German Alexander Zverev, ranked second in the world, defeated Britain's Cameron Norrie (40) 7-6 (1/7) and 6-4, Thursday, in the first round of the Beijing Tennis Tournament (500 points), where the German has a chance to get closer to the top of the world rankings.
Zverev tops the list of seeds in the Chinese capital, in the absence of Italian Jannik Sinner, the world leader and tournament champion, due to a right knee injury.
Zverev achieved his ninth consecutive victory over Nouri in 9 matches between them at the professional level, setting up a second-round match with Argentine Sebastian Paes, ranked 51 in the world, or Chinese Shang Junzheng (250).
The German faced an opportunity to break his serve against Nouri when he was 1-2 down in the first set, then he saved a point to decide the set at 5-6, before he succeeded, as usual, in getting out of the situation thanks to the strength of his serve, then he easily won the tie-break to advance in the match.
As Zverev became more dangerous when serving his British opponent, he had the first break point opportunity at 3-2 in the second set, but he did not take advantage of it. He finally succeeded in snatching Nouri's serve at the perfect time, when he was ahead 5-4, to settle the match in an hour and 39 minutes.
Zverev, who is 29 years old and hails from Hamburg, has never topped the world rankings. He started the tournament 1,370 points behind Sinner, which means he cannot overtake the Italian in Beijing, even if he wins the title.
The Qatari duo Sherif Younis and Ahmed Tejan secured at least a silver medal, after qualifying for the final of the beach volleyball competition at the Asian Games held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
Their qualification came after defeating the Thai duo Puravid Taovatu and Pithak Tibjan 2-0 in the semi-finals, setting up a date with Indonesia, represented by Effendi Safyan Rahman and Akbar Bitang, in the final.
The Qatari duo is looking to win the gold medal for the third time in a row after winning the previous two editions in Jakarta 2018 and Hangzhou 2022.
Sherif Younis and Ahmed Tijan topped the first group in the preliminary round, after achieving two successive victories over the Filipino duo Abdilla Al-Nakran and Francisco Leary John 2-0, and over the Omani duo Hood Al-Jalboubi and Mazen Al-Hashimi with the same score before they surpassed the Vietnamese duo in the quarter-finals 2-0.
Qatar has three gold medals, six silver and four bronze.
The Turkish Football Federation referred about 450 club officials, including some of the country's most prominent officials, to the Disciplinary Committee, as part of an investigation into betting, it confirmed on Thursday.
The announcement came 48 hours after the Minister of Justice announced the arrest of the head of the Turkish Football Arbitration Board and six other people, as part of an investigation into a corruption case.
It was not immediately clear whether the two cases were related, although the Turkish Federation issued a statement in which it referred to the scandal last year, as a result of which 149 referees were suspended on suspicion of involvement in an illegal betting scandal.
The Federation said: “As part of the investigation into betting conducted by the Turkish Football Federation, it was decided to refer the following persons... to the Disciplinary Committee in Professional Football,” listing 448 names.
He explained that these “held positions of officials in clubs competing in the Turkish Football Federation’s Premier League and First Division League during the 2026-2027 season, and it was found that they had gambled while holding their positions during the past five years.”
The list includes dozens of names from Turkish first-class clubs. Among them are the president of Trabzonspor, the vice president of Besiktas, a number of current and former officials in Galatasaray, and three former officials in Fenerbahce.
Tuesday's arrests came as part of an investigation in which prosecutors believe the suspects illegally influenced referees' classifications, examinations and appointments for matches, by falsifying documents and practicing systematic intimidation, according to what Turkish media reported.
The Minister of Justice pledged, saying: “We will continue, resolutely, to fight for clean football, with the aim of uncovering the circumstances of the allegations that undermine confidence in Turkish football (and) bringing those responsible to justice.”
