Congratulations on the title: chess player Elisabeth Pähtz can now call herself a Grandmaster. She achieved this with second place in the World Championship qualifier in Riga. This makes the 36-year-old the first German to be a Grandmaster. In the whole world there are only 40 women among 1741 Grandmasters. We congratulate Pähtz on her admission to the illustrious circle and on the "tournament of my life", of which she spoke afterwards. The Berlin woman has been a Woman Grandmaster for 20 years, by the way - but the female title is less respected than the male one in the world of intellectual sports.
First an unexpected promotion, and now the next (almost) historic event on the Havelse football pitch: Last weekend, a women's team directed the match of the North German third-division football team. For the first time in men's professional football, an all-female team - referee Riem Hussein and her lineswomen Christina Biehl and Katrin Rafalski - was in charge of the match. "Very positively" that was received by the men, said Hussein. Now we wait for the premiere in the first league!
The NBA is back in the White House. After the era of Donald Trump, which also sucked for many athletes, there was finally an official ceremony again: US President Joe Biden congratulated the Milwaukee Bucks on their basketball championship. Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo called it an incredible honor to have his team received by the president in the garden in front of the White House: "We see it as an incredible normalcy - nice to have that back in 2021 America." Biden may now hang a jersey with the number 46 in his bedroom - the basketball players brought this as a gift to the 46th president.
Until now, FIFA has been known for taking things in its stride - just remember the World Cup award to Qatar. But apparently there are some remaining virtues after all. In a new online academy coaches and players are now being taught. And not just at the level of Pep Guardiola or Ronaldo, but at the level of you and me: "FIFA has a duty to educate and train people around the world," said development director Arsène Wenger. Coaches should be able to learn new tactics, players should be able to watch specific drills - and all age groups should be able to do so. We say: Finally, no own goal from Zurich.
Dear parents, do you want to see your child in a world championship in three years? Then give him a dartboard! The story of Fabian Schmutzler sounds like something out of an advertising brochure. Christmas 2018 he got his first dartboard as a present - now at the fresh age of 16 he will take part in a World Darts Championship in February as the second youngest ever. "I couldn't realise it at first. It was mega. I almost started crying," Schmutzler told the darts podcast "Checkout" from the Channel Sport1. Well, wait till our kids who are still playing with dolls and Lego give you hell in three years.
Admittedly, we had almost forgotten about him. In 2016 Christoph Harting became Olympic discus champion in Rio de Janeiro. After that, he did everything he could to get a bad reputation with some curious public relations. But the guy doesn't seem to be all that bad - otherwise the younger brother of discus legend Robert Harting probably wouldn't have been elected deputy athlete spokesman at the German Athletics Association (DLV) in early 2020. Now Harting wants to attack again after all the flops including missed qualification for this year's Olympic Games : The 31-year-old wants to make it to the 2024 and 2028 Olympics, as he told athletics.com. The confidence impresses - we wish the best.
The outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia is on board, as is the US corporation Nike or Microsoft and T-Mobile: these companies are in the first Laureus Sport For Good Index, a collection of a total of 29 brands. What they have in common? According to the jurors' assessment, they show a positive social or environmental impact through sport. The brands listed in the index were evaluated according to seven key criteria - including the extent to which they invest in sport for good causes and the extent to which their sport investments are in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
