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Jeremy Doku: Belgium and Manchester City winger ‘not against’ journalist who criticised him for leaving World Cup for birth of child

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Jeremy Doku of Belgium warms up before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter Final match between Spain and Belgium

Jeremy Doku says he is “not against” the journalist who criticised his plan to leave the Belgium camp during the World Cup to attend the birth of his first child.

Doku’s wife Shireen was due to give birth during the second week of July and he told Reuters, external before the start of the tournament he intended to leave the camp to be at the birth even if his side were still in contention.

But it brought fierce criticism from L’Equipe channel presenter France Pierron, who labelled a father “completely useless” at the time of their child’s birth.

L’Equipe later apologised and said Pierron’s comments were “very far removed” from its values. The presenter also apologised but was taken off air until the end of the season of her show.

Doku eventually missed Belgium’s 0-0 draw against Iran in the group stage to fly back to the UK for the birth of his son, Praise.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, external, Doku said he understood why some people questioned the timing of events.

“There was a lot of noise of course,” the Manchester City winger said.

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“I can understand why people felt like maybe this was orchestrated because it was too perfect.

“I also saw the journalist speak about me and the situation and all the people getting at her. But I just wanted to use this video as well to really… pray over her.

“I don’t want to come at her in a way that most people did. I don’t want people to be too harsh on her. We don’t know what she has experienced. It’s her opinion.

“She got fired and all these things. I never want this for a person. I’m not against her. I’m not angry at her or anything. She just said her opinion.”

Doku played 86 minutes of Belgium’s opening 1-1 draw with Egypt in Group G of the World Cup before missing their next game, with his absence explained as illness.

A Belgium statement later said, external that the 24-year-old travelled to London to be with his wife “with the approval of and accompanied by one of our team doctors”.

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US Open 2026 results: Aryna Sabalenka’s win over Kamilla Rakhimova interrupted by cannabis smell

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Aryna Sabalenka celebrates beating Kamilla Rakhimova at the US Open

American third seed Jessica Pegula kept her bid for a first Grand Slam title alive by coming from a set down to beat Leylah Fernandez.

Pegula, who lost the final at Flushing Meadows two years ago to Sabalenka, came through 1-6 6-4 6-3 against the Canadian 31st seed.

Fernandez showed glimpses of the form that took her to the 2021 US Open final, where she lost to Emma Raducanu, as she raced through the first set in under 30 minutes.

But Pegula played with more patience to secure the decisive break at the end of the second set – albeit with some help from a net cord.

She saved two break points at the start of the deciding set, before breaking in the next game and going on to see out victory with a backhand volley.

“I wasn’t moving my feet up to the ball, and I was a little lazy to start off,” Pegula, 32, said.

“I was going to have to dig deep. I’m glad I was able to find somewhere there in the second set to turn it around.”

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Pegula will play Romanian 16th seed Sorana Cirstea in the fourth round after she beat Italian 19th seed Jasmine Paolini 6-3 6-3.

Later, Czech seventh seed Muchova lost 6-3 7-5 to American 26th seed Navarro.

Muchova had been competing in her first tournament since undergoing minor surgery after reaching July’s Wimbledon final.

Navarro will play Ukrainian ninth seed Elina Svitolina or Russian 21st seed Anna Kalinskaya in the fourth round.

Ukrainian 11th seed Marta Kostyuk is also safely though to the last-16 after beating Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-3 6-2.

In the women’s doubles, Britons Harriet Dart and Maia Lumsden ousted Croatia’s Petra Marcinko and Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova 7-5 6-3 to reach the second round.

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Pierre Gasly loses Monaco podium after McLaren and Red Bull win appeals

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Pierre Gasly's Alpine approaches the hairpin during the 2026 Monaco Grand Prix

The discrepancy between the official F1 measurement and the possible shorter distance did not mean that the official measurement was incorrect, the court said.

While it was concluded after the race that a shorter line was possible, the court of appeal ruled that “sporting fairness absolutely precludes the retrospective replacement” of an established calibration parameter “by a different geometric or measurement approach for the purpose of re-adjudicating an individual competitor’s result”.

The controversy arose from the fact that there was a 77-centimetre discrepancy between the officially measured distance of the pit lane and the real shortest route a driver could take.

It was established at Alpine’s appeal in June that Gasly had not exceeded the pit-lane speeding limit by this new measurement, which was why the penalty was overturned.

However, McLaren appealed on the grounds of sporting fairness and their own competitive interests, as Piastri had lost two points as a consequence of the situation.

The Australian was one of several drivers who did serve a five-second pit-lane speeding penalty.

The court of appeal verdict rests on the following conclusions:

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  • F1 is designated by the FIA to measure the pit-lane speed limit, which is applied by “average speed over the relevant timing sector rather than instantaneous speed”.

  • The distance applied should be the same for each car.

  • Although it was later established that Gasly never exceeded the 60km/h limit over a shorter distance it was possible to take, the “benchmark cannot be retrospectively displaced for one competitor after the competition has been conducted against it”.

  • Although F1 concluded after the event that a shorter distance, measured by a different method, meant it should have selected a different line for its calculation, that did not mean the original calculation was inaccurate of itself.

  • The pit-lane length applied “was physically tape-measured, checked before being entered, used throughout free practice sessions and the race, specifically re-examined when concerns were raised before the race, and reconfirmed again during the race when the stewards sought reassurance. At no point did F1 advise the competitors, race control or the stewards that a different distance parameter should apply”.

  • “The enforcement regime… is workable only if the benchmark against which all competitors calibrate is common, stable and applied equally throughout the competition”.

  • “Once the official timekeeper has established and adopted the distance parameter used… and competitors have been required to calibrate their cars and conduct the competition by reference to that common parameter, sporting fairness and equal treatment require that the parameter remains fixed”.

Alpine said in a statement: “While we disagree with the decision, and still fully maintain that car 10 (Gasly) did not exceed the pit-lane speed limit at any point during the race, the team acknowledges the decision of the judging panel from the recent hearing in Paris.

“While the result is not what we had hoped for, as we feel that we have been unjustly punished, the team is firmly focused on continuing to improve its performance on track and remains in a close and very competitive championship fight.”

McLaren said: “We welcome the decision of the FIA international court of appeal, a decision which provides important clarity for teams and all the sport’s stakeholders and helps protect the integrity of the sport and trust in its regulatory framework.

“Our appeal was not directed at any competitor or at the FIA. It was brought, and pursued to its conclusion, in the interests of the sport and to support the consistent and fair application of the regulations for all participants.”

The court of appeal did not address the question of whether the pit-lane speeding penalties awarded to Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, Russell and Piastri were correct under the established measurement, or whether their cars ever physically exceeded the 60km/h limit.

That was not relevant to the bounds of the hearing, which was to address McLaren’s and Red Bull’s protest against the decision to rescind Gasly’s penalty.

Mercedes also contend that Russell never exceeded 60km/h. He was running ahead of Hadjar and Gasly before his first penalty.

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He was demoted out of the points because Mercedes failed to correctly serve the penalty at a subsequent pit stop. That offence earned a drive-through penalty which dropped him to 12th place.

Alpine say they have sent the trophy for third place over to Red Bull’s Milton Keynes base, and that they are considering their options as to whether to take the case further.

Their only remaining likely course of action, should they wish to pursue it, would be to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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Harry Kane: Europe’s top scorer plays like a midfielder – we asked him to break down his game

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A stylistic collage of Harry Kane, the Ballon d'Or and Vincent Kompany

“Over the last five or six years, man-to-man pressure has become bigger,” Kane says.

“European football is physical and top teams are trying to win the ball back high, trusting their defenders and midfielders to defend man for man to win their battles.”

Given that change, the best teams have recruited physical athletes and brilliant dribblers who can beat their man when the game becomes a series of one-against-ones.

Kane, not known for his dribbling – and by his own admission “not the fastest”, has thrived on his own terms.

Against Dortmund, there was a specific moment Kane dropped deep, looking to arrive in space unmarked. Recognising the danger, two players converged on the Englishman.

Kane’s dribbling is cerebral. His speed of thought provides him solutions to problems others would attempt to solve with their feet alone.

After getting low and using his strength to shrug centre-back Waldemar Anton off him, Kane rose, slightly adjusting his body to the right. These micro-adjustments are a hallmark of his game and through them he is able to shift an entire team’s momentum.

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Fooled by this feint, Daniel Svensson and Jobe Bellingham found themselves wrong-footed as Kane snapped the ball back the other way, opening up the entire pitch from within Bayern’s half.

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