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Saudi Arabia to Host 2025 Olympic Esports Games

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Saudi Minister of Sport and President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Saudi Minister of Sport and President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia to Host 2025 Olympic Esports Games

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Saudi Minister of Sport and President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Saudi Minister of Sport and President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia will host the inaugural Olympic Esports Games in 2025, thanks to a new 12-year partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
This agreement highlights Saudi Arabia’s growing influence in the esports world and follows its successful hosting of numerous global tournaments.
Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Minister of Sport and President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee, said that this decision by the IOC showcases the kingdom’s strong support for sports, driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
He emphasized that Saudi Arabia is now a major destination for international sports events.
“Saudi Arabia is hugely excited by the prospect of partnering with the IOC and helping to welcome a completely new era for international sport,” he said.
“We believe that to take part in the Olympic Games is one of the greatest honors any athlete can achieve,” he added.
“And we are proud to support the writing of a new chapter in Olympic history that has the potential to inspire new dreams and new ambitions for literally millions of athletes around the world,” affirmed Prince Abdulaziz.
Princess Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, an IOC Member, member of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Arabian Olympic and Paralympic Committee and President of the Women’s Committee, expressed her delight over the new partnership.
She emphasized the generous support of the Saudi leadership for the sports sector, particularly esports, which has seen unprecedented growth. This progress has enabled young men and women to achieve their ambitions.
“We are proud of the significant support our leadership provides to sports in Saudi Arabia, especially esports, which has developed remarkably. This partnership between the IOC and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee marks a historic step, ushering Olympic sports into a new era focused on the future,” said Princess Reema.
“We are very fortunate to be able to work with the Saudi National Olympic Committee on the Olympic Esports Games, because it has great – if not unique – expertise in the field of esports with all its stakeholders,” IOC president Thomas Bach said in a statement.
Saudi Arabia’s new partnership with the IOC to host the Olympic Esports Games solidifies its position as a top destination for major sports events. This move is a key milestone in the kingdom’s ambition to become the global center for esports.
The Olympic Esports Games will enhance Saudi Arabia’s reputation, adding to its successful hosting of major esports tournaments, including the ongoing Esports World Cup in Riyadh.
The event will gather the world’s best players to compete for their national teams, combining the tradition of the Olympic Games with the popularity of esports.
In 2025, the world will focus on Saudi Arabia for this groundbreaking event, showcasing the kingdom’s growing influence in the sports world.

 

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Sports

Svitolina downs Wang in Auckland to clinch 19th WTA title

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine hits a return against Iva Jovic of the US during their women's singles semi-final match at the WTA Auckland Classic tennis tournament in Auckland on January 10, 2026. (Photo by Michael Bradley / AFP)
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine hits a return against Iva Jovic of the US during their women's singles semi-final match at the WTA Auckland Classic tennis tournament in Auckland on January 10, 2026. (Photo by Michael Bradley / AFP)
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Svitolina downs Wang in Auckland to clinch 19th WTA title

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine hits a return against Iva Jovic of the US during their women's singles semi-final match at the WTA Auckland Classic tennis tournament in Auckland on January 10, 2026. (Photo by Michael Bradley / AFP)
Elina Svitolina of Ukraine hits a return against Iva Jovic of the US during their women's singles semi-final match at the WTA Auckland Classic tennis tournament in Auckland on January 10, 2026. (Photo by Michael Bradley / AFP)

Elina Svitolina was tested by China's Wang Xinyu in the Auckland Open final on Sunday but came through 6-3 7-6(6) to kick off her new season with her 19th WTA title.

The 31-year-old baseliner was not quite firing on all cylinders as she continued her preparations for the Australian Open after a lengthy break, but had enough quality and experience to get past her aggressive 24-year-old opponent, Reuters reported.

"It feels amazing to win another title especially ⁠after a not great end to last season," said Ukrainian Svitolina, three times a quarter-finalist at Melbourne Park.

"It was nice to get tough matches here this week and win the final, hopefully we can build on that for the rest of the ⁠season."

Wang, playing her second WTA final but still seeking her first title, troubled Svitolina early on with some deep groundstrokes and well-executed drop shots but too often allowed the world number 13 off the hook with some simple errors.

Watched from the sidelines by husband Gael Monfils, Svitolina broke for 4-2 on the back of a Wang error and served out with an ace to seal ⁠the opening set three games later.

World number 57 Wang had three break points in the fourth game of the second stanza but top seed Svitolina found her first serve when it mattered to get out of trouble.

Breaking Wang again proved a tougher task and the match was decided in a tiebreaker, Svitolina digging deep to rally from 3-0 down and make some amends for losing to Coco Gauff in the 2024 final.

Sports

Gauff Beats Swiatek in US-Poland Semifinal at United Cup

Coco Gauff of USA in action during her USA vs Poland semi-finals match against Iga Swiatek of Poland in the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, 10 January 2026. EPA/DAN HIMBRECHTS
Coco Gauff of USA in action during her USA vs Poland semi-finals match against Iga Swiatek of Poland in the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, 10 January 2026. EPA/DAN HIMBRECHTS
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Gauff Beats Swiatek in US-Poland Semifinal at United Cup

Coco Gauff of USA in action during her USA vs Poland semi-finals match against Iga Swiatek of Poland in the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, 10 January 2026. EPA/DAN HIMBRECHTS
Coco Gauff of USA in action during her USA vs Poland semi-finals match against Iga Swiatek of Poland in the United Cup tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, 10 January 2026. EPA/DAN HIMBRECHTS

Coco Gauff beat No. 2-ranked Iga Świątek 6-4, 6-2 to force a mixed-doubles match to decide the United Cup semifinal between the United States and Poland on Saturday.

Fourth-ranked Gauff, the French Open champion, evened the matchup at 1-1 at the team event after Hubert Hurkacz beat Taylor Fritz 7-6 (1), 7-6 (2) in the singles opener at Ken Rosewall Arena. It was Gauff's fourth straight victory over Świątek, the Wimbledon champion.

Gauff and teammate Christian Harrison will face Świątek and Hurkacz in mixed doubles. The winning team will face Switzerland in Sunday’s final.

The Swiss advanced when Belinda Bencic combined with Jakub Paul in the deciding mixed doubles to defeat Belgium’s Elise Mertens and Zizou Bergs 6-3, 0-6, 10-5.

Bencic has won all four of her singles matches and four in mixed doubles this week in the team event. Paul, who won just six tour-level doubles matches last year, hit several down-the-line winners at crucial moments to lead Switzerland into the final.

“He’s so brave it’s unbelievable,” Bencic said of Paul. “I tell him to go (for it) and he actually goes. It’s crazy."

Earlier, Bencic extended her undefeated season-opening singles streak when she beat Mertens 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (0) to put Switzerland ahead 1-0. But Stan Wawrinka, who will retire at the end of this season, was beaten 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3 by Bergs to send the match to a mixed doubles decider at Ken Rosewall Arena.

The turning point in the Wawrinka-Bergs match came in the eighth game of the third set when Bergs broke Wawrinka’s serve to go up 5-3, then held serve to win the match.

Tournament organizers started play 30 minutes earlier than scheduled with searing temperatures of up to 43 Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) in the forecast for Sydney, The Associated Press reported.

Bencic had won all six sets in her first three matches at the United Cup. She was two games away from another two-set win before Mertens pushed the match the distance.

Then Mertens came from 3-1 down in the third set, saved a pair of break points that would have given Bencic a 4-1 lead, and was two points away from the set win with Bencic serving at 30-30, down 6-5.

But Bencic won the last nine points of the match following a decision to change her racket to a freshly-strung one, taking the match in 2 hours, 37 minutes.

“It feels like 170 kilos fell off my shoulders — I was so stressed; I really wanted to do well, and today I felt so much pressure to not let my team down,” Bencic said.

On the racket change, she said: “My brain turned off and let my instincts take over. I think it was just a feeling."

Sports

Osimhen Leads Nigeria Past Algeria into AFCON Semi-finals

Soccer Football - CAF Africa Cup of Nations - Morocco 2025 - Quarter Final - Algeria v Nigeria - Grand Stadium of Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco - January 10, 2026 Nigeria's Victor Osimhen celebrates scoring their first goal with Ademola Lookman. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - CAF Africa Cup of Nations - Morocco 2025 - Quarter Final - Algeria v Nigeria - Grand Stadium of Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco - January 10, 2026 Nigeria's Victor Osimhen celebrates scoring their first goal with Ademola Lookman. (Reuters)
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Osimhen Leads Nigeria Past Algeria into AFCON Semi-finals

Soccer Football - CAF Africa Cup of Nations - Morocco 2025 - Quarter Final - Algeria v Nigeria - Grand Stadium of Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco - January 10, 2026 Nigeria's Victor Osimhen celebrates scoring their first goal with Ademola Lookman. (Reuters)
Soccer Football - CAF Africa Cup of Nations - Morocco 2025 - Quarter Final - Algeria v Nigeria - Grand Stadium of Marrakech, Marrakech, Morocco - January 10, 2026 Nigeria's Victor Osimhen celebrates scoring their first goal with Ademola Lookman. (Reuters)

Victor Osimhen scored one goal and set up another as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 in their Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final on Saturday to set up a last-four showdown with hosts Morocco.

Nigeria dominated the first half in Marrakech without scoring before getting the breakthrough within two minutes of the restart as Osimhen headed in.

The 2023 African player of the year then turned provider for the second goal just before the hour mark, setting up Akor Adams to put the Super Eagles out of sight.

Runners-up at the last AFCON two years ago in Ivory Coast, Nigeria came to Morocco still smarting from their failure to qualify for the upcoming World Cup but are dreaming of winning a fourth continental title here.

They were not intimidated by a Marrakech crowd of 32,452 which was almost entirely given over to the Algerian cause, but the atmosphere is likely to be far more hostile for Wednesday's semi-final in Rabat.

Algeria had beaten Nigeria en route to winning their last Cup of Nations title in Egypt in 2019 and this has been by far their best campaign at the tournament since then.

Their large support which descended on a stadium set against the backdrop of the Atlas Mountains was full of optimism after Vladimir Petkovic's side had impressed in the group stage and edged out the Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 16.

Yet a team featuring a formidable front three of Riyad Mahrez, Ibrahim Maza and Mohamed Amoura failed to muster a single shot in the first half and were lucky to be level at half-time.

Nigeria almost scored just before the half-hour mark, when 'keeper Luca Zidane got nowhere near an Ademola Lookman free-kick delivery and Calvin Bassey turned the ball towards goal.

However, Ramy Bensebaini got there just in time to hook it away from the line.

- Four in four -

They then should certainly have scored in the 37th minute as Adams found himself clean through but blazed his shot over the bar.

However, Eric Chelle's half-time team-talk clearly worked as his Nigeria side wasted no time getting their noses in front at the start of the second half.

Alex Iwobi found Bruno Onyemaechi on the left and his deep cross to the back post was headed low into the net by Osimhen for the opener.

The masked Galatasaray striker had gone seven Cup of Nations matches without finding the net before scoring against Tunisia in the group stage. He now has four in his last four matches.

Nigeria are also the tournament's top scorers overall with 14 goals in total after Adams made it 2-0 -- Osimhen was released in behind and unselfishly squared for the Sevilla striker to round Zidane and finish for his second goal in as many games.

Adams could have had another as he headed off the post when Osimhen held the ball up for him from the line, while Algeria never really looked coming back.

Tensions spilled over between the teams on the pitch at full-time, but it is next stop Rabat for the Super Eagles.