The minnows just need to win a playoff against Turkey at home to complete a qualification campaign that has become a rallying cry for national pride

They are a World Cup fairytale, a footballing nation barely a decade old with fewer people than the state of South Australia. A Balkan West Virginia, but with a fraction of the area, and a chequered past.

Minnows Kosovo are one game away from their first appearance at a World Cup, and a place beckons in Group D alongside Australia, Paraguay and co-hosts the United States.

• Teen sensation has finished school and now trains as full-time athlete

• 18-year-old to renew rivalry with Lachlan Kennedy at Maurie Plant

Dazzling in his sponsor’s tracksuit, and sparkling with an earring and two glimmering chains, sprint sensation Gout Gout told his first press conference in Melbourne his confidence is growing.

The teenager spoke to a swarm of cameras on Thursday, ahead of the Maurie Plant Meet on Saturday. The major attraction of the marquee night in Australian athletics is a rematch of the 200m race against Lachie Kennedy last year, when Gout was upstaged.

• At least one player reportedly refused to board plane home

• Team’s departure for Malaysia ends Asian Cup saga

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Two more members of the Iranian women’s football team have reportedly sought asylum in Australia after at least one refused to board a flight back to their home country after competing in the Women’s Asian Cup.

A plane left Sydney airport on Tuesday night local time for Malaysia, reports said, with players and staff, ending a dramatic two days when five players were granted asylum after refusing to return home.

There are urgent calls for Australia to take action before the team return to Iran but with no word from the players themselves the situation is fraught and uncertain

Their forward was once suspended when her head scarf slipped off during a goal celebration. Their youngest player is just 18. Another once worked as a personal trainer overseas. These are the women of the Iran football team, who are at the centre of an international diplomatic incident, even as the US and Israel rain missiles down on their family back home.

The team remains in a hotel on the Gold Coast, where they played their third and final match of the Women’s Asian Cup on Sunday. Their departure from Australia is imminent, even if it’s not clear whether they want to go.

• Flight disruptions force F1 teams into new arrangements

• But all drivers expected to reach Melbourne for first race

As many as one thousand members of the Formula One circus have been forced into last-minute travel changes to get to Melbourne’s opening round in the wake of the escalating crisis in the Middle East, and some are set to miss the start of the season entirely.

However, a larger logistical headache has been narrowly avoided, after the cars and supporting equipment were already shipped from last month’s testing in Bahrain – one of the countries drawn into the conflict – prior to this week’s widespread aviation disruptions.

To the sound of a lone bird chirping, the crash-bang wallop ultimately belonged to the underdog in a blockbuster Australian Open final

The sprinkling rain at Melbourne Park meant the roof stayed closed on centre court for the Australian Open women’s final, turning Rod Laver Arena into a concert hall charged with the music of tennis. But there was one noise that wasn’t quite right. In the sacred moments before each player’s serving motion, the crowd generally obeyed the protocol demanding silence. However, a single bird – perched somewhere high in the rafters – was less compliant.

It must not have been able to escape before the roof shut on Saturday afternoon, and so there it stayed. Tweet-tweet. An unusual accompaniment to a grand slam final. No one could see the critter, though long they tried, as dozens of the 15,000-strong crowd craned their necks in curiosity. Even the umpire kept glancing up, only to recognise the limit of even his broad powers. Tweet-tweet.

• Zverev served to reach Australian Open final in fifth set

• Spaniard holds out in epic 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4) 7-5

• As it happened: look back at an epic semi-final clash

Murmurs around Melbourne Park had been building. That the men’s Australian Open draw had not met expectations. That matches had been one-sided, and lacking memorable moments. That so-called SinCaraz was a foregone conclusion. That ­tennis had lost its touch.

Murmur no more. In the first match this year on Rod Laver Arena to go five sets, Carlos Alcaraz leapt off the canvas to outlast Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 over five hours and 27 minutes – the third longest match in Australian Open history.

• Sabalenka powers into final with brutal 6-2, 6-3 win

• World No 1 penalised for mid-point grunt in first set

Aryna Sabalenka has dared officials to penalise her again for grunting after she rumbled over the top of Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the Australian Open semi-final on Thursday to reach her fourth straight final at Melbourne Park.

The world No 1 suppressed Svitolina’s mid-match momentum in a 6-2, 6-3 victory in just 77 minutes on Rod Laver Arena thanks to a dominant display of power tennis.

Tennis Australia is the big winner as new format draws full house and makes Jordan Smith a millionaire

A 29-year-old tennis coach from Sydney won the inaugural One Point Slam at the Australian Open and its A$1m prize on Wednesday, after upstaging a field that included Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.

It is Tennis Australia, however, which won the jackpot, after the new concept – despite its near three-hour duration, often confusing format and awkward exchanges between players – attracted a full house to Rod Laver Arena during opening week as organisers look at non‑traditional ways to attract fans to Melbourne Park.

• ‘Five setters are a different beast’, says 30-year-old

• Australian has attempted comeback from injury in recent weeks

Nick Kyrgios’s surgically-repaired knee and wrist will not prevent him from taking part at Melbourne Park, where Australian Open qualifying begins next week, but he will not feature in the singles draw.

The 30-year-old posted on social media saying he wasn’t ready for best-of-five set tennis, ruling himself out of contention for a wildcard, but he would still take to the court alongside friend and doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Australian’s disappointing performance in Brisbane could vindicate officials’ reluctance to hand him a Melbourne Park wildcard

Nick Kyrgios appears set for little more than a peripheral role during Australia’s summer of tennis after a brisk, anticlimactic and – for fans of the 30-year-old – worrying defeat at the Brisbane International in his first competitive singles outing in almost 10 months.

The Canberran, who is recovering from knee and wrist surgeries and played only five times on the ATP Tour in 2025, offered little resistance against American Aleksandar Kovacevic in the first round at the Pat Rafter Arena on Tuesday. The 27-year-old American, ranked 58 in the world, breezed past the Australian 6-3 6-4 in just 66 minutes, without giving up a break point opportunity.