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PHOENIX — Hezly Rivera is leaning into her role as the leader of the next wave of U.S. women’s gymnasts.

The 18-year-old Olympic gold medalist won her second straight national title on Sunday, rallying from fourth during the final day of competition with four poised and professional routines. Her two-day total of 111.950 was more than a point clear of runner-up Claire Pease, making Rivera the first American woman not named Simone Biles to go back-to-back since former world and Olympic champion Jordyn Wieber did it in 2010 and 2011.

Rivera was the self-described “underdog” in Paris two years ago, when she joined an experienced group that helped the Americans win their third team gold in four Games. While some of her Olympic teammates — Biles and Suni Lee chief among them — have been on an extended break (though Lee announced last month she has started training for a return to competition), Rivera has pressed on.

She edged Leanne Wong in New Orleans last year, but Rivera’s chances for a repeat seemed to be in trouble after she fell face-first into the mat after missing a release on uneven bars on Thursday.

No matter, Rivera began Sunday on bars and put together a gritty set in which she fought through a mini-stall near the end and gave coach Valeri Liukin a “what are you gonna do?” shrug after a dismount that included a small step.

The judges awarded Rivera with a solid if not spectacular 13.850, and her momentum continued to build as she made her way across the competition floor at Matchup Mortgage Arena. Her black-and-white bedazzled leotard glittering under the lights, Rivera put on a performance that made her look every bit the experienced veteran she has become.

Pease and fellow first-day co-leader Skye Blakely couldn’t quite keep up. Pease led with two rotations to go, but her floor routine included one tumbling pass that ended with her stepping out of bounds and another in which she opted to keep her right foot hovering above the floor rather than set it down for a penalty.

Still, Pease’s second-place finish was a marked improvement from a year ago, when she came to nationals fresh off a victory at the U.S. Classic and stumbled to 10th. This time around, she finds herself in a solid position to make the team that will head to The Netherlands for the world championships in October.

Blakely’s bid to build off a promising opening night stalled quickly. She sat at the end of her first tumbling pass and bounced out of bounds on her final one, her score of 11.900 dropping her from contention for the top of the podium on her way to a seventh-place finish.

Charleigh Bullock, who turned 16 last month, was third. Reese Esponda, who trains at the Houston-area gym owned by Biles’ family, was fourth.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Jade Carey, who is methodically building difficulty into her routines as she eyes a third trip to the Games, finished fifth in a meet that doubled as a homecoming for the Phoenix native.

Graves writes for the Associated Press.

A state judge Thursday rejected a challenge to how California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s office summarized a strict new voter ID measure on November ballots — ruling that the summary language accurately describes the measure’s effects were it to pass.

Another judge dealt the backers of the measure a second loss by tentatively finding that their description of the measure, submitted for the official state voter’s guide, was misleading. They had claimed that Proposition 39 would make voting easier.

In the first case, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jennifer K. Rockwell ruled that the label, title and summary of the certified ballot measure accurately describe Proposition 39 as a measure that “prohibits citizens from voting” — language the measure’s backers specifically objected to — unless they provide a government-issued ID.

According to minutes from a Thursday hearing on the matter, Rockwell concluded that, to the extent the measure’s backers object to that language, they are objecting to “the provisions of the measure itself.”

Rockwell rejected the argument put forth by the measure’s backers that it would not prevent people without ID from voting, only their votes from being counted — a distinction the judge found lacking.

Both parties had asked the court to move quickly ahead of printing deadlines for November ballots.

The attorney general’s office is responsible for preparing titles and summaries for ballot measures, and is not required by law to use the same language as a measure’s proponents when gathering the necessary voter signatures to place the measure on the ballot.

Bonta’s office had argued in court that his office applied the same standard of review to the voter ID measure as every other ballot measure that has come before his office.

Bonta praised Rockwell’s decision on social media Thursday, writing that it “confirms what we have said from the start: the ballot materials at issue — the ballot title and summary and ballot label — give a true and impartial statement of Proposition 39’s chief purpose and points.”

“My office followed the law and fulfilled its duty to provide California voters with clear, accessible, and accurate information,” he wrote. “We’re pleased that the court agreed with us.”

California Assemblymember Carl DeMaio (R-San Diego), the chief backer of the court challenge and chairman of the group Reform California, responded to the ruling with a video post to social media, writing that it was “expected” but nonetheless “disappointing.”

DeMaio accused Bonta of trying to “manipulate the vote” with “rigged” language, and Rockwell of being a “liberal judge” who had unsurprisingly decided that Bonta “gets to do corruptly what he wants to do.”

“It’s pissing me off,” DeMaio said in his video post.

DeMaio predicted that Proposition 39 will still pass, but that it will take “all of us spreading the word that the attorney general has tried to manipulate the title on the ballot measure.”

Voter ID requirements are being pushed by Republicans across the country — from President Trump down — as necessary to prevent voter fraud, including by noncitizens, despite elections experts saying that such fraud is exceedingly rare and that there is no evidence that it exists in volumes large enough to swing elections.

Democrats, including in California, have argued that states already have robust measures to ensure that only eligible voters cast ballots, including through existing security measures such as signature verification. They said stricter voter ID requirements would lead to eligible voters without ready access to documents being denied access to voting — including poorer, elderly and rural voters and married women who have changed their names.

A majority of California voters back stricter voter ID requirements, according to recent polls.

The Trump administration has been pressing for new voter ID requirements nationwide, including in Congress, without success.

Passage of Proposition 39 in liberal California would represent a massive win for the administration and a setback for California’s Democratic leaders. It would require substantial reforms to how the state accepts ballots both in person and through the mail — the latter being the preferred option for the vast majority of voters in recent California elections.

Backers of Proposition 39 also took a hit in a separate court proceeding Thursday, where another judge — siding with top Democratic lawmakers — issued a tentative finding that the measure’s backers were misleading voters by claiming in voter guide language that the measure would make voting easier in the state were it to pass.

“It is hard to conceive how it would be ‘easy’ or ‘easier’ to vote if a voter has to take the extra step of either bringing government-issued identification when voting in person or search for their government-issued identification and supply the last four digits if they vote by mail,” wrote Sacramento Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang.

The voter guide language will need to change as a result.

California leaders who brought the challenge — including State Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limón (D-Goleta) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) — praised the decision.

“Prop 39 is a MAGA-backed power grab by Donald Trump’s closest allies,” Rivas said in a statement. “As today’s ruling underscores, Prop 39 isn’t about election security or fair elections — the real goal of the MAGA activists who wrote Prop 39 is to make it harder for Californians to vote.”

DeMaio denounced the decision, accusing Chang of having “sided with the politicians” in California to “strike legitimate arguments on why Voter ID is needed to improve election integrity.”

Tarik Skubal is a Dodger.

The five words every baseball soul outside of Los Angeles dreaded hearing.

The Dodgers are going to three-peat.

The six words that every baseball soul everywhere must now acknowledge.

It’s over. The chase for baseball’s best pitcher, the hunt by baseball’s best team, the pennant race, the World Series, all of it.

It’s over. The Dodgers just stole it all again, three months early but right on time, their third consecutive championship cemented when they traded for the Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal, the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner and quite simply the best pitcher in baseball.

Everybody wanted him. The Dodgers were the only team with enough assets to get him. Of course they were. They always are.

And in return, they surely will win a third consecutive championship against a withering and overmatched group of pretenders that could add Skubal only in their dreams.

He cost the Dodgers minor leaguers Zyhir Hope, River Ryan and Brady Smith. So? None of the three is considered a top-five Dodgers prospect in what appears to be a scandalously one-sided deal.

He could be a free agent this winter and may cost $400 million to retain. So? The Dodgers have that much in their couch cushions.

The Dodgers’ injury-scarred rotation needed a stud starting pitcher like Skubal and, as this column noted last month, there was no excuse for baseball’s wealthiest and smartest team not to grab him.

So the Dodgers grabbed him. Of course they did. They are rushing full bore toward that three-peat and, to the delight of the most appreciative fans in baseball, nothing is going to get in their way.

“Everything that we do is in mind with the partnership that we have with our fans, the 50,000 people that come out here every day,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations, in a Sunday afternoon news conference, later adding, “And so for us, it’s about doing our part to try to back up our end as much as we can in partnership with them to hopefully have another parade.”

Friedman has won many trades in the dozen years he’s run the Dodgers, but this may be his greatest swindle yet. Think about it. He acquired the hottest pitcher on the market for three mostly unheralded prospects nearly two full days before the trade deadline.

Geez, Detroit, you think you could have taken more time to scour the market? And with the prospect-rich Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves in the mix, you think you could have done better than one good outfielder, one injury-prone 28-year-old pitcher and one anonymous dude going nowhere?

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, can’t wait to see Tarik Skubal “in Dodger blue.”

(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

The Dodger player reaction was shock, disbelief then joy.

“They were fired up, obviously,” said Friedman.

Nobody was more excited than Friedman, who showed rare emotion when talking about his latest triumph.

“Watching Tarik Skubal pitch in the playoffs last year was must-see TV,” he said. “I was in awe watching the energy, the dominance he exhibited there, and I can’t wait to see it in Dodger blue.”

The rest of baseball will hate them for this. They don’t care. Critics will say this is yet another example of how they are ruining the game. They could give a rip.

A move like this — the insanely rich getting insanely richer — could be cited this winter as a reason for the game shutting down over a labor dispute. Not their problem.

With a sore Shohei Ohtani looking increasingly doubtful for a meaningful October on the mound, with Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow still sidelined because of injuries, Skubal can slide into the No. 2 spot in a rotation that, if everyone gets healthy, could wind up being the best in baseball history.

Tarik Skubal was a two-time Cy Young winner for the Detroit Tigers.

(Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

Of course, in the immortal words of Kobe Bryant, the job is not finished.

There are still questions, even for a team that has all the answers.

Skubal is a tremendous postseason pitcher, with a 2.04 ERA in six starts, but will his surgically repaired left elbow survive through his third postseason?

After pushing 200 innings the last two seasons, he underwent a newfangled minimally invasive procedure on May 6 to remove a loose body from his elbow. Recovery time for a similar surgery performed the old-fashioned way is two to three months, but he was back on the mound in a game just a month later.

Will this new operation hold up? Time will tell, but the Dodgers will be holding their breath.

After Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Skubal, the Dodgers have another potentially big question. What do they do about Ohtani?

He’s got a balky knee, and now a painful biceps, and the Dodgers have kept him off the mound for a moment, but what happens in October?

By acquiring Skubal, the Dodgers can afford to pull Ohtani out of the rotation altogether and allow him to focus on hitting, which has taken a bit of a hit with the pitching issues. But would he accept such a move, which might feel like a demotion? Ohtani always has put winning first, but he also began the season openly acknowledging his quest for a Cy Young Award. So there’s that.

The Dodgers still will need some good fortune to round out the rotation.

Tarik Skubal returned to the mound in June after surgery to address an elbow issue.

(Jason Miller / Getty Images)

They say Snell and Glasnow are both on the verge of returning from what has essentially been season-long injuries. But, come October, they’ll both be 33, so believe only what you see.

Roki Sasaki has been tremendous since the All-Star break — that new glove has been a giant success — but he’s still never started a postseason game. And for all his surprise greatness this summer, Justin Wrobleski also has yet to start a postseason game.

It all could get interesting. But it shouldn’t be suspenseful.

Skubal solves all mysteries. Skubal ends all arguments. Skubal saves the summer.

The Dodgers are the most championship-driven and fan-devoted team in all of sports. They will do whatever it takes, however it takes, whenever it takes, to win.

Five words that unequivocally prove it.

Tarik Skubal is a Dodger.

It was reported today that Osasuna have enquired about Tierney, although that same article suggested Celtic chiefs will knock back any offers for the 29-year-old.

Given the lack of options in that position, and also Tierney’s importance to the league champions, that is hardly a surprise.

“Kieran’s going nowhere, he loves the football club,” said his former captain Scott Brown on Sportsound.

“You never know what can happen, but I love watching the wee man play, I love his passion. When there’s a 50-50 he wins it, when a ball goes into the box he puts his head on it.

“It’s the quality on the other side as well. You can see why he went down to Arsenal. Other teams will want that, and Celtic are lucky to have these three [Tierney, McGregor and James Forrest] for that long a period.”

Club captain McGregor is another who impressed in the league opener, but there’s also been whispers that he might be on the way out. Those rumours seem to have died down in recent weeks.

“Callum has retired from Scotland so he’s had the time off, and he looks really fresh,” said Brown. “He is the brains of this time, he’s got the understanding and leadership.

“If any young kids are watching, watch Callum McGregor, watch Kieran Tierney, watch James Forrest. You’re not at a football club like this for that long if you can’t understand the other side of the game.”

Alex Eala rallies past top seed Jessica Pegula in a two-day, rain-hit final, while Taylor Fritz beats teen Rafael Jodar.

Alexandra Eala made history as the first player from the Philippines to win a WTA Tour-level singles title, defeating top seed Jessica Pegula at the Mubadala DC Open before Taylor Fritz claimed the men’s crown.

The 21-year-old Eala rallied to beat world number three Pegula 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in a weather-disrupted women’s final that spanned two days, ending on Monday.

Rain had suspended play on Sunday with Pegula leading by a set but trailing 2-1 in the second. Upon Monday’s resumption, Eala dominated, winning 10 of the final 13 games with aggressive baseline play and a formidable serve to seal her breakthrough victory.

“I feel so much love. My first chance at a title, knowing it won’t be the last, and already having achieved this milestone for my career,” Eala said on the court after lifting the trophy in front of a vocal contingent of supporters. “I knew whatever happened after this match would have already been a win for me.”

Pegula, who previously won the DC Open in 2019, praised the young Filipina’s remarkable campaign.

“To see how far you’ve come over the last couple of years… to see the amazing fans that follow you every place you go, it’s not fun to play against, but I think it’s amazing,” Pegula told Eala during the trophy presentation.

In the men’s final, American Taylor Fritz earned his 11th career ATP title by defeating 19-year-old Spanish rising star Rafael Jodar 7-6(2), 6-4.

Fritz, returning to peak form following a knee injury that sidelined him earlier this season, produced a steady performance behind his serve, winning 81 percent of his first-serve points.

The 28-year-old American edged a tight opening-set tiebreak before securing the decisive break in the second set to seal his first title of 2026.

The double bill concluded a rain-plagued week in the US capital as players now head into the North American hardcourt swing ahead of the US Open.

Britain’s Francesca Jones made it back-to-back wins on the Challenger Tour by successfully defending her title at the Palermo Ladies Open.

The top seed beat Fiona Ferro 6-0 4-6 7-6 (8-6) in two hours and 43 minutes.

Jones, who had dropped one set all tournament, took the opener in just 21 minutes.

The 25-year-old then fought back from 3-0 down to lead 4-3 in the second, but Ferro reeled off three straight games to level the match.

A tight deciding set went all the way to a tie break, where the French seventh seed spurned match point at 6-5, allowing Jones to close out victory.

It was her fourth career win on the Challenger Tour and second in eight days, following a victory at the ATV Rome Open.

“We both deserved to win. It was a close match until the end, and we did everything we could,” said Jones, who beat Anouk Koevermans of the Netherlands to win the title in 2025.

Bradford-born Jones will rise from 113 to 110 in the WTA rankings on Monday following this success.

Briton Josh Kelly was forced to dig deep to retain his IBF light-middleweight world title, surviving a spirited late comeback from Belfast’s Caoimhin Agyarko to win a narrow points decision in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Kelly looked in complete control until the complexion of the contest changed when he received a deserved sixth-round point deduction for repeated punches to the back of the head.

The 31-year-old was then bloodied by cuts across his face and a gash on his nose as Agyarko grew in confidence and began to land with increasing success.

But Kelly stood firm through the championship rounds to secure victory, with the judges scoring the contest 114-113, 115-112 and 115-112.

“That was a messy and hard fight. I didn’t get cuts from punches like this, it comes from heads and elbows. This is what it looks like when you’ve got tight skin,” Kelly said.

“I knew he [Agyarko] was go to be tricky and awkward. [He had] a good game plan. He tried to make it a good boxing match. I had to show a different side to me at the end and that is what a champions does.”

Fighting on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight comeback against Kristian Prenga, Sunderland’s Kelly claimed his 21st professional victory.

Agyarko, 29, had hoped to become Ireland’s first black world champion. Instead, despite a brave second-half comeback, he suffered the first defeat of his professional career in his 30th contest.

Also on the card, WBO super-middleweight champion Hamzah Sheeraz laboured to an underwhelming points win over Simon Zachenhuber.

The 27-year-old Briton was far from his best and struggled to find his rhythm but was awarded a majority decision as he extended his record to 24 wins and one defeat.

Castelldefels, Spain – Fans waving the red and gold Spanish flag filled the streets, shot fireworks into the night sky and hugged each other into the early hours of Monday morning after Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in the World Cup final.

The jubilation on the streets was echoed in towns and cities across Spain as La Roja won the title for the second time with a goal by Ferran Torres in extra-time.

Fans who had been watching giant screens chanted “Campeones! Campeones!” (Champions! Champions!).

However, in Castelldefels, a tourist town south of Barcelona, fans from both nationalities enjoyed the match thanks to the presence of a sizeable Argentinian emigre community.

Chief among them is – in spirit at least – one rather special former resident: Lionel Messi.

Messi spent his greatest years playing at Barcelona and his presence still looms large over the town. Many Argentina or neutral fans walked around during the match on Sunday sporting his famous 10 shirt.

And this being Catalonia, where support for independence from Spain may have faded in recent years but remains a potent force, many support other sides in the World Cup.  Many support Argentina, precisely because of the influence of Messi.

The Argentina captain still owns a luxury complex in Castelldefels replete with its own football pitch which is reported to be worth $8m.

Bellamar nestles in the hills above this seaside town of 70,000 inhabitants just south of Barcelona, where he made his home with his family in his glory days at Barca.

Barca fans still cherish the thought of Messi returning to the city when he finally hangs up his boots. The rumour mill ran wild when the player recently bought the Unio Cornella, a team in the fifth tier of Spanish football.

He used to walk his children to school at the local British school in the town with passers by watching in awe.

Before he became too much of a global megastar, he would go for a quiet drink at seaside bars with his wife and sign autographs or pose for pictures without problem.

Everyone in this well-to-do-town on the shores of the Mediterranean has a story about when they met Messi. Some of them are true.

La Pampa is just one of the many Argentinian steak restaurants in the town which the Argentinian captain used to patronise when he lived here. Its owners quietly show off pictures of the player smiling for the camera.

For younger diners, the Ankara Burger is full of football shirts  of Argentinian clubs like Boca Juniors, River Plate or Independiente.

Catalonia, the northeastern region of Spain whose capital is Barcelona, has the largest expat population of Argentinians in Spain, numbering 37,980.

Away from these Mediterranean shores, controversy has raged over  Argentinian players’ display of a political banner supporting an Argentinian sovereignty claim over the Falklands Islands after their World Cup semifinal victory over England, a move that appeared to violate the FIFA stadium code of conduct and struck a nerve in the United Kingdom over political sovereignty.

Argentina President Javier Millei’s support for Israel has also prompted controversy in a country like Spain, where polls have found a majority backed the Palestinian cause.

However, in Castelldefels, the political rows raging thousands of miles away were not on fans’ minds last night.

The Spanish and Argentinian flags fly outside the apartment of Gio and Gema Gonzalez, demonstrating perfectly the cultural melting pot here.

Gio Gonzalez emigrated to Spain from Buenos Aires in 2000, following a well-worn path for many other Argentinians. He met his wife Gema in Barcelona and the couple later moved to Castelldefels in 2007.

Like thousands of others, the couple went to watch the match on a giant screen organised by the town council.

“I am a mad keen Argentina fan so I was dreaming that we would win again but it was not to be. It was a tough match but I am happy for my wife that Spain could win,” said Gonzalez, 54, a research scientist.

Gema Gonzalez, 46, a housewife, was beaming in the wake of Spain’s victory after a hard-fought game.

“I feel sorry for my husband – but only a bit!” she laughed. “I think Spain were the better side and we deserved to win. I know I would say this but, I think we were the best side in this tournament.”

Welsh rider Zoe Backstedt has retained the 2026 Baloise Ladies Tour title a year after becoming the youngest winner of the race.

The 21-year-old’s performance included a time trial win on stage 3A on Saturday, and she finished with a provisional overall time of 11 hours, 27.08 minutes.

Only one second overall separated the Netherlands’ Nienke Veenhoven – who won the final stage – and Felicity Wilson-Haffenden of Australia. They finished 22 and 23 seconds respectively behind Backstedt.

English competitor Millie Couzens finished fifth behind the Netherlands’ Charlotte Kool.

Ali al-Zaidi met US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday as Iraq’s prime minister. He carried the title. The power was another matter.

Eleven weeks earlier, after months of paralysis, the Shia alliance which is known as the Coordination Framework had taken just 25 minutes to choose him. That sudden consensus was forged under intense pressure from Washington DC.

The United States Treasury had frozen Iraq’s dollar lifeline, the cash shipments that fly from New Jersey to the Central Bank of Iraq. Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister, and the top contender to return to the premiership had to abandon his plans because of Washington’s veto.

Al-Zaidi, a 40-year-old banker with no political base, was the man left standing.His lack of an established political base is part of his usefulness. He owes his position less to Baghdad’s ballot box than to the pressure exerted by Trump’s Treasury.The banker’s own ledger is not clear.

In 2024, Iraq’s Central Bank barred al-Zaidi’s own institution, Al-Janoob Islamic Bank, from US-dollar transactions as part of a wider crackdown intended to curb illicit dollar flows to Iran. He was never charged. Neither the bank nor the man is currently sanctioned. But the file exists. Its existence could give Washington another source of leverage should al-Zaidi drag his feet.

The real power in Baghdad now sits in one man’s portfolio. Tom Barrack holds three titles at once: ambassador to Turkiye, envoy to Syria, and now envoy to Iraq. His influence rests less on diplomacy than on Washington’s financial leverage over Baghdad. Iraq’s oil revenue sits in an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In April, Washington blocked a cash shipment of nearly $500m drawn from those revenues and suspended parts of its security cooperation. Oil funds roughly 90 percent of Iraq’s budget. Barrack does not need to threaten military force when the administration he represents can reach directly into the financial system on which the Iraqi state depends.

Washington’s demand that Iraq bring all armed factions under state control remains far from resolved. Shia Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr dissolved his Saraya al-Salam militia in late May. Other militias such as Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib Imam Ali have announced steps towards handing over their weapons or placing them under fuller state control. That is real movement. But Kataib Hezbollah and Harakat al-Nujaba, the two factions most tightly bound to Tehran, have rejected full disarmament. In their own words, their weapons are not for bargaining. Washington has answered in kind. US strikes killed dozens of Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters this spring; the Treasury has sanctioned seven militia commanders by name. Baghdad has set September 30 as its disarmament deadline, the same date on which the remaining US forces are expected to leave Iraq. Whether the hardest factions bend by then remains the open question that Washington has yet to answer honestly.

Even Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani’s authority has limits here, as it always has. Al-Sistani’s 2014 fatwa built the PMF’s founding myth. But his call was for men to defend Iraq under the state’s command, not to form independent militias. The hardline factions never answered to Najaf. They answer to Tehran. al-Sistani’s own representative in Karbala has also pressed publicly for exclusive state control of weapons. His influence remains significant, but it has never extended to full control over these factions, and the current standoff is making that reality harder to ignore.

The prize Washington actually wants, however, lies underground. Chevron is negotiating an expanded role in Iraq’s oil sector, while other US companies are pursuing contracts in gas, electricity and export infrastructure. Baghdad wants production up from 4.5 million barrels a day to 7 million within three years, though doing so would require a substantially larger OPEC quota. Western Iraq’s gas reserves, largely untapped, could one day elevate the country into a dominant regional energy player and exporter. This is the potential bonanza al-Zaidi is being asked to unlock in exchange for the loyalty Washington is seeking.

Kurdistan’s place in this emerging arrangement is still unclear. Barrack has called the old Baghdad-Erbil federal model outright “Balkanization”, a structure he blames for letting Iran fill the vacuum. Yet the same envoy spent much of June pressing the prime minister of the Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, to reactivate the Kurdistan parliament and form a new cabinet, not dissolve it. Read together, these positions suggest a clear message: Washington wants a functioning, cooperative Kurdistan region, firmly inside Washington’s orbit, not an autonomous wildcard and not a vassal of Baghdad’s sectarian blocs either.

Stripped of diplomatic varnish, Washington’s vision for Iraq is this: no militias operating outside the state; no Iranian veto over Iraqi policy; no single sect running the table from Baghdad; a Western economic orientation locked in by contracts, not sentiment; American energy firms as the primary beneficiaries; and a prime minister who answers, in practice, to Tom Barrack before he answers to his own parliament. Whether Iraq is pressured towards the Abraham Accords, whether the old nationalist and Ba’athist-adjacent currents find any oxygen again, whether sectarian parties actually lose their seats at the ballot box, these remain predictions, not settled facts.

What is clear is simpler and starker. Iraq spent two decades as the ground on which Iran and America fought indirectly, through proxies and sanctions. It is now becoming something else: a state whose oil, banking system and militias are all being renegotiated at once under intense US pressure. At the centre of this transformation is a banker-premier chosen in twenty-five minutes and now expected to deliver by September 30.

The Gulf model, from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to Manama, Kuwait, Doha and Muscat, took decades to lock in. Trump’s Washington wants to compress Iraq’s version into a single presidential term. Whether Baghdad survives that compression intact, or merely changes which capital it answers to, is the question al-Zaidi’s visit left unresolved.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

One month after the world number one suffered a seismic shock at the French Open, another upset was brewing.

Confronted with unwanted history, Sinner would have to come from behind to beat Miomir Kecmanovic in five sets and avoid becoming only the third defending Wimbledon men’s champion to lose in the first round.

The 24-year-old’s durability in marathon encounters has long been a concern, with Sinner having lost eight of his previous nine matches that went the distance.

There had also been a shattering event in Paris for the second year in a row.

Sinner arrived at Wimbledon having not competed since his extraordinary collapse in the French Open second round, when he lost to Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo from two sets and 5-1 up.

He had recovered from a far greater catastrophe to triumph at the All England Club in 2025, taking revenge on rival Carlos Alcaraz just 35 days after losing their epic Roland Garros final from two sets and three championship points up.

But now his physical resilience was under the spotlight – and the early signs at Wimbledon offered encouragement to those eyeing his throne.

Both junctures would have taken others months to recover from. For Sinner, they became catalysts for greater heights.

“This one means a lot because it was a tough one after Paris, again,” Sinner said.

“Last year was also tough. But coming here, I tried to put myself in the best position to be as competitive as possible.

“We put in a lot of long days, sacrificing a lot to be in this position.”

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Genesis Scottish Open final round

-17 T Kim (Kor); -15 MW Lee (Aus); -13 R MacIntyre (Sco), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Keefer (US), K Nakajima (Jpn); -12 M Thorbjornsen (US), R McIlroy (NI); -11 SW Kim (Kor), V Perez (Fra)

Selected others: -9 T Fleetwood (Eng), V Hovland (Nor); -4 J Rahm (Spa), -2 J Thomas (US)

————————————————

Tom Kim’s drought is over. The South Korean shed tears of joy and relief after excelling on a compelling final day at the Genesis Scottish Open to claim his first title in three years.

Kim has endured a form and confidence crisis since his previous victory – as well as plummeting down the world rankings – but served a reminder of his talents with a faultless 64 to finish 17 under at the Renaissance Club.

The 24-year-old has sought counsel from Tiger Woods during the dark times and revealed the 15-time major winner was among the first to congratulate him on this long-awaited victory.

He triumphed by two shots, with Min Woo Lee the runner-up as crowd favourite Bob MacIntyre faltered in pursuit of a second home title, ending four adrift alongside Matt Fitzpatrick.

MacIntyre, Lee and Fitzpatrick had shared the lead after the fog-disrupted third round, but it was Kim who surged from one back for a brilliant win. He was the only player in the field to avoid a bogey in the fourth round.

“I can’t really wrap my mind over it,” said an emotional Kim of his win. “It’s really special and I’m just at a loss for words.

“Obviously I’ve had a tough couple years. I got to taste a lot of that humble pie and I got to really learn about myself and I’m still trying to grow, still trying to learn.

“I’m definitely appreciating this more now than I did a couple years ago, which is really cool. I thought about my family, all the people around my corner that have suffered with me and also celebrated with me and kind of remembering all those people really brought tears to my eyes.

“Obviously on TGL being on Tiger’s team, I’ve been able to ask him questions on certain things. He’s been really helpful a lot of the time. This was my first win in three years, and the first person that texted me was Tiger Woods. Shows you the person he is and how much he cares.”

As well as a winner’s prize of £1.2m, Kim secures a place in next year’s Masters at Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy’s third-round 73 left the world number two with too big a deficit to overcome despite matching Kim’s closing six-under 64, the lowest score of the day.

Americans Michael Thorbjornsen and Johny Keefer, who tied for seventh and third respectively, will make their Open Championship debuts next week, while the other spot at Royal Birkdale goes to Frenchman Victor Perez.

Italy’s Jannik Sinner beats Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 6-4 to claim his fifth Grand Slam.

Jannik Sinner was at his clinical best as he successfully defended his Wimbledon title with a bruising four-set victory over French Open champion Alexander Zverev in the final.

The world number one recovered from losing the first set in a match largely dominated by serve, eventually wearing Zverev down to secure a 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, 6-4 win on Sunday.

The Italian was rewarded for his perseverance in the contest with his first Grand Slam title since lifting the trophy at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club 12 months ago.

Sinner’s fifth Grand Slam crown is just two behind the majors tally of his injured rival Carlos Alcaraz after Sinner notched his 100th match win at tennis’s four biggest events.

He hit 58 winners against only 25 unforced errors in three hours and 46 minutes on Centre Court, refusing to buckle against an in-form Zverev, who brought a 13-match winning streak at the majors into the final.

Sinner has banished the memories of his shock second-round exit from the French Open at the hands of Juan Manuel Cerundolo, when he blew a two-set lead last month.

The closest Sinner came to crashing out of Wimbledon was in the first round when he had to come from behind to beat Miomir Kecmanovic in five sets.

It was plain sailing from then on for Sinner, who has become a fearsome force on grass.

The 24-year-old now boasts a remarkable 44-3 win-loss record this year after winning his sixth title of the season.

Zverev had never even reached the quarterfinals in nine previous visits to Wimbledon, but had been a man reborn in London after finally breaking his Grand Slam duck in Paris.

He managed to take a first set off Sinner in seven meetings, but could not kick on to snap a now 10-match losing streak against a seemingly unbreakable rival.

Zverev, who was bidding to become the first German man to win the trophy since Michael Stich in 1991, will climb above Alcaraz to second in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings on Monday.

Zverev saved the only break point of a tight first set dominated by serve as it went to a tie-break.

The first 15 points of the breaker went with serve, with both men saving set points, before Zverev clinched with a fizzing forehand winner.

There were no break points in the second set as the players again efficiently bludgeoned their way to 6-6, but this time Sinner stepped it up in the tie-break to level the match.

Zverev finally created his first break point in the seventh game of the third set, but slipped when Sinner dinked over a drop-shot winner.

He clutched his knee and Sinner crossed the net to check on his injured opponent as the crowd held its breath, but the German was helped to his feet by the Italian.

Sinner made his move in the next game as Zverev’s serve finally broke down.

Zverev threw his racquet angrily across the turf after looping a forehand long on a break point which had seen Sinner lying flat on the turf earlier in the rally.

The top seed immaculately served it out to love, sealing a two-sets-to-one lead with an ace.

Zverev gamely tried to prolong the contest, but his race was run when Sinner broke for a 4-3 advantage in the fourth set.

He wrapped up the title on serve despite a dramatic final game featuring arguably the two best rallies of the match, falling to the turf in celebration after slapping away a forehand winner on his first match point.

Jannik Sinner says Alexander Zverev can be a Wimbledon champion soon and promises to “be very, very careful” as the German challenges his world number one status, following a four-set win for Sinner in the final of the grass-court Grand Slam.

READ MORE: Sinner holds off Zverev to defend Wimbledon title

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Noskova’s second-set collapse was excruciating to watch for the 15,000-strong crowd on Centre Court, but the way in which she mentally reset in the decider was admirable.

Serving for the title again an hour after her first attempt, Noskova hit an ace to set up a sixth championship point and converted it with a service winner.

Noskova immediately fell to the court as her relief poured out, with 29-year-old Muchova walking around the net to congratulate her Paris 2024 Olympics doubles partner.

“It’s really tough to find any words, but I’ll start with Linda – my ex-friend,” joked Muchova.

“The way you handled it and the way you played was unbelievable. You deserve it.”

Noskova hid under her towel towards the end of the second set and did the same again in the moments after securing a testing victory.

The ninth seed is the third Czech champion in the past four years at the All England Club, after victories for compatriots Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Fittingly, Noskova’s crowning glory watched by Czech-born Martina Navratilova – a nine-time singles champion – and one of her idols Petra Kvitova, who won in 2011 and 2014.

As well as lifting the iconic Venus Rosewater Dish, Noskova will receive £3.6m in prize money and move up to a new career-high ranking of seventh in the world.

One of the latest of a long line of Czech talents, Noskova had been tipped as a future star who could challenge for Grand Slam titles.

She was a highly-rated junior who became the youngest player inside the top 100 in 2022 and a run to the Australian Open quarter-finals in 2024 underlined her ability.

Making consistent runs at the majors had been rare, but reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon last year made her feel “comfy” on the grass when she returned this year.

Noskova set herself up for a deep run in SW19 by winning the Berlin title last month but, in her speech during the Centre Court trophy presentation, acknowledged how difficult the tournament has been both physically and emotionally.

On court, Noskova had to fight back from match point down in her third-round encounter against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea.

She is only the third player – after Venus Williams in 2005 and Serena Williams in 2009 – to win the Wimbledon women’s singles title from such a position.

Great Britain’s Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett come from a set down against Gustavo Fernandez and Tokito Oda to win a seventh Wimbledon men’s wheelchair doubles title.

READ MORE: Hewett & Reid win seventh Wimbledon doubles title

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LONDON — A local boy sleeps in his own bed, plays in front of a king and queen and makes a Cinderella run to the Wimbledon semifinals. Sounds like a Hollywood script that might never see the silver screen.

But it’s no fairy tale — it’s Arthur Fery’s out-of-nowhere performance over the last 10 days.

Fery, a virtually unknown British wild card with a triple-digit ranking, has become the emotional heartbeat of Wimbledon while legitimately diverting some national attention from England’s World Cup quest.

The royal treatment at his matches across the All England Club has come in more ways than one.

Fery, who grew up five minutes from Wimbledon and is staying at home during the tournament, first played before grass-court king Roger Federer, Wimbledon’s eight-time singles champion, during Monday’s fourth-round victory. Two days later, he beat No. 9 seed and French Open runner-up Flavio Cobolli of Italy in the quarterfinals 6-4, 7-6 (4), 6-0 in front of Queen Camilla.

Ranked 114th, Fery had never reached the semifinals of an ATP Tour event, let alone a major, before his brief chat with the queen following the match.

“She just said, ‘Congratulations, keep going,’” 23-year-old Fery told reporters later. “I told her it was my birthday on Sunday, so it would be great to play the Wimbledon final on my birthday.”

That’s still a match away. To get there, Fery will have to get past one of the hottest players on tour: No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, who is fresh off his first Grand Slam title at the French Open. Looming on the other side of the draw is a highly anticipated showdown between defending champion Jannik Sinner against 24-time major winner Novak Djokovic.

If Fery can continue his magical run to the end, he would become the first British wild card to win a Wimbledon title.

Arthur Fery reacts after defeating Flavio Cobolli in the Wimbledon quarterfinals on Wednesday.

(Maja Smiejkowska / Associated Press)

Born in France, Fery’s family moved to Wimbledon when he was an infant. His mother played professional tennis. He was a top British junior but chose to sharpen his game for three years in the U.S. collegiate system at Stanford, as many of his compatriots have done.

“I came out with a lot of hunger coming out of that, and I was ready to attack the pro circuit,” Fery said.

After struggling with bone bruising in his arm that limited him to playing mostly on the lower-tier Challenger circuit in recent years, Fery is finally healthy and playing consistently.

His path to the last four in London has been a masterclass in clutch come-from-behind performances. The Brit has stared down near-certain elimination in multiple matches, repeatedly breaking his opponents’ momentum with Houdini-like on-court acts.

At 5-foot-9, Fery possesses a skill set perfectly suited for low-bounding grass.

His compact strokes, low center of gravity, and elite movement allow him to hug the baseline, take time away from opponents, and confidently execute delicate volleys at the net, according to ESPN analyst Chris Eubanks.

“He defends well,” said Eubanks, a 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinalist. “He can scrap. He can claw. He can dig his way back into points. And when he ventures forward, he’s very, very comfortable at the net. This is a picture-perfect example of someone whose game is built for the surface.”

Still, it’s hard to fathom the multitude of milestones for Fery, who briefly reached the No. 1 ranking in college and earned 2023 Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year honors before leaving early to pursue a pro career.

He arrived at Wimbledon with just one main-draw victory at a major, a losing record as a professional, and only one previous ATP quarterfinal, at Queen’s Club last month. He’s now 11-8, won his first two five-set matches, and is the first British wild card to reach the Wimbledon men’s semifinals in the Open Era. The only other men’s wild-card semifinalist was Goran Ivanisevic, who won the title as a wild card in 2001.

Fery, who started the season ranked No. 185 and will climb to at least No. 36 after the tournament, said there were a “lot of first times” as he reflected on his unprecedented run. “First five-setter, longest match that I’ve ever played, first time breaking into the top 100, first second week in a slam, all at home, five minutes from where I grew up. It’s a great story for me,” he said.

The gap with his fellow semifinalists is understandably massive.

Entering Wimbledon, Djokovic, Sinner and Zverev’s combined records include 29 Grand Slam titles, 2,088 match wins and 155 tour-level titles. Fery was 6-8 in tour-level matches with zero titles.

But he has singlehandedly lifted the tournament for locals. With top hopes Jack Draper and Emma Raducanu withdrawing before the tournament and the rest of Britain’s singles prospects falling one by one — 18 men and women were eliminated by the third round — Fery became the nation’s last knight standing.

If his first name inevitably evokes Arthurian legend, Fery’s march through the draw gave Britain reason to believe again. No sword, no Round Table, just world-class shot-making, a lion’s heart and a Centre Court crowd thrilled to rally behind him.

“This is really quite something to see on home soil,” said Russell Fuller, the BBC’s tennis correspondent, who compared it with Raducanu’s stunning U.S. Open win in 2021 as a qualifier.

Fery earned every bit of it.

In the first round against Damir Dzumhur, Fery dropped the opening set and trailed by a break in the second before surging back. Against Zizou Bergs in the third round, he faced a 4-1 deficit with a double break in the fourth set, and again fell behind 4-1 in the fifth, before somehow surviving.

Then, stepping onto Centre Court for the first time against former top-10 stalwart Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the fourth round, Fery clawed out of a 2-sets-to-1 hole and a break down in the fourth set to clinch the victory in a fifth-set tiebreak.

“He carries himself with humility, but he’s a fierce competitor, and he’s got a ton of belief in himself,” said Stanford men’s coach and former top-60 player Paul Goldstein, who flew to England Tuesday to see his former charge compete against Cobolli.

While Fery attempts to outmaneuver Zverev on Friday, the other semifinal features a 2025 Wimbledon semifinal rematch between seven-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic and top-ranked Sinner, who defeated the Serb in straight sets on his way to the title. It’s also their second Grand Slam semifinal meeting in 2026. At January’s Australian Open on hard courts, Djokovic bested 24-year-old Sinner in five sets before falling to now-injured Carlos Alcaraz in the Melbourne final.

Arthur Fery hits a return during his Wimbledon quarterfinal win over Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday.

(Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

Djokovic, 39, enters the match after surviving a grueling five-set, 5-hour-plus quarterfinal slugfest against No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime that concluded just minutes before Wimbledon’s 11 p.m. curfew. But the seventh-seeded Serb has a way of defying Father Time and he has had two days to recover on a surface where points are shorter and generally less taxing on the body.

Italy’s Sinner, who defeated Alcaraz in last year’s Wimbledon final, has been efficient if not at the level that saw him capture five consecutive titles before crashing out in the second round at the French Open. After a first-round scare here, the four-time Grand Slam champion has dominated opponents behind his improving serve, winning 80% of his first-serve points. He hasn’t dropped a set since the opening round. Sinner leads the head-to-head with Djokovic 6-5.

According to Eubanks, Djokovic must disrupt Sinner’s movement to break his rhythm, and take his chances.

“He’s got to play similar to how he played in Australia, where it was just all-out aggression,” Eubanks said.

For Sinner, he added: “His serve can be a neutralizing force for what Novak is going to try to do.”

On the other side of the ledger, Fery’s poise under pressure and deft use of the home crowd will be paramount to continue his surprise run against Germany’s Zverev, whom he called a “step up again” from his last five matches. Zverev, 29, is seeking his fifth major final and first at Wimbledon.

“I’m ready for it,” Fery said. “I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to go out there and … put my game on the court, do what I’ve done, believe in myself. We’ll see where that takes me.”

Home has never been closer to Centre Court. Nor has Arthur Fery ever been closer to tennis history.

WASHINGTON — The Dodgers are scheduled to visit the White House on July 23 to celebrate their latest World Series title.

“President Trump is excited to welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers BACK to the White House to celebrate their World Series championship!,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement to The Times.

The date falls on a scheduled off day in the middle of a nine-game East Coast road trip for the Dodgers. The team will play three games in Philadelphia against the Phillies July 20-22 before ending the trip with a three-game series against the New York Mets July 24 to 26.

The visit continues a tradition from the Dodgers’ two previous World Series championships. They were hosted by President Biden in 2021 and President Trump in April 2025.

After the Dodgers claimed their second consecutive World Series title with a dramatic Game 7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, a visit to the White House was planned, but it wasn’t until Thursday that a date was officially booked and confirmed.

Questions swirled around whether players would decline the visit this year after it did not happen during a scheduled visit to Washington in April.

Kiké Hernández said in 2018 he was unsure he would have gone had the Dodgers won the World Series the previous year. Mookie Betts said he was undecided and needed to talk it over with his family when last year’s visit was announced. After winning his first World Series with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, Betts skipped their trip to the White House the following year during Trump’s first term.

Both players, along with every returning member of the 2024 team who was with the team during its road trip, participated in the visit. The only notable absence was first baseman Freddie Freeman, who remained in Los Angeles to nurse an ankle injury.

Manager Dave Roberts, who indicated in comments to The Times in 2019 he might not go to the White House if Trump was president, also participated in last year’s ceremony.

Asked at the Dodgers’ fan festival in January about the possibility of returning to the White House, Roberts told The Times’ Bill Shaikin: “For me, I stand by: I’m a baseball manager. That’s my job.”

“I was raised — by a man who served our country for 30 years — to respect the highest office in our country,” Roberts said. “For me, it doesn’t matter who is in the office, I’m going to go to the White House. I’ve never tried to be political. … For me, I am going to continue to try to do what tradition says and not try to make political statements, because I am not a politician.”

Clayton Kershaw, who retired after last season but was on Team USA for this year’s World Baseball Classic, told The Times in the spring that he was aware Dodgers fans are split over whether the team should visit the White House again this year, but he said he is looking forward to it.

“I went when President Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

Times deputy sports editor Ed Guzman contributed to this report.

That defensive solidity begins with Unai Simon.

The Spain goalkeeper continues to rewrite history as he extended his remarkable run without letting in a goal at the World Cup to a record 609 minutes, keeping Cristiano Ronaldo and company at bay in Dallas.

“Portugal dictated most of the game, but Rafael Leao did not offer that extra spark, neither did the other substitutes,” said Balague.

“Spain defended in numbers and collectively, they tracked back a lot. They individually sorted out problems. So we haven’t needed a miracle save from Simon.”

During this tournament, Simon has surpassed Walter Zenga’s mark of 517 consecutive minutes without conceding for Italy, as well as his compatriot Iker Casillas’ benchmark of 476.

Ahead of Simon, Aymeric Laporte and Pau Cubarsi are at the heart of their defence, while Pedro Porro and Marc Cucurella provide the width from full-back.

That back-four has started three of Spain’s five matches at this World Cup so far, with Marcos Llorente deputising for Porro at right-back in the other two.

Balague added: “It also helps that Rodri is reaching his best version and he has had two extraordinary games – he is the lighthouse of the team.

“The partnership between Laporte and Cubarsi is perfect for the way Spain plays – moving the ball around, driving with it, and defending with a lot of space in behind.”

George Russell’s victory over Max Verstappen further reduces teammate Kimi Antonelli’s lead in the drivers’ title race.

A thirsty George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix from pole position on Sunday to trim Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli’s Formula One championship lead to 40 points.

Max Verstappen finished 1.6 seconds adrift, after crashing in qualifying and starting fifth, at his Red Bull team’s home circuit with Antonelli third and 0.3 behind after a thrilling chase to the line at scenic Spielberg.

The win was Russell’s second of the season, after he took the opener in Australia, his career seventh and Mercedes’ seventh in eight rounds so far.

Antonelli has 171 points to Russell’s 131 with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, fifth on Sunday after running second and battling Verstappen wheel-to-wheel, dropping to third on 125.

In the constructors’ standings, Mercedes have 302 points to Ferrari’s 204.

“Incredible to be back on the top step. It’s been a little while, so I am definitely going to enjoy this one this evening,” said Russell, who can now head to his home British GP at Silverstone next weekend on a high.

He revealed over the radio after taking the chequered flag that his drinks system had failed during the race, the first of the season to be declared a “heat hazard”. “Nice race for it to do so, I’m a little bit thirsty,” he said.

Oscar Piastri was fourth for McLaren, ahead of Hamilton, with Isack Hadjar sixth for Red Bull.

Reigning champion Lando Norris, last year’s winner in Austria, was seventh with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc eighth and Racing Bulls pair Liam Lawson and rookie Arvid Lindblad completing the top 10.

“I was having to push every single lap and when you push those boundaries there’s bound to be a small mistake or two,” said Russell.

“I knew how quick the guys were behind. Kimi has been extraordinarily quick this whole season, so every lap I was looking at the timing board.”

Australia’s Liam Paro is the new IBF welterweight champion with a points win over Belfast’s Lewis Crocker at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday.

Paro, who previously held the IBF’s light-welterweight title, becomes the first Australia-born boxer since Jeff Fenech to become a multi-weight world champion, earning a 115-113 nod on all three cards after a gruelling battle.

The 30-year-old produced a display of skill and heart to dethrone Crocker who was making the first defence of the title he won in Belfast last September, improving his record to 28 wins with one defeat.

Crocker, 29, appeared on the brink of a stoppage late in the fight but just couldn’t find the finishing shot with Paro reeling, suffering a first career reverse in his 23rd contest and will now seek to rebuild.

More to follow

More to follow.