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Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Serbia-born Jovana Sekulic shining on the world stage with United States water polo team
US women's centre-back Jovana Sekulic, 22, during their Group B match against the Netherlands at the World Aquatics Championships at OCBC Aquatic Centre on July 13, 2025. SINGAPORE – Jovana Sekulic may not have the most typical American-sounding name. And while her journey to the United States women's water polo team started in waters far away from the US, she has made the most out of an opportunity. The only player on the US roster born outside the country, the Serbia-born 22-year-old grew up playing water polo in Belgrade. Today, she is one of the Americans' key players, as she seeks to help them clinch their sixth world title in seven editions at the ongoing World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore. Sekulic picked up the sport from a very early age in Belgrade where, despite the popularity of the sport in Eastern Europe and the success of the men's national team – who have won three consecutive Olympic gold medals – the women's team have yet to notch their first Olympic appearance. But before she could even aspire to grow in the sport and represent Serbian women on the biggest stage, the American dream took precedence for her family when she was just 12. Sekulic said: 'Water polo is huge for men in Serbia, but for women, it's not so popular. But I remember going to the Serbian national team games and I always dreamed of being a big player and competing on the international stage for Serbia. But then my family moved to the United States, and I never really thought that I could be good enough to play for the US team.' Jovana's father, Goran, moved the Sekulic family to the US in 2014, in search of a better life for Jovana and her two brothers. They set up base in Pennsylvania, where Sekulic enrolled at Springton Lake Middle School. But the school did not even have a pool, and so water polo took a backseat for a while before her parents, who wanted Sekulic and her brothers to stay active while adjusting to American life found a local club. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys World Israeli strikes kill over 40 as truce talks deadlocked, says Gaza civil defence Singapore Segregated recycling bins found to lower contamination rate as more spring up Asia Mahathir discharged from hospital after feeling fatigued during birthday gathering Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Singapore Medics treat 7 after blaze at HDB block lift lobby in Chai Chee Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons She later joined the Episcopal Academy and there, her water polo career took off. She starred for the team, winning the Eastern Prep Championship three times and the tournament's Most Valuable Player award twice and her prowess in the pool eventually gained her an admission into Princeton University. In her freshman season in 2022, she earned Rookie of the Year honours from the Collegiate Water Polo Association. In 2023, she helped Princeton advance to the NCAA national semi-finals for the first time in school history. Those performances led to a try-out for the women's national team, and she has since gone on to establish herself as a regular and represented the US at the Paris Olympics last August. In Paris, one of her highlights came from meeting the Serbian men's national team. 'I stopped them in the (Olympic village) cafeteria, and I was like 'Hi guys, I just want to tell you that I'm a big fan' and then I just started sobbing,' said Sekulic, who hopes that the women's programme in Serbia can grow to a point where she can face the Serbian women at the Olympics. On July 13, in the final match of the day at the OCBC Aquatics Centre, Sekulic and the world No. 3 US women are almost certainly through to the quarter-finals after an 11-9 win over Group B opponents and world No. 2 Netherlands. It was sweet revenge for the US who had lost to the Dutch at the bronze-medal playoff in the Paris Olympics and finished outside the medals for the first time. The US have now recorded two wins out of two and their superior head-to-head record over China and the Netherlands means they have qualified for the quarter-finals as group winners. Both US and Netherlands had started the competition with a win on the first day of competition on July 11. While the match was an end-to-end, high quality affair in the pool, the attendance at the venue was once again in the low hundreds. Sekulic, played her part as the centre, showing her aggression in defence by being a menace all night to limit the Dutch attackers and was also effective at the other end as she orchestrated play from the middle. She also got on the scoresheet, scoring her team's ninth goal in the third quarter and provided an assist in the win. Despite her status on the team, Sekulic said she tries not to think about whether she 'belongs'. 'I just show up every day and try my best. All I can do is just show up every day and compete for my spot,' she said. 'I'm really happy to be here with this team and to see every single teammate of mine shine. And that was a really good team win today against the Netherlands. ' In Group B's other match earlier in the day, China recorded a comprehensive 29-9 win over Argentina. Meanwhile, in Group A, Singapore were defeated 22-7 by New Zealand. While it was their second loss in these Championships, following a 34-2 defeat by Olympic silver medallists and world No. 6 Australia in their first match, there were still some positives. In their WCH debut in Doha in 2024, they had been thumped 30-4 by the same opponents. Singapore captain Abielle Yeo said: 'Seeing the scoreline, we've also improved from the last time we played New Zealand in the last World Championships. So definitely, while there are things to improve on, we're very happy with today's results.' In the other Group A game, Australia made it two wins out of two with a 19-15 victory over Italy. Silver medallists at the last edition, Hungary, also made it two wins out of two with a 33-13 victory over Japan in Group C, while Greece secured their first win with a 31-7 hammering of Croatia. In Group D, 11th-ranked Britain recorded a 12-3 victory over world No.18 South Africa, while Olympic champions Spain followed suit in Group D with a 23-6 win over France.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Tim Merlier at the double as Mathieu van der Poel denied at Tour de France Stage 9
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Belgian rider Tim Merlier of Soudal Quick-Step celebrating his victory in Stage 9 of the Tour de France cycling race over 174.1km from Chinon to Chateauroux, France, on July 13, 2025. – Tim Merlier won Stage 9 of the Tour de France at Chateauroux on July 13 after a heroic long-range escape from Mathieu van der Poel was caught in the final kilometre. There was no change atop the overall standings with Tadej Pogacar now holding a 54 seconds advantage over Remco Evenepoel in second with French starlet Kevin Vauquelin third. This was a second win for Soudal Quick-Step's Belgian sprinter Merlier, who was first across the line on Stage 3 at Dunkirk as he racked up a 12th stage win in 2025. Said Merlier: 'Me and Bert (van Lerberghe) were together. I was so much more confident with him in front of me… I thought I was boxed in at one point but I came out. I'm very happy to have won my second stage at the Tour this year.' On a sun-drenched slog from the Chinon vineyards, van der Poel and a teammate broke early and built up a lead of 5min 30sec on the flat roads to Chateauroux. Jonas Rickaert won the combativity award for accompanying van der Poel to within 10km of the line, before slumping over his handlebars. Said van der Poel: 'I discussed with Jonas that we wanted to go for it today. His dream was to be on the podium. I'm really happy (as) it was one of his dreams.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys World Israeli strikes kill over 40 as truce talks deadlocked, says Gaza civil defence Singapore Segregated recycling bins found to lower contamination rate as more spring up Asia Mahathir discharged from hospital after feeling fatigued during birthday gathering Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Singapore Medics treat 7 after blaze at HDB block lift lobby in Chai Chee Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons With his gung-ho all-in style, van der Poel grew his Tour de France legend here despite being caught with 700m to go, the plaudits will be both his and Merlier's. As van der Poel was reeled in, it looked as though Jonathan Milan would win a second consecutive stage but Merlier got ahead with 50m remaining as Milan finished second with Arnaud de Lie completing the podium. Pogacar's Tour de France defence took a hit on July 13 as his key teammate Joao Almeida threw in the towel two days after his nasty fall at the Mur de Bretagne, where he fractured a rib. Stage 10 should shake up the race with eight classified climbs in the Massif Central on the July 14 French national holiday. Road signs in honour of British cycling great Mark Cavendish had been placed at entry points to Chateauroux – reading Cavendish City – in homage to the now-retired 40-year-old, after he won three stages there in 2008, 2011 and 2021. 'We placed road signs at 17 roundabouts at the entry points of the city as a nod and wink to him,' Town Hall communications director Anne-Laure Bodin told AFP. 'We put up the signs at the start of July and they'll stay there until the end of the Tour de France,' she said, explaining it was to mark the fast-man's legacy and connection with the town. 'He was happy by the looks of it because he made an Instagram post of it. It's fun but he deserves it.' Cavendish was a specialist on the flat stages and the finish line on the July 13 Stage 8 is the same 3km home straight that suited the 'Manx Missile' so well. 'Now I'm truly humbled,' Cavendish wrote on Instagram. 'It's emotional to me as my first ever win. I hope it's a place as special for whoever wins there this year. ' The 40-year-old Briton is now retired, and won 35 stages in total at the Tour de France, a record for stage wins he shares with all-time great Eddy Merckx. AFP
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Philippines silence critics with Lion City Cup triumph, Singapore finish second
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Captain Alexander Peter Lomibao lifting the trophy as the Philippines are crowned boys' champions of the 2025 Lion City Cup at Jalan Besar Stadium on Jul 13, 2025. SINGAPORE – The Philippines reigned supreme at the Lion City Cup (LCC), defeating Cambodia 3-1 at the Jalan Besar Stadium on July 13 to lift the Under-16 boys' trophy. With two wins and a draw, they topped the four-team group with seven points, one above hosts Singapore who beat Hong Kong 4-1 in the latter match. While the triumph will undoubtedly boost the team's morale going forward, Player of the Match and tournament top scorer Aaron Thomas Long said that winning the LCC was motivation long before a ball had even been kicked. 'There's people on social media who were trying to speak bad about us and we had to clear that out of our minds and play to prove them wrong,' said the 16-year-old. 'People from our home country (were) talking bad about players selected from specific areas and that it seemed unfair. It's a dream come true to prove each and every single one of them wrong.' Coach Tetsuya Tsuchida believes his players deserve to win the tournament, adding: 'The players (put in) really hard work to get these results.' However, they got off to a sluggish start. Cambodia, who were winless and goalless after two games, finally got on the scoresheet after just three minutes. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys World Israeli strikes kill over 40 as truce talks deadlocked, says Gaza civil defence Singapore Segregated recycling bins found to lower contamination rate as more spring up Asia Mahathir discharged from hospital after feeling fatigued during birthday gathering Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Singapore Medics treat 7 after blaze at HDB block lift lobby in Chai Chee Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons Lor Nosya's long-distance curler bounced off the bar but Chhay Chharat ensured the Cambodians would not be denied, beating goalkeeper Reign Lewis Deomampo to the rebound and heading the ball into the net. But that lead did not last long. Aaron won the ball high up the pitch and lashed in a left-footed shot for the equaliser in the 14th minute. Despite that, Cambodia looked the better team, taking up more of the possession. They impressed going forward with their confident build-up play but looked shaky defensively. With half-time approaching, they were exposed once again in the 41st minute when Aaron's flighted through-ball caused confusion inside the box. Goalkeeper Chhea Vuthy came rushing off his line, but the ball instead found Francis Benedict Poticano, whose shot trickled into the corner to turn the game on its head. The Philippines made three substitutions at the break to keep the pressure on their opponents who were desperately pushing for their second goal. Cambodia coach Nicolas Grezault said his team 'controlled the game for 70 minutes' but were punished for their wasteful finishing by Aaron. The striker, who was a thorn in Cambodia's side, caught substitute Filbert Martin Tacardon's cross sweetly on the half volley to bag his second goal and Philippines' third in the 75th minute. He finished as the top scorer with three goals in as many games. The latter game between Singapore and Hong Kong was played in front of a raucous crowd of 1,383 supporters, who were in full song. The Philippines' victory earlier meant Hong Kong had to beat the hosts by three goals to stand a chance of winning the LCC. They were unable to do so as they fell to a 4-1 defeat. Goals from Ariq Rizzuwan (22nd minute), Lukyan Tan (31st), Izzan Rifqi (69th) and Aidan Irfan (84th) helped the Cubs win their second game of the tournament, while Hong Kong, who scored a 48th-minute penalty through Eden Tung, were left to rue defensive errors and Uriel Contiero's 45th-minute red card. Singapore coach Ashraf Ariffin said: 'Whatever we ask from them, they delivered... One or two might lose focus, but there's three or four that are covering up.' He added that their opening 2-0 defeat by the Philippines was a 'glitch' but the team showed their potential, with the 3-0 win over Cambodia showing progress, and 4-1 victory over Hong Kong displaying the 'consistency that we want to develop and really improve in every step of the way'. He hopes the team will get more exposure at this level, with the U-17 Asian Cup qualifiers looming in November, but 'the big goal is to develop them into seasoned international players'.
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Straits Times
536 under police probe for alleged roles in scams, unlicensed moneylending
The suspects were nabbed after an enforcement operation from June 30 to July 11 conducted by the Bedok Police Division. SINGAPORE - The police are investigating 536 people for their suspected roles in scams and unlicensed moneylending activities involving over $12.2 million in losses. Out of those being probed, 391 are suspected of being involved in more than 2,400 cases, including e-commerce, investment, job, rental and phishing scams, along with money laundering offences involving more than $12 million, the police said in a statement on July 13. The other 145 people are are being investigated for their alleged involvement in loan scams and unlicensed moneylending activities involving over $250,000. Thirty-six of the suspects were also arrested in connection with various other offences, which the police did not specify. The suspects – comprising 352 men and 184 women aged between 16 and 81 – were nabbed after an enforcement operation from June 30 to July 11 conducted by the Bedok Police Division. If found guilty of cheating, offenders may face up to 10 years in jail and a fine. For assisting in unlicensed moneylending, first-time offenders can be jailed up to four years, fined up to $300,000, and receive up to six strokes of the cane. Repeat offenders may face up to seven years in jail and up to 12 strokes of the cane. Commander of Bedok Police Division Justin Wong said: 'The 12-day operation reflects the police's commitment to combating scams and unlicensed moneylending activities. Every arrest and investigation means one fewer channel that can be exploited for unlawful activities.' 'The police will continue to work to disrupt criminal networks and take firm action against those who allow their bank accounts to be misused for criminal activity,' added Senior Assistant Commissioner Wong. The police said the public should always reject seemingly attractive money-making schemes that promise fast and easy payouts for the use of their Singpass accounts or bank accounts. People should also not allow their personal bank accounts to be used to receive and transfer money for others. Those found to be linked to such crimes will be held accountable. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys World Israeli strikes kill over 40 as truce talks deadlocked, says Gaza civil defence Singapore Segregated recycling bins found to lower contamination rate as more spring up Asia Mahathir discharged from hospital after feeling fatigued during birthday gathering Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Singapore Medics treat 7 after blaze at HDB block lift lobby in Chai Chee Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
France says Australia defence ties repaired after submarine row
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Sydney - France's defence relations with Australia have recovered after their 2021 bust-up over a major submarine contract, the country's ambassador said July 13. Paris expressed its 'strong regrets' when Australia tore up a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from France, Ambassador Pierre-Andre Imbert said. Since the 2022 election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, the defence relationship had been 'restarted', he said. 'Now, the first pillar of our cooperation is defence and security, so we have a very good level of cooperation,' the ambassador told AFP as French forces joined major military drills around Australia. When Australia ditched the French deal, it opted instead to acquire nuclear-powered vessels in a new three-way Aukus pact with the United States and Britain. But a US defence official in June revealed that a review of Aukus was underway to ensure it 'aligned with the President's America First agenda' and that the US defence industrial base was 'meeting our needs'. Under the Aukus deal, Australia would acquire at least three Virginia class submarines from the United States within 15 years, eventually manufacturing its own subs. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Govt will continue to support families, including growing group of seniors: PM Wong at PCF Family Day Singapore From Normal stream to Parliament: 3 Singapore politicians share their journeys Business 29 Jollibean workers get help from MOM, other agencies, over unpaid salaries Singapore Segregated recycling bins found to lower contamination rate as more spring up Asia Mahathir discharged from hospital after feeling fatigued during birthday gathering Singapore Medics treat 7 after blaze at HDB block lift lobby in Chai Chee Singapore Government looking at enhancing laws around vaping to tackle issue of drug-laced vapes in Singapore Singapore I lost my daughter to Kpod addiction: Father of 19-year-old shares heartbreak and lessons The US Navy has 24 Virginia-class vessels but American shipyards are struggling to meet production targets set at two new boats each year. Asked if France would ever consider discussing a new submarine deal with Australia if the Aukus agreement was torpedoed by the review, the French ambassador said he was reluctant to speculate. 'I would say it's more an issue for Australia for the moment. And of course, we are always discussing with our friends of Australia,' he said. 'But for the moment, they have chosen Aukus,' he said. 'If this changes (and) they ask, we'll see.' More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join the three-week, annual Talisman Sabre military exercises, which started July 13 across Australia and Papua New Guinea. AFP
