Todays Sporting News – 27 August 2025

• EPCR confirms Amsterdam as Toyota Cheetahs’ European base for the 2025/26 Challenge Cup: EPCR has confirmed that Amsterdam will once again host the Toyota Cheetahs for the upcoming pool stage of 2025/26 EPCR Challenge Cup. Invited to take part in the competition and in line with the requirement to have a European base, the South African franchise will play its designated “home” matches at the NRCA Stadium. The Toyota Cheetahs will face Stade Français Paris on Saturday 13 December before taking on Ulster Rugby on Sunday 11 January. This will mark the third consecutive season in which Rugby Netherlands provides the Toyota Cheetahs with a European base, giving Dutch fans and the expatriate community the chance to enjoy top-level international club rugby.
• Boks arrive in Auckland in high spirits: The Springboks arrived in Auckland close to midnight local time on Wednesday in high spirits and excited about the challenge of facing their arch-rivals, the All Blacks, in back-to-back Test matches in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship in the next three weeks.
• Betway SA20 Season 4 Player Auction to take place on 9 September 2025.
• With a strong nucleus of veterans and ascending young players, and the addition of several key free-agents, the Rams went into training camp with a deep and talented roster. So deep that veteran running back Ronnie Rivers and several recent draft picks were among 23 players waived on Tuesday as the Rams trimmed the roster to the NFL-mandated 53 players.
• The most shocking NFL players looking for jobs after roster cuts: Year 2 of the Jim Harbaugh experience arrived with a roster far more settled than last summer, giving him room to further shape it in his image — a process that has left him satisfied with the foundation. Set at running back, Raheim Sanders and Kimani Vidal were among 25 players waived by the Chargers on Tuesday ahead of the NFL’s 53-man roster deadline. The cuts also included eight veterans, most notably quarterback Taylor Heinicke and safety Tony Jefferson.
• The Dodgers might be sprinting toward the finish line this year, trying to edge out the San Diego Padres in a tight National League West race. But on Tuesday night, in a win that kept them one game up in the standings with 29 to play, they made a 6-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds feel more like a nice, leisurely stroll.
• Patrick Corbin gave up three hits over eight shutout innings, Corey Seager became the first Ranger to reach 20 home runs this season, and Texas beat the Angels 7-3 on Tuesday night.
• Corbin (7-9) gave up a walk with eight strikeouts. He is 3-0 with a 1.93 ERA in four starts against the Angels this season. He won for the first time since July 10 when he beat the Angels 11-4.
• Wyatt Langford drew a walk from Yusei Kikuchi (6-9) leading off the first and Seager walked with one out. Adolis García doubled in a run, Josh Jung had an RBI single, and Cody Freeman added a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.
• From Ryan Kartje: When he arrived as a walk-on center in the fall of 2022, Kilian O’Connor came in with every intention of fighting for a spot on USC’s offensive line. For the O’Connor family, there was a certain pride in being a walk-on. His father and grandfather were walk-ons. It didn’t matter that he was buried on the depth chart, or that the odds were stacked against him. It was his duty to stay ready.
• Execution, intensity, and pacing defined Tuesday’s matchup at Crypto.com Arena, where the Sparks (17-19) faced the Phoenix Mercury (23-14) in their third meeting of the season, with the Sparks losing for the third time to the Mercury, 92-84.
• Can Cadillac learn something from Red Bull’s early F1 driver line-ups?: Cadillac’s announcement of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas as its Formula 1 drivers had been hanging in the air for several weeks but became official on Tuesday.
• More Than Medals: Junior Worlds highlight global bonds in Otopeni: From trading caps to chasing personal bests, the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Otopeni, Romania, offered young athletes more than just competition. For many, it was a week of firsts.
• Toyota Cheetahs to Host EPCR Challenge Cup Rounds 3 & 4 in Amsterdam: In line with the competition’s requirements for the Toyota Cheetahs to be based in Europe as an invited team, the side will again call the NRCA Stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands, their home ground for Rounds 2 and 3 of the tournament.
• Arsenal Face Obstacles in £60m Defender Pursuit: Arsenal have made headlines once again, pushing hard to sign Piero Hincapié from Bayer Leverkusen, but sealing the deal is proving to be a formidable challenge.
• Lacoste replaces its crocodile with a goat to celebrate Novak Djokovic: he fashion brand is paying homage to the tennis great, who has been a brand ambassador for eight years, with a new capsule collection. Novak in a Lacoste ad. Lacoste campaign / Lacoste. Lacoste is celebrating its ambassador, Novak Djokovic.
• Can new faces take City back to top?: Haaland was fuming and I am sure Pep was disappointed. The new generation he has brought in such as Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki and Nico Gonzalez are fine players but are they going to reach the world class levels of their predecessors?
• Insurance push needed to tackle women’s rugby online abuse: Imogen Mitchell-Webb, head of sport at law firm HF, has called on insurers and brokers to assist in curbing the prominence of online abuse in women’s rugby.
• Legends Tour arrives at Galgorm: The Legends Tour will make a first visit to Northern Ireland this week as Galgorm hosts the Black Desert NI Legends, the 20th professional event at the Ballymena venue.
• Ndhlovu suspended from bowling in international cricket: Kelis Ndhlovu of the Zimbabwe women’s team has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after an independent assessment confirmed that the left-arm spinner uses an illegal bowling action.

Today in Sport History:

• 1884 — Richard Sears beats Howard Taylor 6-0, 1-6, 6-0, 6-2 to win his fourth straight U.S. national tennis championship.
• 1903 — Britain’s Hugh Doherty is the first non-American to win the men’s singles title in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships with a 6-0, 6-3, 10-8 victory over the William Larned.
• 1909 — William Larned wins his fifth U.S. singles tennis title with a five-set victory over William Clothier in Newport, R.I.
• 1928 — Helen Wills beats Helen Hull Jacobs to take the fifth women’s singles title in the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association championships. Wills needs only 33 minutes, defeating Jacobs 6-2, 6-1.
• 1957 — Hickory Smoke, driven by John Simpson, Jr., wins the Hambletonian Stakes after capturing the fifth and deciding heat.
• 1969 — Lindy’s Pride, driven by Howard Beissinger, wins the Hambletonian Stakes in straight heats.
• 1975 — Onny Parun of New Zealand defeats Stan Smith 6-4, 6-2 in the first night match at the U.S. Open before a crowd of 4,949 at the West Side Tennis Club.
• 1978 — The Cosmos defeat the Tampa Bay Rowdies 3-1 to win the NASL Championship.
• 1985 — Mary Joe Fernandez, 14, becomes the youngest player to win a match at the U.S. Open. Fernandez beats Sara Gomer 6-1, 6-4.
• 1996 — Stefan Edberg stuns Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek at the U.S. Open, winning 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in his record 54th straight and final Grand Slam event.
• 1999 — Maurice Greene and Inger Miller win at 200 meters at the world championships, giving the U.S. a sprint sweep. Greene is the first to win the 100 and 200 at a major global meet since Carl Lewis at the 1984 Olympics.
• 2006 — Marco Andretti, 19, becomes the youngest winner of a major open-wheel event, beating Dario Franchitti by 0.66 seconds to take the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.
• 2015 — Usain Bolt wins his fourth straight 200-meter title at the world championships, finishing in 19.55 seconds in Beijing.
• 2018 — Simona Halep becomes the first No. 1-seeded woman to lose her opening match at the U.S. Open in the half-century of the professional era. Halep is overwhelmed by 44th-ranked Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 6-4.
• 2023 — Gymnast Simone Biles (26) wins her record 8th U.S. Championship in San Jose, California.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY:

• 1897 — Roger Bresnahan, later a Hall of Fame catcher, made his major-league debut as a pitcher for the Washington Senators by shutting out the St. Louis Browns 3-0.
• 1911 — Ed Walsh of the Chicago White Sox pitched a 5-0 no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox. Walsh struck out eight and walked one.
• 1937 — Brooklyn’s Fred Frankhouse pitched a rain-shortened no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds. The game was stopped with two out in the eighth inning with the Dodgers leading 5-0.
• 1977 — Toby Harrah and Bump Wills of the Texas Rangers hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs on consecutive pitches in the seventh inning in an 8-2 victory over New York at Yankee Stadium.
• 1978 — Joe Morgan of the Cincinnati Reds hit his 200th career home run to become the first player in major league history to have 200 homers and 500 stolen bases.
• 1982 — Rickey Henderson of Oakland broke Lou Brock’s 1974 record of 118 stolen bases in a season and stole three more bases in the Athletics’ 5-4 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. It gave Henderson 122 thefts in 127 games.
• 1999 — Vladimir Guerrero’s hitting streak was halted at 31 games by Cincinnati’s Ron Villone in the Reds’ 4-1 win over Montreal. Guerrero went 0-for-2 with an intentional walk against Villone, ending the majors’ longest hitting streak since 1987.
• 2005 — Jeff Kent became the first player to hit 300 home runs as a second baseman in the Dodgers’ 8-3 win over Houston. The homer was the 325th of his career.
• 2010 — Florida led off a game with back-to-back homers for the first time in franchise history in a 7-1 victory over Atlanta. Cameron Maybin hit the first pitch of the game into the left-field seats. Logan Morrison then connected off Tommy Hanson for his first major league home run.
• 2011 — Justin Verlander became the majors’ first 20-game winner, grinding through six innings in the Detroit Tigers’ 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Verlander (20-5) became the first pitcher to win 20 games before the end of August since Arizona’s Curt Schilling in 2002.
• 2017 — Giancarlo Stanton hit his 50th home run to break an eighth-inning tie, helping the Miami Marlins sweep the San Diego Padres with a 6-2 victory. Stanton became the first NL player to reach 50 homers since Prince Fielder hit 50 for Milwaukee in 2007.
• 2017 — Rookie Rhys Hoskins homered for the fifth straight game and made a diving catch to start a game-changing triple play in the fifth inning, leading Philadelphia to a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Hoskins led off the eighth with a drive to left-center to give him 11 home runs in his first 18 games, becoming the fastest in major league history to reach 11 homers. Hoskins was called up from Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Aug. 10.
• 2018 — Kendrys Morales’ home run streak was ended at seven games by the Baltimore Orioles, who halted an eight-game skid by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0. Morales went 0 for 3 with a walk and did not hit the ball out of the infield.