12 but the Chinese pair prevailed 16-12 in the end.

Le and Satpayev gave Kazakhstan their first medal of the Paris Games with a 17-5 romp against the German pair of Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich.