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Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Elected IESF President

Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Elected IESF President
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Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Elected IESF President

Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Elected IESF President

Prince Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz was elected president of the International Esports Federation (IESF) during the Extraordinary General Meeting held in the Korean city of Busan, after the majority of members elected him, and his presidential term will run through 2025.
Prince Faisal was appointed Acting President of IESF on October 3, 2023, following former President Vlad Marinescu.

Prince Faisal has been instrumental in growing esports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and will contribute to achieving the federation’s goals of sustaining and empowering the sector globally, SPA reported.

IESF Secretary General Boban Totovski said: "We could not be more excited about this new chapter for IESF. With our next edition of the World Esports Championships coming to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2024, there is no one better to lead our organization than Prince Faisal. His dedication to esports is unmatched, and we look forward to working together to achieve total unity in the esports ecosystem".

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Sinner Beats Zverev in 3 Sets for his 2nd Australian Open Title in a Row

Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
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Sinner Beats Zverev in 3 Sets for his 2nd Australian Open Title in a Row

Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Jannik Sinner claimed his second consecutive Australian Open championship on Sunday, never facing a single break point and using his complete game to outplay and frustrate Alexander Zverev for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory in the final.
Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, is the youngest man to leave Melbourne Park with the trophy two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93, The Associated Press reported.
Sinner rose to No. 1 last June, remaining there for every week since, and the gap between him and No. 2-ranked Zverev was pronounced as can be in Rod Laver Arena. This was the first Australian Open final between the men at No. 1 and No. 2 since 2019, when No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal — also in straight sets.
Here’s how dominant Sinner has been since the start of last season: He has won three of the five major tournaments, including the US Open in September, and his record in that span is 80-6 with a total of nine tournament titles. His current unbeaten run covers 21 matches, dating to last year.
The only thing that’s clouded the past 12 months for Sinner, it seems, is a doping case in which he was cleared by a ruling that was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He tested positive for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid twice last March but blamed it on an accidental exposure involving two members of his team who have since been fired. Sinner initially was exonerated in August; a hearing in the WADA appeal is scheduled for April.
While Sinner became the eighth man in the Open era (which began in 1968) to start his career 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, Zverev is the seventh to be 0-3, adding this loss to those at the 2020 US Open and the 2024 French Open.
Those earlier setbacks both came in five sets. This contest was not that close. Not at all.
There truly was only one moment that felt as if it contained a hint of tension. It was late in the second set, which Zverev was two points from owning when he led 5-4 and got to love-30 on Sinner’s serve. But a break point — and a set point — never arrived there.
Zverev not got closer, dropping the next four points, making it 5-all. Sinner then emerged with the ensuing tiebreaker. No surprise there: He went 4-0 in those set-deciders over the past two weeks and has grabbed 16 of his past 18.
A year ago, Sinner went through a lot more trouble to earn his first Slam, needing to get past Novak Djokovic — who quit one set into his semifinal against Zverev on Friday because of a torn hamstring — first, before erasing a two-set deficit in the final against 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
Beating Zverev allowed Sinner to become the first man since Nadal at the French Open in 2005 and 2006 to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating as the champion at the same tournament a year later.