LONDON: A non-fungible token (NFT) representing the moment Andy Murray won Wimbledon in 2013 sold for $177,777 at auction on Monday, the platform running the sale said.
The Scottish tennis star announced last month that a series of blockchain-based collectibles representing his Wimbledon victory would be up for sale on a platform called WENEW, which sells videos of moments from culture and history in the form of NFTs.
An NFT is a crypto asset which records ownership of a digital item, such as an image, video or text, on blockchain. While anyone can view or download it, only the buyer can claim ownership.
The buyer of Murray’s Wimbledon “moment” will not own the copyright of the video. But they will receive a small digital screen to display it on, two tickets to Center Court for the 2022 men’s Wimbledon finals, a chance to play tennis with Murray and signed souvenirs.
Murray said he first found out about NFTs when the American digital artist Beeple sold an NFT artwork for $69.3 million at Christie’s in March. Beeple is one of WENEW’s founders.
“I’m still learning about NFTs but it feels like an exciting area and one I’m sure more athletes and content creators will be getting involved in,” Murray told Reuters via email.
An NFT enthusiast known as Pranksy told Reuters he was the buyer.
In addition to the main “moment” showing Murray’s match-winning point, the platform also sold more than 600 limited edition NFTs representing other moments related to the 2013 victory, priced between $49 and $4,999 each.
Murray said he does not personally own any cryptocurrencies or crypto assets such as NFTs, but he is learning more each day and would buy an NFT “moment” from WENEW in future.
Murray, who won Olympics gold at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games, will defend his title in Tokyo.
Andy Murray’s Wimbledon NFT fetches $178k at auction
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Andy Murray’s Wimbledon NFT fetches $178k at auction
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- Murray announced last month a series of blockchain-based collectibles representing his Wimbledon victory would be up for sale
- A non-fungible token enthusiast known as Pranksy told Reuters he was the buyer
Groves wins Vuelta stage 14 as Roglic survives puncture scare
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- Van Aert still heads the green jersey classification 109 points ahead of Groves
- Roglic and O’Connor will both be aware that Sunday’s stage 15 could well decide the outcome of the Vuelta
MADRID: Australian rider Kaden Groves edged Wout van Aert in a thrilling sprint to win stage 14 of the Vuelta a España on Saturday as Primoz Roglic survived a late puncture scare to remain in contention for the title.
Overall leader Ben O’Connor, who had a horror day in the saddle on Friday, had a smoother ride on the longest stage of the tour, a 200km route between Villafranca del Bierzo and Villablino.
He will go into Sunday’s 15th stage still wearing the leader’s red jersey, 1 minute 21 seconds ahead of Roglic.
Saturday, however, belonged to Alpecin-Deceuninck rider Groves who added this win to his victory in stage two.
Van Aert, who was aiming for a fourth victory in this Vuelta, had his Visma-Lease a Bike team riding all day to control and recapture the breakaway, and secure a good position in the sprint.
The Belgian kicked first, as he likes to do, but in the dash to the line, it was the 25-year-old Queenslander who crossed the line first, just centimeters ahead of his rival.
“To win a man on man sprint against Wout is pretty awesome,” Groves told Eurosport at the finish.
“I didn’t hesitate. I think I did a pretty good sprint, and it felt like a bit of a drag race against Wout but in the end it was good enough to beat him.
“My third Vuelta and my sixth win, it’s good to see the consistency paying off.”
Van Aert still heads the green jersey classification 109 points ahead of Groves.
O’Connor dropped nearly two minutes to Roglic on Friday but had a more comfortable ride this time and almost snatched a couple of bonus seconds when Roglic suffered a puncture 14 kilometers from the finish.
His Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe car was on hand to ensure a quick bike exchange, however, and the Slovenian was able to rejoin the peloton.
Roglic and O’Connor will both be aware that Sunday’s stage 15 could well decide the outcome of the Vuelta.
It is a mountainous 142.9 kilometer ride with the riders tackling the Alto de Santo Emiliano and a double ascent of the Alto de la Colladiella before the Cuitu Negru with a vicious steep finale.
Ko Jin-young grabs lead at LPGA FM Championship as Ryu stumbles
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- Ko’s compatriot Ryu Hae-ran had a nightmare round, shooting a six-over 78 and fell to four shots off the lead
WASHINGTON: South Korea’s Ko Jin-young shot a 5-under 67 to grab a two shot lead at the LPGA Tour’s FM Championship after the third round at TPC Boston on Saturday.
Ko’s compatriot Ryu Hae-ran, whose stunning 10-under 62 on Friday had earned her a six-stroke lead, had a nightmare round, shooting a six-over 78 and fell to four shots off the lead.
Ko made four birdies before the turn and although she suffered a setback with a bogey at the par-4 15th, she bounced back with birdies on the last two holes.
The 29-year-old Ko, a two-time major champion, has 15 career wins on the LPGA Tour and was the LPGA’s Player of the Year in 2019 and 2021.
She is looking for her first win of 2024, however, with her most recent victory coming at the Cognizant Founders Cup in May last year.
On the 12 occasions when Ko has led going into the final round of an LPGA event she has emerged as the winner nine times.
“I’m trying to be a very competitive person; that’s why if I get in the lead, I think it’s good motivation for me,” said Ko.
“This golf course is not easy, so I think I need to focus myself and just repeat to myself, ‘You can do it, you got this.’ I’m looking forward for tomorrow,” she added.
In-form American Lauren Coughlin shot a 3-under 69, making her the only player to shoot in the 60’s in all three rounds, and sits just two shots behind Ko heading into the final round.
Coughlin, who made four birdies and a bogey, wasn’t happy with her performance but after picking up her first two wins on the tour this year, with her second coming this month at the Scottish Open, she has a chance of making it three.
“But I’m not going to worry about that too much tomorrow. I’m definitely feeling a little tired, and so just trying to preserve as much energy as I have, which is all I can do. Focus on what I can control, which is me,” she said.
A trio of players are three shots off the lead — Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, American Allizen Corpuz and Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul.
Paralympic organizers postpone triathlon in Seine over water quality
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- The triathlon was originally scheduled to happen over two days — September 1 and 2
PARIS: Paralympic organizers on Sunday postponed the triathlon by a day over worries about the River Seine’s water quality.
“The latest analysis shows a deterioration in the water quality of the Seine following heavy rainfall over the past two days,” the organizers said.
“It was decided to schedule the 11 medal sessions of the Para triathlon on September 2,” they added, following a meeting between World Triathlon, the Paris 2024 organizers, and the relevant French authorities.
The triathlon was originally scheduled to happen over two days — September 1 and 2.
The issue also caused disruption to the Olympics triathlon and open-water swimming events, with several practice sessions being canceled due to high levels of pollution caused by heavy rainfall.
Of 11 days of events and training scheduled in the river during the Olympics, only five got the green light.
Despite a 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) upgrade to improve the Paris sewerage and water treatment system, the Seine has been dogged by pollution concerns, notably for its levels of enterococci and E.coli bacteria.
USA take first their Paralympic track golds but China out in front
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- Jaydin Blackwell charged to the men’s T38 100m final in a world record time of 10.64sec.
- The Chinese team had moved up to 20 golds by the end of Saturday’s action
PARIS: The US won their first two track and field titles of the Paris Paralympics on Saturday but China piled on the medals to stretch their lead in the table.
On the same track at the Stade de France where his compatriot Noah Lyles won the Olympic gold nearly four weeks ago, Jaydin Blackwell charged to the men’s T38 100m final in a world record time of 10.64sec.
Blackwell, who has cerebral palsy, donned a pair of sunglasses to celebrate his victory.
“I had to bring something over here to put a little pizzazz into things,” the 20-year-old said.
“It was the perfect race, but I was just focused on what I had to do and get to the line as fast as possible.”
There was more USA success as wheelchair racer Daniel Romanchuk upstaged reigning champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland in an exciting men’s 5000m T54 final.
Romanchuk, a 26-year-old who was born with spina bifida, burst past five-time gold medallist Hug in the home straight, leaving the Swiss in silver medal position while Faisal Alrajehi took a rare Paralympic medal for Kuwait in third.
British veteran David Weir, a multiple Paralympic medallist, faded and finished eighth.
Romanchuk has impressive range having taken gold at 400m at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and has also won the Chicago, New York and Boston marathon wheelchair races.
China’s added an early gold medal on Saturday thanks to javelin thrower Yuping Zhao, who set a world record of 47.06 meters in the F12 category for athletes with a moderate visual impairment.
The Chinese team had moved up to 20 golds by the end of Saturday’s action, showing that the nation that has topped the medals table at every Paralympics since Athens in 2004 is well on the way to repeating that feat.
In the pool, Brazilian swimmer Gabriel dos Santos Araujo, known as Gabrielzinho, won his second title of the Paris Games by taking the 50m backstroke gold in the S2 category.
Gabrielzinho has stumps where his arms should be and his legs are atrophied, although he can walk.
Britain remained in second place in the medal standings with 11 golds as Alice Tai won her first individual Paralympic title, taking the S8 100m backstroke gold and Stephen Clegg and William Ellard both set world records to triumph in their events.
The USA finished the day with five golds and fifth in the table.
In other sports, the USA men’s wheelchair basketball team thrashed the Netherlands 60-34 with Brian Bell top-scoring on 18 points. The Americans have two wins out of two as they bid to retain their title.
The country expected to give them a run for their money, Great Britain, were convincing 88-58 winners over Canada.
In men’s sitting volleyball, gold medal hopefuls Bosnia booked their place in the semifinals, while Egypt kept their hopes of reaching the last four alive by beating hosts France.
Reigning champions Iran return to action on Sunday.
In track cycling, home favorite Dorian Foulon sent the Paris velodrome into raptures by defending his C5 4000m individual pursuit title in emphatic fashion by beating Ukraine’s Yehor Dementyev.
He said the contrast with the gold he won three years ago in Tokyo, where Covid restrictions meant there were no spectators, was huge.
“The big difference is the crowd, it’s crazy. People had t-shirts with my name on. What is this madness?” a tearful Foulon joked after the medal ceremony.
There was a setback for the organizers as the final training session for Sunday’s triathlon events was canceled due to concerns about the water quality of the River Seine.
The training session had been due to take place on Saturday morning but was scrapped “as a precaution” after heavy rain in the French capital which can stir up pollution.
The issue of the water quality of the Seine also dogged the Olympics, although the triathlons and marathon swimming events did eventually go ahead.
Scottie Scheffler closes in on $25 million FedEx Cup prize with late burst of birdies
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- Scottie Scheffler is one round away from capping off this astonishing season with a FedEx Cup title and its $25 million prize
- Sahith Theegala might have been two shots closer except for calling a two-shot penalty on himself on the third hole for lightly touching the sand with his club out of a bunker
ATLANTA: The most PGA Tour victories in 15 years. A Masters green jacket and an Olympic gold medal. And now Scottie Scheffler is one round away from capping off this astonishing season with a FedEx Cup title and its $25 million prize.
Scheffler had four birdies over his last five holes Saturday for a 5-under 66 to extend his lead to five shots over Collin Morikawa in the Tour Championship at East Lake.
He also knows the work is not done.
Two years ago, Scheffler finished the third round of a rain-delayed Tour Championship on Sunday morning by building a six-shot lead. He fell apart that afternoon with a 73, and watched Rory McIlroy race past him to capture the PGA Tour’s big prize.
The task for Scheffler is simple.
“Keep doing what I’ve been doing, staying in the moment, staying patient out there,” Scheffler said. I’ve bogeyed the first hole two of the last three days, and both times when I bogeyed the first hole I didn’t make any bogeys after that. So that’s kind of good momentum for me.”
It was even better moment at the end, with Morikawa (67) staying on his heels. Morikawa birdied three of his last four holes, but still ended up falling one more shot behind than the four-shot deficit he faced at the start of the third round.
“Not exactly the moving day that I needed, but I knew this entire week I was going to need something special to come out on top and I’m going to need something very special,” Morikawa said. “But I believe in myself, and hopefully that comes out tomorrow.”
Scheffler, who started at 10-under par and with a two-shot lead — six shots ahead of Morikawa, the No. 7 seed — was at 26-under par.
No one else was closer than nine shots.
Sahith Theegala might have been two shots closer except for calling a two-shot penalty on himself on the third hole for lightly touching the sand with his club out of a bunker. Video was not entirely clear, but Theegala informed officials and his par turned into a double bogey.
“Pretty sure I breached the rules, so I’m paying the price for it, and I feel good about it,” Theegala said. “I’m not 100 percent sure. But I’d say I’m 98, 99 percent sure that some sand was moved.”
He responded with seven birdies on the back nine and shot 66, leaving him nine shots behind.
Morikawa got within two shots of the lead when he holed a birdie putt from just inside 10 feet on the par-5 sixth hole. But that was as close as he got.
On the next hole, Scheffler holed a 15-foot birdie putt while Morikawa came up short of the green, lagged a putt to just outside 3 feet and missed it, a two-shot swing that restored Scheffler’s lead to four.
They also played in the final group at the Masters, where Scheffler pulled away to win by four. Morikawa knows by now what to expect.
“Five shots is a lot, but two-shot swings happen. I think I’ve seen a couple over the past few days,” Morikawa said. “Look, I’ve just got to play my game. I’ve got to go low. I know that. I’ve got 18 holes left to the season. I keep talking about that, but I’m going to put everything I have into these next 24 hours.”
His raw score was 17-under 196, one shot better than Scheffler.
Scheffler didn’t hit as many fairways and greens as he did the opening two rounds, but he was ranked No. 2 in the key putting statistic on Saturday. And he has kept his distance over every challenger so far this week.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot of stuff well and played solid, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of trying to finish off the tournament tomorrow,” he said.
British Open and PGA champion Xander Schauffele never got on track. Starting the day five shots behind, he had two bogeys in the opening four holes and failed to birdie the three par 5s in his round of 71. He was 10 shots behind.
He has never hit more than seven fairways each of the three rounds, and it has cost him at a time when he needed to go low to stay in the game.
“I was just not playing well enough to shoot consecutive 7-under pars,” Schauffele said. “You’ve got to be hitting at least 12 fairways to give yourself some serious looks and then obviously do a lot of good after that, but it starts with your ball on the short stuff.”
For everyone else, it’s a race for cash.
The FedEx Cup winner gets $25 million, with second place worth $12.5 million and third place paying $7.5 million.