SportsNews
Dakar 2025, Stage 9: Al-Attiyah fastest as Al-Rajhi grabs overall lead
Nasser Al-Attiyah bounced back from a difficult showing on Monday to claim victory on Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally, while a puncture for Toyota driver Henk Lategan promoted Yazeed Al-Rajhi to the overall lead.
Dacia’s Al-Attiyah and Ford rival Mattias Ekstrom initially duelled for victory in the 357km test between Riyadh and Haradh, with the two trading the lead in the first part of the day.
Qatar driver Al-Attiyah held the early advantage in his Dacia Sandrider before Ekstrom flexed his muscle to jump to the front 81km into the stage.
The five-time Dakar winner retook the lead at the following checkpoint and began to stretch his advantage in the second half of the day, pulling out a lead of over a minute with less than 100km to run.
As Ekstrom dropped further back, Al-Attiyah continued to chip away from his rivals, eventually reaching the finish line with a 2m47s margin over X-raid Mini’s Guillaume de Mevius, who moved up to second.
The Belgian stood third for much of the all-gravel stage on Tuesday, but leapfrogged Ekstrom at the 217km mark to secure his best finish of 2025 since his victory on Stage 6.
Meanwhile, Overdrive’s Al-Rajhi put in a solid performance in a customer Toyota to take third, demoting Ekstrom’s Ford to fourth place.
Al-Rajhi team-mate’s Rokas Backiuska rounded off the top five, ahead of the other Ford of debutant Mitch Guthrie Jr.

#201 Overdrive Racing Toyota: Yazeed Al Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk
© Autosport.com
#201 Overdrive Racing Toyota: Yazeed Al Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk
Photo by: A.S.O.
No factory Toyotas finished inside the top 10, as Guy Botterill crashed out at the 272km mark and Lategan suffered an early puncture that cost him seven minutes to fix.
The South African haemorrhaged more time later in the stage, eventually finishing 16 minutes back in 11th place – just a day after he had taken victory on Stage 8.
His troubles allowed Al-Rajhi to snatch the lead in the Ultimate class with just three stages remaining, the Saudi driver moving 7m09s clear at the top of the standings.
Ekstrom continues to hold third place on Ford’s maiden factory outing, with Al-Attiyah now less than a minute behind in the last-remaining Dacia.
Guthrie Jr sits half an hour adrift in fifth place, while Matthieu Serradori has strengthened his grip on sixth position despite a low-key outing on Tuesday.
Dakar 2025 – Results after Stage 9 (Top 10)
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | Toyota | 33h43m58s |
| 2 | Henk Lategan | Toyota | 7m09s |
| 3 | Mattias Ekstrom | Ford | 24m50s |
| 4 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Dacia | 25m21s |
| 5 | Mitch Guthrie Jr | Ford | 56m28s |
| 6 | Matthieu Serradori | Century | 1h06m52s |
| 7 | Juan Cruz Yacopini | Toyota | 1h44m41s |
| 8 | Seth Quintero | Toyota | 1h46m07s |
| 9 | Joao Ferreira | Mini | 2h11m02s |
| 10 | Brian Baragwanath | Century | 2h31m14s |
SportsNews
Carabao Cup: 3 teams qualify for quarter-finals
At least three teams have made it into this season’s Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
This follows the conclusion of the first set of fourth round fixtures on Tuesday night.
Brentford booked their place with a 5-0 thrashing of Grimsby Town.
Cardiff City also defeated Wrexham 2-1.
Fulham needed penalties to see off Wycombe Wanderers after the game ended 1-1 in regulation time.
On Wednesday, the remaining fourth round games will be played across the UK.
Arsenal welcome Brighton, while Manchester City travel to Swansea.
Liverpool host Crystal Palace and Chelsea are away to Wolves.
SportsNews
Houston Dash congratulate Alozie on FIFPRO Nomination
National Women’s Soccer League, NWSL, side Houston Dash have congratulated Michelle Alozie following her nomination to the 2025 FIFPRO Women’s World X1.
Alozie was among the 26 players, who made the shortlist.
Houston Dash celebrated the Nigeria international with a short message on their official Facebook page.
“Congratulations to Michelle Alozie for being named to the @FIFPRO Women’s World XI shortlist ,” reads the message.
The 28-year-old impressed for Nigeria at the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The right-back was named in the Team of the Tournament alongside her teammates, Rasheedat Ajibade and Esther Okoronkwo.
SportsNews
Dunamis Icon lauds Udo-Obong on CAA award
Dunamis Icon has congratulated Nigeria’s Olympic gold medallist, Enefiok Udo-Obong, on his recent award as the Confederation of Africa Athletics’ Technical Official of The Year 2025.
Udo-Obong, a member of Nigeria’s Olympic gold-winning quartet at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, was conferred with the honour last week for his remarkable role in overseeing the technical management of the combined CAA U-18 and U-20 championships in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in July.
The Chairman of Dunamis Icon, Sir Itiako Ikpokpo, described the honour as well deserved and urged Udo-Obong to consider the award as a challenge to spur him to global achievement.
Dunamis Icon are the franchise owner of the Niger Delta Games and organised the very first edition in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, from April 1-8.
“Having worked closely with Enee during the first Niger Delta Sports Festival in Uyo, his emergence as the best on the continent did not come as a surprise.
“I observed from close range his professionalism and attention to detail when he worked with my team at Dunamis Icon as the Technical Director of the Niger Delta Sports Festival. We scored very high in technical organisation of the event, thanks to his dedication and energy”, noted Ikpokpo, who chairs the Delta State Athletics Association.
CAA attributed the successful coordination and execution of the combined Africa U-18 and U-20 championship to his remarkable technical expertise and organizational abilities.
Udo-Obong also served as the Technical Director of the Asian U-18 and U-20 Athletics championship in March 2025 in Saudi Arabia, where he works as Technical Consultant to the Kingdom’s Athletics Federation.
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