Zaragosa rides momentum, Lumbo seeks redemption as ICTSI South Pacific unfolds

Manila Times - Oct 19, 2026

MANILA, Philippines – Fresh from ending a year-long title drought, Rupert Zaragosa hopes to ride his newfound momentum to another victory, while Jeffren Lumbo seeks redemption from a string of agonizing near-misses as a talent-laden field braces for battle in the P2.5-million ICTSI South Pacific Classic, which unwraps Tuesday (Oct. 20) at the South Pacific Golf and Leisure Estates in Davao City. The two headline a formidable cast bolstered by the return of several aces, including Asian Development Tour winners Sean Ramos, Aidric Chan and Carl Corpus, who resume their Philippine Golf Tour campaign with contrasting results in last Sunday's Macau Open of the Asian Tour but share one goal: to contend for the crown in the 72-hole championship. With the season winding down, the penultimate leg of the 10-stage circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. takes on added significance, as players scramble for a strong finish in the final two stops, both in Davao, and a chance to boost their earnings before the holidays. But few will be more driven than Lumbo, who has endured a frustrating run of near-misses. The Sarangani native suffered back-to-back one-stroke defeats in Negros Occidental and Iloilo, then remained in contention for three days at last...

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Russia to host 2030 world weightlifting champs in Olympic federation first

PARIS, France — Moscow was announced Sunday as host of the 2030 world weightlifting championships, the sport's governing body becoming the first Olympic federation to hand Russia global staging rights since 2022. No world championships in an Olympic sport, summer or winter, have been held in Russia since the start of the war against Ukraine. The 2025 world swimming champs, initially attributed to the Russian city of Kazan, were moved to Singapore. "Concerning the IWF (Senior) World Championships in 2029, it will be staged in Ahmedabad (India), and Moscow (Russia) will host the 2030 edition," the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) said in a statement. IWF general secretary Jose Quinones added that "all the bids we received were excellent and we are sure that the championships in your respective countries will be a huge success". In a post on Telegram, Russian Weightlifting Federation president Aleksandr Vinokurov thanked the IWF "for their trust", with the 2030 world champs also serving as a qualifying event for the 2032 Olympic Games. "Russia has all the necessary experience and capabilities to host competitions of the highest level," he said. "Moscow has repeatedly staged major international sporting events and has modern infrastructure." The federation toasted its success in snagging the hosting rights. "The Russian Weightlifting Federation is the first Olympic sports federation to succeed in bringing a top-level official competition back to the country in many years," it said. The decision to name Moscow as the host is a ground-breaking one and comes in the wake of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announcing a pathway for Russian athletes to compete in international competition. A state-sponsored doping program implemented, according to the World Anti-Doping Agency, at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, and the assault on Ukraine launched by President Vladimir Putin in 2022 resulted in Russians competing in various guises at international competition, most recently as Individual Neutral Athletes. However, on July 7 Russia came in from the cold when the IOC eased restrictions on Russian athletes and opened a pathway for them to compete in qualifying events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. A furious Ukraine filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) requesting that the IOC decision be annulled.