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From the gladiatorial spectacles of ancient Rome to today’s televised combat sports, contests of strength and skill have held deep cultural significance. From wrestling and boxing to Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, these disciplines evoke intense emotions and reflect complex societal values. They embody the spirit of competition, promote healthy lifestyles, and serve as powerful tools for advancing wellbeing and community.

Behind the glitz of arena shows, combat sports are an intricate production that requires incredible athleticism and strategic mastery. They are also a lens through which broader social issues like race, gender, and class intersect with sport. Understanding the complexities of these relationships can enhance our appreciation of the rich legacy and profound impact of combat sports.

As warriors forged in the crucible of adversity, combat athletes’ stories of triumph and resilience transcend sport to inspire and influence a wider audience. Their journeys reveal the limitless potential of the human spirit and demonstrate that embracing challenges and learning from setbacks can help athletes achieve even greater success.

In addition to their physical and psychological benefits, a life of training combat sports helps an individual develop a heightened awareness of the world around them. Their reaction time improves, they become able to recognize the body language of an attacker and they learn to keep a safe distance during verbal altercations. Moreover, the training allows them to practice counterattacks against opponents who attempt to take them down or use their size and strength as an advantage.

Formula 1’s blend of tradition and futurism captivates millions, with a rich legacy and promising future. One of the keys to this enduring fascination is F1 standings – the real-time rankings that determine season champions. Understanding how these rankings are calculated provides insight into the competitive essence of the sport and how drivers and teams compete to win.

Since the sport’s inception, a series of adjustments have shaped its ranking systems, ensuring an equitable balance between driving excellence and a system designed to reflect fairness. These changes, which can have dramatic implications on how a championship is decided, help maintain the excitement of the sport and encourage new entrants to participate.

The current F1 scoring system gives each top-10 finisher a fixed number of points, with 25 for the winner and a decreasing scale for those behind. The system also rewards drivers with extra World Championship points for setting the fastest lap in Grand Prix races, though this bonus was scrapped for 2025. If a race is shortened, full points are awarded as long as 75 per cent of the scheduled distance is completed.

Drivers’ and constructors’ championships

The most coveted prize in F1 is the Constructors’ Championship, which celebrates a team’s overall performance during a season. Each team enters two cars, and the points scored by both drivers are added together to tally a team’s total. It has been the case eight times in the history of the championship that the teams’ title has been won by a driver who doesn’t hold the Drivers’ Championship lead – including a dead heat between Ferrari teammates Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

The team with the most points at the end of the season is crowned champion. As well as providing significant prize money, this also confers certain privileges such as a guaranteed place at the starting grid for next year’s event at their home race.

The US Open is played in August and September each year, the last two weeks of the summer in New York City. It is one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, and was first held in 1881, making it one of the oldest tennis championships in history. All the courts used by the US Open are illuminated, allowing matches to continue into the evening.

Ticket prices for the US Open are usually among the highest in the sport, but early buying and resale options make it possible to find affordable seats. The best way to find deals is on the official Ticketmaster site, which features both any standard tickets (non-resale, face value) that may be available (shown as “blue dots” on the detailed seat map for each session) and resale tickets (shown as red dots).

The 2025 U.S. Open begins with mixed doubles matches on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by singles action from Thursday through Sunday. Defending champion Jannik Sinner will start his men’s draw against Vit Kopriva, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka will play either Reilly Opelka or Jasmine Paolini on her first match day before potentially facing the likes of Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, and Novak Djokovic en route to the final.

A deep American contingent of players also will challenge in New York, led by runner-up from 2024 Madison Keys and recent semifinalist Coco Gauff, plus rising talents Alex Michelsen, Learner Tien, and Brandon Nakashima. This year, the US Open will use a new format to hold its semifinals and final on consecutive days, instead of spreading them out over three days like previous years.

After the dust has settled from a busy free agency period, teams turn their attention to shoring up their rosters via the NFL draft. The 2025 edition will take place April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. The first pick of the draft is made Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports.

As always, the big storyline of the draft is who will go first overall. The Titans will hold the top pick and could opt to select either Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward. Both players are considered to be potential generational talents in their position as Sanders has the speed and power to evade blocks while Ward can run, pass and play defense.

The remainder of the draft order is set based on how far a team advanced in the previous season’s playoffs. The team with the worst regular season record gets the first pick, followed by teams eliminated in the wild card round, divisional round and conference championship rounds. The Super Bowl loser picks 31st, and the Super Bowl winner 32nd.

Teams are allowed to trade picks during the draft, and those transactions often make for the most dramatic moments of the evening. But a team cannot move up in the draft without giving up one of its existing picks. Those rules are designed to promote fairness in the process and ensure that all teams have a chance to add talent to their rosters.

Amid a backdrop of war and political crisis, the first Olympic hockey games took place in 1920 at Antwerp’s small ice palace. The owner of the facility refused to let ice skating happen unless hockey was allowed, and the sport was born.

Today’s Olympics have changed quite a bit since the first games, from the way players skate to the dimensions of the rink itself. The game itself has also evolved significantly – the most significant change occurring at Squaw Valley in 1960 when organizers switched from natural to artificial ice, making for much smoother play and improved sightlines for TV viewers.

From the beginning, the Olympics have been a showcase for the best ice hockey players in the world. Minnesota natives have played an important role in that history, starting with the six members of the U.S. team that won the infamous Miracle on Ice in 1980 against the Soviet Union at Lake Placid. Among them were the late Mike Eruzione and former NHLers Goheen, Conroy, Fitzgerald, Weidenborner, Green, and Kaprizov.

Overtime at the Olympics isn’t as simple as next goal wins; the process depends on where a team is in the tournament, with games played in group play and quarterfinals having a longer overtime period than those in the semifinals and finals. There are no ties in the Olympic tournament, and any game that ends in regulation must be decided in either an overtime or a shootout.

Whether helping to bring down Jose Mourinho, leading marches against their club’s owners at Chelsea or pushing back against plans to commercialize football, fans show that fan activism is far from a fad and that they are a force to be reckoned with in the fight for the game’s future. While their protests may not be as grand as a tifo, they are still powerful.

For many fans, their teams and their games are part of their identities and when something goes wrong, it can be a major blow to their sense of self-worth. That is why they can take matters into their own hands and try to force the authorities to do what’s right by launching letter-writing campaigns, billboards or even hunger strikes.

The glocal motivations, tactics and spaces of fan activism are shaped by local contexts that differ across the globe. A recent study by Christian Brandt, Maryna Krugliak and Robert Warnecke analyzed fan activism in Germany and Ukraine to explore this dynamic. They found that the activism of these activist supporters is rooted in a combination of devotion to their clubs, a desire to protect figures of fandom and a sense of civic responsibility.

Journalists covering fan protests can help facilitate the movement by putting a face on the story. By reporting on the five W’s—who, what, where, when and why—and including details like the protester’s hobbies or family, they can help readers empathize with the person in question and feel more connected to them. In fact, one recent experiment showed that stories that humanized the teenager whose death spurred the protest led people to have more positive attitudes toward the teenage, the protest and the protesters.

The Asian Games are the largest multi-sport competition in Asia. The event is organized by the Olympic Council of Asia and features athletes from 45 countries and regions.

The 2026 edition of the Asian Games will be held in Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City, Japan from September 19 to October 4. This will be the third time Japan hosts the Games after Tokyo 1958 and Hiroshima 1994. The Organizing Committee is determined to make the Games the most successful ever.

Despite being a relatively young sport, breaking is already one of the biggest and most popular in the world. This is due to its widespread popularity among young people and its diverse rules and formats. The WDSF is confident that the inclusion of Breaking at the Asian Games will help further solidify this trend.

India secured two quotas at the 2026 Asian Games after claiming medals in both men’s and women’s shortboard surfing at the Asian Surfing Championships 2025 in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu. The Indian team climbed to sixth in the overall rankings, beating Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and Thailand.

Founded in 1951, the Asian Games were first held soon after World War II to reestablish the ties between the nations of Asia through sports and contribute to world peace through sports diplomacy. Since their establishment, the Games have grown in size and scope and today are the largest sporting events in Asia. The 2026 Games in Aichi-Nagoya are expected to attract more than 15,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and regions.

Across sports, cutting-edge technology is transforming the way teams train and optimize performance. Advancements in wearable tech, AI, performance tracking and VR are shaping a new approach to training that recognizes the diversity of athlete needs and aims to promote career longevity. Moreover, the trend towards personalized training programs offers athletes tailored, adaptable training regimens that address their unique physical and technical demands.

Moreover, AI is increasingly used by teams to analyze data and offer insights that enhance team strategies, player recruitment and fan interaction. AI-powered predictive analysis software allows teams to identify patterns and predict injury risks, significantly reducing the time and cost of training. In addition, AI-powered video analytics tools enable coaches to identify key strengths and weaknesses of opposing teams, enhancing strategic game planning and improving tactical awareness.

The proliferation of VR is reshaping the way fans engage with sports. Companies such as Rezzil are using virtual reality to provide hyper-realistic skills training for players, allowing them to hone their tactical awareness from anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, augmented reality is enabling fans to interact with their favorite teams in new ways. For instance, NBA teams have partnered with generative AI platform WSC Sports to automate multilingual content that gives fans in France, Brazil and Spain the ability to watch game highlights in their native languages.

Finally, the use of advanced technologies such as instrumented mouthguards by brands like HITIQ is helping to reduce the number of concussions in professional sports. These technologies help coaches and trainers detect even the smallest-looking impacts, ensuring that athletes return to play only once they are fully healed.

In the past few weeks, big-name athletes have made headlines for hanging up their cleats. From Super Bowl hero Nick Foles to women’s sports pioneer Alex Morgan, retirement is no easy task for athletes who have spent most of their lives chasing their dreams.

Whether due to injury, age or a desire to pursue other interests, many athletes struggle to know when to call it quits. Some athletes, like Olympic champions Megan Rapinoe, Peter Sagan and Tessa Worley, have stepped away from international competition in 2023, but their legacy is still very much alive.

As a coach and athletic director, Mike Goforth has dedicated nearly two decades to college sports, earning widespread respect and recognition in the field of sports medicine and athlete well-being. During his tenure, he has guided Virginia Tech athletics through some of the biggest changes in collegiate sports history.

On Thursday, Goforth announced his retirement from the position, but he will remain involved with the school as an assistant professor and in other new ventures within the university. He will continue to work closely with the department’s sport medicine staff, which he built into one of the best in the nation.

It’s no secret that Olympic athletes can spend a lot of money going for gold. Thousands of dollars in elite coaching and equipment can add up quickly, while forgoing regular employment to train around the clock can strain families. Some have even reported relying on food stamps and racking up credit card debt in their early post-athletic years.

The World Test Championship is a competition for the world’s best Test cricket teams. It replaced the ICC Champions Trophy in 2021, and was created to add more value to the five-match format. The tournament features games at legendary venues such as Lord’s and the Oval. It also offers a unique test of the players’ skills in swing-friendly conditions, making it more difficult for them to score runs and wickets.

New Zealand stunned the cricketing world by winning the inaugural World Test Championship in 2019. Kane Williamson led the team to victory in a thrilling final against England, and the Kiwis will be favourites to retain their title when the two sides meet at Lord’s this summer.

South Africa beat Australia in the 2025 World Test Championship final at Lord’s to win their first major ICC title in 27 years. The Proteas were 69 runs behind with just 69 needed on day four at the time, but Temba Bavuma’s superb 66 helped them to a five-wicket win.

The ICC decided to award hosting rights for the next three editions of the World Test Championship to England and Wales following their successful staging of the 2025 final. That decision will likely be ratified at the governing body’s annual conference in Singapore this month. England is one of the few countries that can fill the stands for a WTC final, and it has an ideal climate to host matches in the summer.