beIN Sports to air over 1,700 hours of Asian Games live coverage

Doha, Qatar: The 20th Asian Games 2026 gets underway on 10 September in the Japanese city of Nagoya and the wider Aichi region – and beIN Sports (“beIN”), the leading sports broadcaster in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), will deliver more than 1,700 hours of live, exclusive coverage across a bouquet of 16 channels, spanning 25 consecutive days from first preview to closing ceremony. asg-reflektory.pl

Up to 10,000 athletes will compete across 461 events in 43 sports at this year’s Games, which officially run from 19 September to 4 October, with competitive action beginning nine days before the opening ceremony. Alongside traditional disciplines such as track and field, swimming, and gymnastics, five new sports join the line-up. Padel, mixed martial arts, surfing, freestyle BMX, and teqball will all make their Asian Games debut in Japan.

Mohammed Al Bader, Managing Director of beIN Channels – MENA, said: “The Asian Games is the continent’s largest sporting competition, and we are proud to provide MENA viewers with comprehensive studio and on-the-ground coverage once again. beIN Sports is fully committed to showcasing the very best of talent from across Asia. We look forward to broadcasting more than 1,700 hours of coverage over the next few weeks with a special focus on the 1,000-plus Arab athletes expected to take part.”

beIN’s live coverage begins on 10 September with select games featuring Arab teams, building towards the Opening Ceremony on 19 September, with studio coverage starting at 09:00 MECCA and broadcast free-to-air on beIN Sports.

From 20 September, beIN will deliver up to around 100 hours of live coverage each day across beIN Sports 1-9, beIN Sports Xtra channels, and beIN Sports English 1 and 2. This will be complemented by a daily live multi-sports studio programme that will run from 09:00 to 15:00 MECCA, broadcast free-to-air on beIN Sports and beIN Sports News.

On 4 October, as part of the official closing ceremony, Aichi-Nagoya will hand the hosting mantle to Qatar as attention turns to the Asian Games 2030.

Doha, Qatar: The Qatar Football Association (QFA) Ordinary General Assembly has approved the appointment of Minister of Sports and Youth H E Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Thani, as president of the association until the 2027 elective General Assembly.

The assembly also approved the appointment of Sheikh Dr. Tamim bin Mohammed Al-Thani as Vice President for the same period.

The Ordinary General Assembly was attended by H E Sheikh Hamad, Sheikh Dr. Tamim, members of the QFA Executive Committee and the Secretary General, as well as representatives of member clubs, department directors, committee heads and members.

Among the other key decisions approved during the meeting were amendments to the QFA’s statutes.

The assembly also rejected the membership application of Al Dafna Sports Club to become a member of the Qatar Football Association.

With the 2027 General Assembly scheduled to be an elective assembly, members voted to renew the QFA Elections Committee. The committee comprises Abdullah Hamed Al Mulla, Dr. Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Emadi, Ali Salem Afifa, Dr. Mahmoud Ali Al Mahmoud and Eid Ali Al Marikhi.

A short film highlighting the federation’s recent activities was also screened during the meeting.

The assembly subsequently completed a number of procedural and administrative items in accordance with the QFA statutes. Members approved the minutes of the previous General Assembly, held on June 2, 2025, as well as the federation’s activity report covering initiatives and activities carried out since the previous assembly.

The audited financial statements for the 2025 financial year were also presented and approved, together with the independent external auditor’s report. The assembly additionally approved the QFA’s budget for the 2026 financial year and appointed members to review the meeting minutes and a committee to oversee the counting of ballots.

In his closing remarks, H E Sheikh Hamad thanked Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain and Mohammed Khalifa Al Suwaidi for their efforts and contributions during the previous period, stressing the importance of continued cooperation and collective work to advance Qatari football at all levels.

He highlighted the central role of clubs in achieving the ambitions of the game and stressed the importance of providing them with continued support to ensure steady progress and development.

Looking ahead to the federation’s strategy, H E Sheikh Hamad said greater attention should be given to youth categories, which he described as the foundation and true future of Qatari football.

He also stressed the importance of developing and supporting national footballing talent, particularly Qatari coaches, and called for them to be given greater opportunities to take charge of the technical leadership of clubs. H E Sheikh Hamad expressed strong confidence in Qatar’s football talent and emphasised collective effort would remain a key foundation for the continued development and success of the game in the country.

New York, USA: Elena Rybakina rallied from a set down to beat Coco Gauff 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Thursday and book a US Open championship showdown with two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.

In Saturday's final Rybakina will try to deal another blow to Sabalenka, having knocked her out of the number one world ranking just by reaching the semi-finals.

"I feel like I definitely need to step my game up, serve much better than today and stay aggressive," Rybakina said of her looming clash with Sabalenka.

Gauff's bid to return to the final for the first time since she defeated Sabalenka for the 2023 title had got off to a smooth start, with the American seizing the initiative in the opening set with a break to go 4-2 up.

She held to love to take a 5-2 lead and then held in the ninth game to take a one set lead.

But Rybakina hit back with an early break of serve in the second set for a 3-1 lead and held to go 4-1 up.

Gauff responded superbly to claw her way back into contention with a break to make it 4-3 before holding to square it a 4-4.

Yet she was unable to make the most of her fightback and double-faulted in the 10th game to hand two set points to Rybakina at 15-40. Rybakina pounced on that chance to take the match to a third set.

The decisive set followed a similar pattern.

Gauff conceded a break to trail 5-3 and leave Rybakina serving for the match.

But the American broke back immediately to make it 5-4 to get it back on serve.

Again though Gauff was unable to capitalise, and a deft volley from Rybakina left her with two match points at 15-40, before Gauff then hit a wide open smash long to hand her opponent victory.

"It was such a cool third set -- I feel like I was a little bit lucky on her serve," Rybakina said. "A couple of deep returns, one mistake from her, it went quickly my way...it was a real battle."