分类： sports

A major setback has hit Olympic gold medal-winning discus thrower Roje Stona, after World Athletics’ Nationality Review Panel rejected his application to change his sporting nationality from Jamaica to Turkiye. According to Stona’s agent Paul Doyle, the 2024 Paris Olympic champion is deeply devastated by the ruling, which has upended his plans to immediately begin competing under the Turkish flag.

Doyle shared that the outcome came as an unanticipated shock, pointing to a recent history of similar nationality change requests being approved for other athletes. Speaking in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, Doyle emphasized that Stona has fully immersed himself in Turkish life and culture, making the rejection particularly puzzling. “Athletes in the past have been approved, and now all of a sudden, these ones aren’t,” Doyle said. “I can speak for Roje because he’s the only one that I represent they’ve really, truly embraced Turkish culture, so to me it doesn’t make sense.”

The panel’s decision blocks the immediate eligibility Stona and his team had pushed for, throwing a wrench into the athlete’s carefully laid plans for a smooth transition to his new sporting affiliation. While Stona has worked to maintain his composure amid the disappointment, Doyle confirmed that the result has been a heavy blow. “He’s not happy, obviously, but he understands that it’s a process,” Doyle explained. “Hopefully, we can get through this and it’ll work out as favourably as possible for him. The hope was that he would be eligible right away. That’s obviously not going to be the case now, but he’s pretty devastated.”

Stona is far from alone in facing this outcome: he is one of 11 athletes whose nationality switch applications were turned down by the review panel. Fellow Jamaican track and field athletes Jaydon Hibbert, Rajindra Campbell and Wayne Pinnock are also on the rejected list, alongside a cohort of Kenyan runners including marathon star Brigid Kosgei, Catherine Relin (Selin Can) Amanang’ole, Brian Kibor, Ronald Kwemoi and Nelvin (Can) Jepkemboi. Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili and Russian athlete Sophia Yakushina round out the group of rejected applicants.

Stona’s team has no intention of accepting the ruling without a fight. Doyle confirmed that a formal appeal is already being prepared, and the camp is willing to escalate the challenge to the highest governing levels to seek a reversal. “We’re going to appeal it and see where it can go,” Doyle said. “We’re prepared to take it to the highest level.”

Even amid the frustration and disappointment, Doyle noted that Stona remains committed to continuing his training and preparation, as he waits for the appeal process to move forward.

LONDON – Premier League powerhouse Manchester City sent shockwaves through European football on Thursday, confirming that club captain Bernardo Silva will depart the Etihad Stadium when the current campaign concludes this summer. In an official announcement, the club paid glowing tribute to the 31-year-old Portuguese midfielder, describing his impact on the club’s historic era of dominance as “incalculable.”

Since signing from Ligue 1 side Monaco in 2017, Silva has cemented his status as one of the most influential players in Manchester City’s modern history. Across eight seasons with Pep Guardiola’s trophy-laden side, he has racked up more than 450 appearances – a milestone that recently pushed him into the club’s all-time top 10 for most senior appearances, outstripping club icons including David Silva, Paul Power and Willie Donachie. His attacking output for the Citizens stands equally impressive: 76 goals and 77 assists in all competitions, a testament to his consistent creative and goal-scoring threat from midfield.

Over his tenure at the club, Silva helped Manchester City claim 15 major senior trophies, an unparalleled haul that includes six Premier League titles, one UEFA Champions League crown, multiple FA Cups and League Cups. His contributions have been central to City’s run as the dominant force in English football over the past decade, the greatest sustained period of success in the club’s 145-year history.

As he prepares to bring his Manchester City chapter to a close, the club said Silva will remain fully focused on adding more silverware to his collection before he exits. Guardiola’s side is still firmly in contention for a historic domestic double, sitting in tight contention for the 2024/25 Premier League title and advancing deep into the FA Cup competition.

Silva shared his own emotional reflection on his departure via his personal Instagram account, touching on the personal as well as professional roots he built in Manchester. “In a few months it’s time to say goodbye to the city where not only we won so much as a football club, but also where I started my marriage and my family,” he wrote. “From the bottom of my heart, Ines and Carlota, thank you!”

As the United States prepares to co-host the men’s FIFA World Cup this summer, a controversial new controversy has erupted over planned surge pricing for public transit trips to tournament match venues, drawing sharp condemnation from international football fan groups, top elected officials, and long-time tournament attendees. Multiple media reports have revealed that two major public transit agencies are considering dramatic price increases that would push round-trip fares far above their standard event-day rates, leaving many traveling supporters facing hundreds of dollars in unexpected travel costs just to reach stadiums.

According to a recent report from sports outlet The Athletic, New Jersey Transit (NJT) has drafted plans to charge passengers more than $100 for a single round-trip ticket between Manhattan’s Penn Station and MetLife Stadium, the New Jersey venue set to host eight World Cup matches. For context, the same journey typically costs just $12.90 round-trip on non-event days, and even for major regular events at the stadium, fares remain far lower than the proposed World Cup rate. Separately, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has publicly confirmed it will charge $80 for round-trip tickets between Boston and Gillette Stadium, where multiple group-stage matches will be held – a four-fold jump from the agency’s standard $20 event-day fare.

International fan groups have been among the loudest critics of the proposed hikes, arguing that the price increases price out ordinary working-class supporters in favor of wealthy attendees. Guillaume Aupretre, a spokesperson for the largest French supporters’ association, told Agence France-Presse that the pricing structure runs counter to longstanding World Cup norms. “It’s a disgrace. In recent tournaments, transportation was either included in the ticket price or offered at a heavily discounted rate for ticket holders,” Aupretre said. “They keep piling on the extra costs without giving any thought to the fans.” He added that the policy amounts to FIFA shutting out the sport’s most loyal supporters to cater exclusively to wealthier fans. France is scheduled to play all three of its Group I matches at the Boston and New Jersey venues, meaning French fans will face the full brunt of the inflated fares.

UK fan group Free Lions, which represents traveling England supporters, also voiced anger over the pricing in a social media post, writing: “Another day, another rip off at this World Cup. What on earth is going on?” England also will play its group-stage matches at the same two venues, leaving its traveling fan base facing the same steep costs.

The transit pricing controversy comes as FIFA already faces widespread backlash over exorbitant match ticket prices for the 2026 tournament, which is being co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. FIFA, the global governing body for football, has not yet responded to AFP’s request for comment on the transit fare dispute.

Top American political leaders have stepped into the controversy, calling on FIFA to cover all public transit costs for the tournament, pointing to the massive $11 billion in projected revenue that FIFA is expected to earn from the 2026 event. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, publicly demanded that the governing body take responsibility for the costs in a social media statement Tuesday. “The least FIFA can do is ensure New York residents can go to the stadium without being gouged at the turnstile,” Schumer wrote. “I am demanding FIFA step up and cover transportation costs for host cities and states.”

New York Governor Kathy Hochul also criticized the proposed hikes, writing on social platform X that “Charging over $100 for a short train ride sounds awfully high to me.”

NJ Transit has pushed back slightly on the reports, with a spokesperson telling The Athletic that no final decision has been made on World Cup-specific pricing, describing the leaked $100 fare figures as “unconfirmed speculation.” The agency did not respond directly to AFP’s request for comment. The Athletic also reported that hosting eight matches in New Jersey is expected to cost the transit agency roughly $48 million overall, with most of that cost tied to expanded security requirements for the tournament.

Not all host cities are moving ahead with price hikes, however. Federal authorities have already allocated $100 million in total federal funding to cover transit-related costs for host cities across the country, including $8.7 million for the Boston and Massachusetts region, $10.4 million for the New York-New Jersey metro area, and $9.6 million for Los Angeles. Los Angeles’ transit agency has already committed to keeping standard fares in place for World Cup match days: a round-trip from downtown Los Angeles to SoFi Stadium will remain just $3.50, the same as it is on any other day.

In a landmark decision published Thursday, the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel has blocked 13 elite athletes, including four of Jamaica’s top track and field stars, from switching their international sporting allegiance to compete for Turkey. Among the Jamaican applicants was Roje Stona, the newly crowned 2024 Paris Olympic men’s discus gold medalist, alongside shot putter Rajindra Campbell, triple jumper Jaydon Hibbert and long jumper Wayne Pinnock – all core contributors to Jamaica’s rising field athletics program. The rejected applications also included six athletes from African nations – Nigeria’s Favour Ofili, four Kenyan runners including marathon legend Brigid Kosgei, Catherine Relin Amanang’ole, Brian Kibor, Ronald Kwemoi, Nelvin Jepkemboi – and one Russian athlete, Sophia Yakushina.

The panel’s ruling centered on a key finding: the batch of applications was not made up of individual requests, but rather part of a coordinated, state-backed recruitment strategy led by Turkey through a state-funded sports club. According to the panel’s statement, the program offered extremely lucrative financial contracts to elite athletes to secure their citizenship and eligibility to compete for Turkey at major international competitions, including the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

After reviewing all applications collectively due to their shared characteristics, the panel determined that this systematic recruitment approach directly conflicts with the foundational core principles of international track and field. These principles exist to protect the credibility of global competition, incentivize national member federations to invest in nurturing domestic young talent, and preserve athlete confidence that national teams are built through development, not large-scale poaching of established talent from other countries.

“These applications, if approved, would fundamentally undermine the purpose of World Athletics’ eligibility and transfer of allegiance rules,” the panel said in its official announcement. The ruling means none of the 13 athletes will be permitted to represent Turkey in international competitions or national team events. The decision does not restrict the athletes from competing in lower-stakes competitions such as one-day track meets or road races as individual or club entrants, nor does it bar them from continuing to live and train in Turkey.

World Athletics’ transfer regulations set clear criteria for athletes seeking to change the nation they represent at the international level. While holding legal citizenship of the new country is a basic requirement, additional rules are in place to verify a genuine, ongoing connection between the athlete and their new nation, and to protect the global integrity and long-term development of the sport. The independent Nationality Review Panel is tasked with evaluating all allegiance transfer applications in line with these binding regulations.

Prior to the ruling, reports confirmed the Jamaican quartet had already completed Turkish citizenship documentation, drawn by the promise of substantial financial compensation ahead of 2025. The planned departure of the four stars was widely seen as a major setback for Jamaica’s athletics program, particularly for its fast-improving field event sector, which the athletes have helped raise to global prominence. Following news of the athletes’ planned switch, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) formally called on World Athletics to investigate and intervene, setting the stage for Thursday’s final decision.