Sports
China’s humanoid robots hit ground running at global AI Games
China launched the three-day World Humanoid Robot Games on Friday, spotlighting its cutting-edge advances in artificial intelligence and robotics with 280 teams from 16 countries.
Robots went head-to-head in traditional sports like track and field and table tennis, while also tackling robot-specific challenges, including medicine sorting, material handling, and cleaning tasks.
Participating teams hailed from countries such as the United States, Germany, and Brazil, with 192 representing universities and 88 from private enterprises, including China’s Unitree and Fourier Intelligence. Many teams deployed robots from Chinese manufacturers like Booster Robotics.
“We come here to play and to win. But we are also interested in research,” said Max Polter, a member of HTWK Robots football team from Germany, affiliated with Leipzig University of Applied Sciences.
“You can test a lot of interesting new and exciting approaches in this contest. If we try something and it doesn’t work, we lose the game. That’s sad but it is better than investing a lot of money into a product which failed.”
At the robot games in Beijing, which charged 128 to 580 yuan ($17.83-$80.77) for tickets, humanoids crashed into each other and toppled over repeatedly during football matches, while others collapsed mid-sprint during running events.
During one football match, four robots crashed into each other and fell in a tangled heap. In the 1500-metre running event, one robot suddenly collapsed while running at full speed, drawing gasps and cheers from spectators.
Despite frequent tumbles requiring human assistance to help robots stand, many managed to right themselves independently, earning applause from audiences.
Organisers said the games provide valuable data collection opportunities for developing robots for practical applications such as factory work.
Football matches help train robots’ coordination abilities, which could prove useful for assembly line operations requiring collaboration between multiple units, commentators said.
China is investing billions of dollars in humanoids and robotics as the country grapples with an ageing population and growing competition with the U.S. over advanced technologies.
It has staged a series of high-profile robotics events in recent months, including what it called the world’s first humanoid robot marathon in Beijing, a robot conference and the opening of retail stores dedicated to humanoid robots.
Morgan Stanley analysts in a report last week noted a surge in attendance to a recent robot conference from the general public compared to previous years, saying this showed “how China, not just top government officials, has embraced the concept of embodied intelligence.”
Vitinha celebrated captaining Paris St. Germain for the first time with the only goal as the Ligue 1 champions launched their latest title defense with a hard-fought victory at Nantes.
A PSG side featuring only four of the men – Lucas Chevalier, Warren Zaire-Emery, Vitinha and Bradley Barcola – who started Wednesday night’s UEFA Super Cup clash with Tottenham scratched out a 1-0 win at the Stade de la Beaujoire courtesy of the midfielder’s deflected 67th-minute strike.
Julien Le Cardinal clinched a point for Brest as they fought out a thrilling 3-3 home draw with Lille.
Goals from Olivier Giroud and Hakon Haraldsson had the visitors 2-0 ahead with just 26 minutes gone, but Kamory Doumbia’s double either side of half-time dragged the hosts back into it and, although Ngal’ayel Mukau fired Lille back ahead, Le Cardinal ensured it finished all square.
However, it proved to be a difficult day for the three promoted sides as they all went down to the only goal in their respective games.
Esteban Lepaul’s ninth-minute strike was enough to ease Angers to victory over Paris FC, despite playing with only 10 men for more than half-an-hour following Louis Mouton’s dismissal.
Lassine Sinayoko was Auxerre’s match-winner against Lorient, while Joaquín Panichelli’s 86th-minute goal handed Strasbourg all three points at Metz.
Atletico stunned
In LaLiga, Pere Milla came off the bench to head Espanyol to a 2-1 comeback victory over Atletico Madrid.
Atleti’s Julian Alvarez opened the scoring with a 37th-minute free-kick and was denied a second by a post.
But the hosts were back in it with 17 minutes remaining when Miguel Rubio equalized and there was worse to come for the visitors with just six minutes remaining when Milla headed Omar El Hilali’s cross past Jan Oblak to win it.
Athletic Bilbao substitute Robert Navarro snatched a 3-2 victory over Sevilla after his side had squandered a two-goal lead.
Nico Williams’ penalty and Maroan Sannadi’s strike had the hosts 2-0 ahead at the break, but Dodi Lukebakio and Lucien Agoume levelled it up, only for Navarro to win it nine minutes from time.
Second-half goals from Adrian Liso and Christantus Uche handed Getafe a 2-0 win at Celta Vigo as they launched their campaign in promising style.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler lived up to growing claims of his “inevitability” on Sunday, sealing a comeback victory at the season’s penultimate tournament with a decisive finish on the second-to-last hole.
He pitched in from 82 feet for a birdie at the 17th hole and held on to defeat Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre by two shots at the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club.
Scheffler posted a 3-under-par 67 to finish 15-under 265 at the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. He had little trouble surpassing MacIntyre, the sole leader after each of the first three rounds, who struggled to a 3-over 73.
MacIntyre, who totaled just three bogeys over the first three rounds, bogeyed three of his first five holes Sunday to squander a four-shot lead.
Scheffler had an uneven back nine that included two of his three bogeys. But after both he and MacIntyre missed the green at the difficult par-3 17th, Scheffler aimed a perfect pitch shot that took a full 12 seconds to trickle down the length of the green and directly into the hole.
“It was a chip we practiced,” Scheffler said. “I knew how fast it was, and basically it was just trying to get it on the green. It was kind of a bowl pin back there to where everything kind of funnels towards it, and I knew it was just going to be really fast, and do my best to get it down there and give myself a good look for par.
“When it came out, it came out how we wanted to and then it started breaking and it started looking better and better, and yeah, it was definitely nice to see that one go in.”
It was an unusual win for Scheffler in one key way: With his regular caddie, Ted Scott, away this week to tend to a personal matter, Scheffler worked with Mike Cromie, usually the caddie for Chris Kirk.
Scheffler said Cromie did a good job of staying even-keeled – something Scheffler has made his own personal brand in his rise to stardom.
“He’s not a guy that’s going to overreact to anything,” Scheffler said. “He did a really good job of just staying even keel all week and kind of impervious to the pressure of a final round, and he did a really good job.”
Scheffler, 29, earned his fifth win of the PGA Tour season and the 18th of his career – all coming since February 2022. He also finished inside the top eight for the 13th consecutive start, tying a mark set by Tom Weiskopf in 1973.
He will be the heavy favorite to repeat at the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta.
“It’s been a nice stretch the last few years and I’ve done some really good things,” Scheffler said. “It’s nice to get the results from a lot of hard work … It was a battle all the way through. Fortunate to be sitting here.”
Maverick McNealy posted a bogey-free 66 and captured third at 11 under. Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (67) and Sam Burns (68) tied for fourth at 10 under.
MacIntyre hit only half of the fairways and the greens in regulation and did not make a birdie until the par-5 No. 16.
The first hole saw a two-shot swing, as Scheffler played it perfectly for a birdie and MacIntyre missed the fairway, the green and the 7-foot par save.
MacIntyre unraveled. He missed the green in regulation again at Nos. 2 and 5 and failed to save par. The third bogey created a tie with Scheffler at 13 under, and two holes later, Scheffler knocked in a 6-footer for birdie and the outright lead.
Scheffler stuck his approach at the 11th to 3 feet for an easy birdie. His putter acted up on him at Nos. 12 and 14, leading to bogeys from close range, but MacIntyre dropped another shot after missing the green at the par-3 13th.
MacIntyre later called his start “horrific” and said he expected he’d perform Sunday as well as he had Thursday through Saturday, when he shot rounds of 62, 64 and 68.
“Right now I want to go and smash up my golf clubs, to be honest with you,” MacIntyre said.
At the conclusion of the BMW, the top 30 in the FedEx Cup points race advanced to the Tour Championship. Akshay Bhatia secured the 30th and final spot, while Michael Kim and Rickie Fowler were the first two men out after fading late on Sunday.
Both Kim and Fowler were projected inside the top 30 at different points on Sunday, but Fowler had a bogey-double bogey stretch and Kim made two bogeys over his final five holes. Fowler (69) tied for seventh at 7 under with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (73) and Norway’s Viktor Hovland (69), and Kim (70) placed 10th at 6 under.
Meanwhile, the only player who moved in from outside the top 30 was Englishman Harry Hall. He leapt from 45th to 26th by placing sixth at 8 under par.
“Definitely tee to green I’m swinging it a lot better thanks to (coach Butch Harmon),” Hall said. “Been working a lot on my mental game. Just doing some work there. I think that’s been the consistency for me just in my decision-making, not so much my quality of golf shots.”
Arsenal opened their Premier League campaign Sunday with a 1-0 win over Manchester United thanks to Riccardo Calafiori’s goal, while reigning world champions Chelsea were held to a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace.
After finishing second for the past three seasons, the pressure is on Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to deliver the club’s first league title since 2003/04.
The Gunners were far from impressive at Old Trafford but earned a huge three points thanks to a glaring error from United’s stand-in goalkeeper Altay Bayındır.
The Turkish international flapped at Declan Rice’s corner on 13 minutes, presenting Calafiori with the simple task of heading into an empty net.
“Big result,” said Arteta. “First game of the season at Old Trafford when you feel they are building something.”
United gave debuts to all of their new 200-million-pound ($271 million) attacking trident of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, but could not find a way past the Premier League’s best defense for the past two seasons.
Patrick Dorgu came closest to an equalizer when the Dane smashed against the post from long range.
It was a tale of the two goalkeepers as Arsenal stopper David Raya also produced fine saves to deny Cunha and Mbeumo a perfect start to their United careers.
“We proved today we can win any game in the Premier League against a great team like Arsenal,” said United boss Ruben Amorim.
“We deserved a different result and we need to move forward to the next one.”
Chelsea’s hangover
Chelsea suffered a Club World Cup hangover as they were kept at bay by FA Cup winners Palace.
The Eagles were denied an early opener when Eberechi Eze’s free kick was ruled out by a VAR review for Marc Guehi obstructing the Chelsea wall.
New Chelsea signing Estevao came closest to snatching a winner for the home side, but the newly crowned world champions were blunt in attack against a well-organized Palace defense.
Palace’s key duo of Guehi and Eze started despite mounting speculation, the England internationals are set to join Liverpool and Tottenham, respectively.
“As long as they are 100% committed, they will play as they are so good,” said Palace boss Oliver Glasner.
“They didn’t just show they are great footballers, but they are great persons, and that’s what I expected.”
Chelsea’s demolition of European champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final last month had raised the Blues’ hopes they can challenge for a first Premier League title since 2017.
But Enzo Maresca bemoaned his side’s lack of preparation time since beating PSG in New York just 35 days ago.
“They played about eight (pre-season) games, we played just two, so we tried our best,” said the Italian.
“We expected a tough game. Apart from the first half free kick, we didn’t concede any chances.”
‘Beautiful goals’
Nottingham Forest made light of manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s pre-season fears over a lack of signings with a dominant 3-1 win over a much-changed Brentford.
Chris Wood struck twice, either side of Dan Ndyoe’s debut goal for Forest, on a nightmare afternoon for new Brentford boss Keith Andrews.
“It was a very good first half. The combinations were really good, beautiful goals,” said Nuno.
“This is why we are insisting on a good, balanced squad that gives us options and solutions.”
The Bees have lost their manager, captain and top scorer in the off-season.
Thomas Frank left to take charge of Tottenham, Mbeumo got his dream move to Manchester United and Arsenal secured Christian Norgaard.
Yoane Wissa was also missing from the Brentford squad ahead of an expected move to Newcastle.
Igor Thiago’s first goal for the club from the penalty spot late on was the only consolation for the visitors.
“I do have genuine belief but we have to take responsibility for a first half that wasn’t good enough,” said Andrews.
Spanish champions Barcelona opened their Liga campaign on Saturday with an island cruise as they played almost an hour against nine men on their way to a 3-0 victory in Mallorca.
Barcelona’s second-half stroll did not please coach Hansi Flick.
“They’re three important points, but I didn’t like the match,” he told broadcaster Movistar. “After going two goals up and following Mallorca’s two red cards, I think the team only gave 50% and I didn’t like that.”
“Playing at 50 or 60% is not possible against nine players.”
Two of Barcelona’s Ballon d’Or nominees combined to put the visitors ahead after seven minutes, Lamine Yamal crossing for Raphinha to head in.
Yamal played a key role in the second goal after 23 minutes. Mallorca defender Antonio Raillo headed away the teenager’s shot and then fell to the ground.
As the referee waved play on and Mallorca failed to clear, the ball fell to Ferran Torres. He fired home from the edge of the box.
“If I would be on the other side of the decision, I also would be not happy, but I always say to my team until the referee stops the match we have to continue,” said Flick speaking in English at the post-match press conference.
“The referee didn’t stop the match, so there you go. That they are unhappy with that decision, I can also imagine.”
Manu Morlanes was one of two Mallorca players booked for dissent as they told the referee he should have stopped the game.
Ten minutes later, Morlanes received a second yellow for a challenge on the rampant Yamal and was sent off.
In the 39th minute, as Barcelona’s debutant goalkeeper Joan Garcia jumped to head a ball clear, Mallorca striker Vedat Muriqi challenged with his boot so high he planted his studs on Garcia’s cheek. Muriqi also saw red.
Barcelona strolled through the second half. Flick brought on summer loan signing Marcus Rashford, whose league registration only cleared on Saturday morning, for his Liga debut.
Deep into injury time Yamal picked up the ball on the right, left three defenders trailing as he cut across the top of the penalty area and curled a left-foot shot into the top corner with the final kick of the game.
“He surprises you every day. He’s a spectacular player,” said Flick.
In the evening’s late games, Valencia drew 1-1 at home to Real Sociedad. Diego Lopez gave the hosts a 57th-minute lead, Takefusa Kubo replied three minutes later.
In Vitoria, Argentine centre back Facundo Tenaglia fired home from close range after a free kick in added time to give hosts Alaves a 2-1 victory over promoted Levante.
Atletico Madrid start their campaign on Sunday at home to Sevilla. Real Madrid close the opening round on Tuesday against Osasuna.
On Friday, Jorge de Frutos scored the first goal of the new La Liga season to set Rayo Vallecano on their way to a 3-1 win over 10-man Girona.
Real Oviedo’s return to the top flight after a 24-year absence began on a flat note with a 2-0 defeat at Villarreal.
Khamzat Chimaev overwhelmed Dricus du Plessis to claim the UFC middleweight title in Chicago on Saturday, a one-sided victory underscored by striking statistics that highlight the uphill battle awaiting any future challenger.
Apart from the last couple of minutes of the final round, the Chechen-born Chimaev, who began training in MMA while living in Sweden before moving to Abu Dhabi and fighting under the flag of the United Arab Emirates, utterly smothered his South African opponent.
Despite being the champion, Du Plessis came into the fight as the betting underdog and it quickly became apparent why. Having built his career on his suffocating wrestling, the 31-year-old Chimaev immediately took the champion down and the punishment began.
In all, Chimaev fired off a whopping 567 strikes over the course of five five-minute rounds, landing a stunning 529 of them. Du Plessis managed a mere 68 and landed only 45.
Nothing the challenger did was either unexpected or fancy. He took the fight to the mat with a double-leg takedown and then advanced to a crucifix position, trapping the right arm of Du Plessis with his legs and lying across his opponent’s torso to control his other arm.
That left Du Plessis almost defenseless as Chimaev fired short left hands at his head, knowing that one wrong move by the man on the bottom while trying to escape could put him in a worse position, or even see him knocked out.
To his great credit Du Plessis, who is also 31, never quit but by the end of the third round he was so far behind on the scorecards that he needed a finish. He somehow found the energy to go on the offensive in the final two minutes of the fight, but to no avail.
Incredibly for such a one-sided fight, the toughness of Du Plessis managed to keep the fans in attendance at the United Center on the edge of their seats, despite knowing that Chimaev was on his way to a one-sided unanimous decision victory.
The UFC had a number of middleweight contenders sitting cage-side, and their only consolation as they watched the brutal beat-down of Du Plessis and Chimaev’s coronation might have been that he didn’t manage to finish the fight early with a violent knockout or submission.
If that is indeed his only flaw, none of them will be heading to the gym on Monday morning and relishing the prospect of facing the new champion and challenging him for the belt.
Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez won the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, his first victory at the track, marking the 1,000th premier class race and extending his championship lead over brother Alex to 142 points.
Having won Saturday’s sprint from the second row, Marquez claimed the sprint-race double for the sixth Grand Prix in a row, with the Spaniard unbeaten since the British Grand Prix in May.
Not since 2014 had Marquez claimed six Grand Prix wins on the bounce as he inches closer to a seventh MotoGP crown with nine rounds left.
Gresini Racing rookie Fermin Aldeguer found late race pace to finish second while Aprilia’s pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi, who kept Marquez at bay for as long as he could, finished third. Alex Marquez finished 10th after serving a long-lap penalty.
“Super, super happy to finally take the first victory here in Austria,” Marquez said.
“I’m happy with six victories in a row, but (I need to) keep focus, next week we have another race.”
Bezzecchi had claimed his first pole with Aprilia on Saturday and despite finishing fourth in the sprint, this time he had the perfect launch to lead Francesco Bagnaia and Marquez into turn one.
The two Ducatis went side by side on lap one when Marquez briefly overtook his teammate but Bagnaia did not relent and took the place back to stay in second.
However, Marquez made the same move on the next lap to take second and set his sights on Bezzecchi, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce.
“In the first part he (Bezzecchi) was super strong but then I just waited, I tried in the beginning but it was too risky, then I preferred to wait and attack in the end,” Marquez added.
Alex Marquez had a poor start and with a long-lap penalty to serve for causing a crash at the Czech Grand Prix, the younger Marquez sibling fell out of the top 10 when he rejoined the field.
Marquez pressure
Bezzecchi soaked up the pressure but the Aprilia rider was unable to shake off the red Ducati hunting him down.
Bagnaia was struggling with his bike and he eventually began fading, giving way to KTM’s Pedro Acosta and Aldeguer as the two youngsters fought for third.
Bagnaia had been undefeated in Austria for three years but he was a shadow of the ringmaster who had dominated at the Red Bull Ring since 2022 as he was bumped down to eighth.
Marquez finally attacked on lap 19 and squeezed past the Aprilia but Bezzecchi put his head down and took first place back from the Spaniard, eager to deny him a first victory at the Red Bull Ring.
But Marquez was on the ascendancy and he finally broke Bezzecchi’s resistance on the next lap, using the Aprilia’s slipstream to dive into turn one and take the lead.
As Bezzecchi made a futile attempt to reel Marquez in, Aldeguer then made a play for second place and the Gresini rookie made his move with five laps to go on turn one to slot in behind Marquez.
Marquez responded to the challenge and kept Aldeguer at bay to take the chequered flag but the rookie was over the moon with his best result in MotoGP.
“I’m super happy because at the end, Austria is not one of my favourite tracks like Le Mans,” he said. “Making two podiums on bad tracks for me is incredible.”
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DMM’den ‘Terrorismless Türkiye Commission to deny the slanders: completely unfounded
Reaction to Ozgur Ozel from Burhanettin Duran, President of Communication to Ozgur: The bottom of negative politics
An agreement was reached in approximately 2 million files by reconciliation method
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