In attendance were main event competitors Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam of Sweden and undefeated Tyler McGuire of the United States. Both Kadestam and McGuire will be competing for the vacant ONE Welterweight World Championship.

Also in attendance at the Open Workout were ONE Championship athletes Nieky Holzken, Cosmo Alexandre, Priscilla Hertati Lumban Gaol, and Angelie Sabanal.

Zebaztian Kadestam, ONE Athlete, stated: “I feel extremely confident heading into this next bout. I have learned many lessons from my experience in competing for the title against Ben Askren a year ago. Now, I have come out as a much improved martial artist. There are a lot of things that I can still improve on, and I’m getting better everyday. I’ve been training hard, and I feel good, so I feel confident in this fight. Tyler McGuire is a strong guy with good stamina. The first couple of rounds is going to be tough, so I have to be careful. He’s going to try to take me down, but I’ve prepared my defense well. Then it’s just a matter of going out there and having fun. I’m used to things being rough and tough. I’ve never had an easy fight in my whole career.”

Tyler McGuire, ONE Athlete, stated: “To receive the opportunity to win a World Title in ONE Championship is an absolute honor. It means you are among the world’s best. I have prepared very hard for this fight, and now I want to showcase the results of my hard work. Zebaztian Kadestam is a real tough guy, and I know he’s going to come to fight. That’s exactly what I want and I don’t expect anything less. I know he thinks I can’t hurt him with my striking, but my striking is underrated. Let’s see. I consider myself a complete martial artist. Of course, my main arsenal is still my ground game, and if there is an opportunity to take him down, I’ll maximize it. But if we are going to stand up and trade, then I’m prepared for that.”

Former PXC Welterweight Champion Zebaztian “The Bandit” Kadestam started training in Muay Thai when he was 12 years old and later embarked on a highly successful professional career in the sport.

Soon, he explored other disciplines, as he trained at the Pancrase Gym in Stockholm, and also traveled to the Philippines to sharpen his skills at the Legacy Gym in Boracay under famed martial artist Ole Laursen.

Though he was unsuccessful in a bid for the welterweight title against former champion Ben Askren, Kadestam does own two high-profile victories over top contenders Luis Santos and Agilan Thani. His latest performance against Thani saw Kadestam exhibit his incredible striking skills to finish the young Malaysian by TKO. Up next, Kadestam takes on Tyler McGuire for the vacant ONE Welterweight World Championship.

Undefeated American mixed martial artist Tyler McGuire of Washington, USA, is a submission specialist who trains out of Sik-Jitsu Fighting Systems in Spokane. With an unblemished 11-0 professional record, the 32-year-old owns seven victories by way of submission.

Known for his ability to display creative grappling techniques, McGuire finds himself travelling halfway across the globe to Asia, where he plans to showcase his skills on the global stage of martial arts competition. In his most recent outing, McGuire took on the dangerous Luis Santos in a tough three-round battle to win via unanimous decision.

The performance was impressive enough to earn McGuire a title shot, as he takes on Zebaztian Kadestam in Jakarta for the vacant ONE Welterweight World Championship.

Thirteen-year-old Anucha Tasako collapsed after his opponent, who is about the same age, delivered the blows at a charity fight in Samut Prakan province, near Bangkok, on Saturday.

He died later of a brain haemorrhage, according to police, and relatives were grieving beside his coffin at a temple pavilion Wednesday before his body is cremated.

His portrait was perched in the middle of one of many pink and white wreaths.

Those who knew him were sombre but did not seek to cast blame for his death.

“I’m not mad at the referee or the other boy,” his uncle Aphichati Wannaphakdi, 59, told AFP on the second day of the funeral. “It happens in sports.”

Coach Somsak Deerujijaroen described him as a “clever” boxer with good technique who inspired others.

“Other small boxers look up to him as an idol,” he added.

Thai boxing is hugely popular in the country and many fighters enter the sport at a young age in search of fame and fortune.

But the involvement of Thai youngsters — who sometimes start under 10 years of age in bouts that see kicks and elbows to the head with no protective gear — has stirred frequent criticism.

More so as the young fighters are often family breadwinners from poor families and matches are subject to frenzied ringside gambling.

Smartphone footage shown by local media captured the grim moment Anucha hit the canvas as assistants quickly rushed into the ring to help the motionless boy, who fought under the alias Phetmongkol Sor Wilaithong.

Domestic media said he had been fighting since he was eight and had competed in more than 150 bouts.

His opponent, Nitikron Sonde, took to Facebook to express his sorrow at the death.

“I regret it,” he posted on Tuesday, “but I have to do my duty to win so I can make enough money to sponsor my education.”

Neither fighter was wearing protective headgear.

A bill to prevent minors below the age of 12 from taking part is under consideration, and has already received fresh momentum in the aftermath of the death.

The number two in Thailand’s junta, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, expressed condolences and instructed the sports ministry “to consider the suitability” of the draft bill, a defence ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday.

Outrage and anger poured in as footage of the young fighter’s death spread online, with some arguing the referee could have stepped in to end it sooner.

“He could barely stand. Why didn’t the referee stop the fight but let him continue to be hit until he was knocked down,” one Thai Facebook user said.

Others defended the practice of starting fighters young.

“I don’t agree with the draft law to totally ban boxers who are under 12 years old because 99 percent of the famous Thai boxers and Olympic winners began fighting when they were young,” Thai Olympic medalist Tawee Umpornmaha, 59, told AFP, describing the boy’s death as an accident.

“I began at 12 with more than 200 fights. The question is do we have proper safety measures? We must give importance to safety measures including field doctors,” he said.

Djokovic is chasing a sixth ATP Finals title and his first in the prestigious season-ending event at London’s O2 Arena since 2015.

In his 11th appearance at the Finals, the Serb was guaranteed to reach the last four for the eighth time after Marin Cilic beat John Isner 6-7 (2/7), 6-3, 6-4 in Wednesday’s second match.

Djokovic, who beat Isner in his opening group-stage match, has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance in the second half of 2018 and lifting the trophy on the banks of the River Thames would be the perfect way to finish his year.

Djokovic faces Cilic in his last group match on Friday, while Zverev, who defeated Cilic to kick off his Finals campaign, takes on Isner.

The 31-year-old was assailed by claims he had lost his hunger for success and was past his best after injury and personal issues threatened to derail his career in 2017.

But Djokovic has banished his demons in spectacular style, winning the Wimbledon and US Open titles, returning to world number one and becoming the first player to win all nine Masters 1,000 tournaments.

“I found it more difficult than in the first match against John Isner. I played well midway through the second set and started to swing through the ball,” said Djokovic, who has suffered only two defeats in the Finals since 2012.

“Zverev has a big first serve, but his percentage dropped in the second set. That allowed me to step in. He made a lot of unforced errors which helped me to win.

“I am going to enjoy some quality time with my family and then get ready for the last game in the group.”

Zverev is emerging as one of the Tour’s brightest young stars after climbing to fifth in the world.

– Thunderous –

The 21-year-old shocked Djokovic in the Rome final last year, but the Serb was on top when they met in a one-sided Shanghai semi-final last month and it was the same story again in their third meeting.

Zverev was able to keep Djokovic at bay with his thunderous serve at the start of the first set.

Neither player faced a break point in the first eight games and even when Zverev earned the first two in the ninth, Djokovic found a way to scramble out of trouble on both occasions.

It was a crucial escape for the 14-time Grand Slam champion, who stepped up the pressure on Zverev to steal a hard-fought first set.

Zverev saved a pair of set points with an overhead smash and a bullet serve, but Djokovic wouldn’t back down and a double-fault from the German finally surrendered the set.

The high-quality encounter reached a crescendo when Djokovic pummelled Zverev into submission in the fourth game of the second set.

A series of blistering ground-strokes from the Serb kept Zverev pinned back and, while he battled gamely, the pressure eventually told as Djokovic broke.

That was the signal for Djokovic to sprint to victory and he broke again in the sixth game before completing an impressive statement of intent.

Djokovic had to wait a few hours to learn of his progress to the last four, which was confirmed thanks to a gritty fightback from former Wimbledon finalist Cilic.

The Croatian fifth seed had lost nine of his previous 10 matches at the Finals, and he looked in danger of another letdown when he dropped the first set against Isner.

But Cilic, whose only other Finals victory came against Kei Nishikori in 2016, had other ideas as he roared back to take the final two sets.

“I started to feel the ball really well in the second set. I was playing great tennis towards the end,” Cilic said.

Cilic’s revival keeps him in with a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals, while American eighth seed Isner still has an outside chance of advancing despite losing his first two matches.

The Thai No 3 who just lost to the Chinese last week in Fuzhong where her opponent went on to win made a sweet revenge following a 14-21 21-10 22-20 victory. She also scored her first win over  Chen who had beaten her five times coming to the match.

Pornpawee, ranked 24^th in the world, joined sixth-seeded Ratchanok Intanon in the round of 16. The former world No 1 Ratchanok beat Sayaka Sato of Japan 20-22 21-13 21-15.

In the men’s singles actions, Thai No 1 Khosit Phetpradab settled score with India’s Sai Praneeth B., the 2017 Thailand Open champion, prevailing in three games 16-21 21-11 21-15.

Thai No 2 Kantaphon Wancharoen also advancing, picking off NG Ka Long Angus 21-15 21-16.

The 27-year-old became the first Thai ever to score a double hat-trick in the Cup’s history and is now the tournament’s top scorer, with Malaysian Norshahrul Idlan next on three goals from two matches, against Cambodia and Laos.

“It’s never my priority,” said the Muangthong United forward when asked if he longed to finish the tournament as its top scorer. “I’m more interested in helping the team to win the tournament, which is something  I missed two years ago.”

Injury problems denied the Buriram-based player the chance to join the team two years ago when Thailand won their fifth Cup.

“Every time I get the chance to play with the team, I just want to make every effort out there to achieve our goal together. I never concentrate on any personal award,” he added.

The striker earlier this year underwent an operation on his left knee injury and admitted he still fears it flaring up again.

“I’m still not playing my best as I try to play it safe when I’m on the pitch,” he said. “I learned from the past how to protect myself as I don’t want to be in that situation again.”

Meanwhile, midfield Sanrawat Dechmitr is urged Thai fans to show their support in Saturday’s game against Indonesia at the Rajamangala National Stadium.

Around 10,000 fans turned out in the game with Timor last week, while around 5,000 Garuda fans from Indonesia are expected this weekend at the 60,000 capacity stadium. According to Thai Ticket Major, 23,300 tickets have been sold for the Thailand-Indonesia game.

The 22-year-old defending champion from Bangkok has won three titles this year, including her second major at the US Women’s Open plus the Ladies Scottish Open and her second Kingsmill Championship crown in three years.

Ariya has already clinched the LPGA Player of the Year Award, the season money title, the Annika Award for best results in the majors and the Top 10 prize with 16 top-10 showings. She leads the tour in birdies, under-par rounds, rounds in the 60s and scoring average.

The Vare Trophy for low scoring average is likely Ariya’s as well, needing only to finish within 15 strokes of South Korea’s Ko Jin-young to hoist the hardware.

And she leads the season points chase for the CME Globe season bonus prize of $1 million entering the season finale at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

“It means so much to me this year because I felt like I work so hard,” Ariya said Tuesday. “My only goal, I just want to improve myself every day because I know I have so much room to improve.

“This year I feel like (I was) growing up a lot. I feel a lot better. It’s not because I won three tournament this year already but because I feel like I improve a lot.”

Ariya, who could become the first LPGA player to sweep all the major tour awards, says she has learned how to better cope with the pressure of final rounds against intense LPGA rivals.

“It’s not easy at all,” Ariya said. “I mean, I know when I nervous, when I scared, I worry because I think about the outcome, because I want to play well, I want to hit this shot good because I care about other people, what they’re going to think about me.

“But then I have to come back to myself and know that other people expectation is not my expectation. I expect to have a good commitment with every shot. I expect myself to have fun, enjoy, and feel free on the course. So I have to come back and work on that stuff.”

– Second Top Player award better –

Ariya said winning her second Player of the Year award was better than taking her first because it was so unexpected.

“When I got my first time like Player of the Year I feel like one award in my life I really want to get is Player of the Year. After that I didn’t expect to be able to won it twice because to me I feel it’s so tough,” she said.

“So when I play this year I never focus about that and I actually win, so it’s feel even better.”

Ariya has two wins, two runner-up finishes, a third and a fourth in 14 events starting with the US Women’s Open to hold off South Korea’s second-ranked Park Sung-hyun for the ranking lead.

The Thai star’s nearest rival for the $1 million bonus is Australia’s fifth-ranked Minjee Lee, who is trying to set aside thoughts of the bonus prize.

“This is no different to any other tournament,” she said. “I’m always going to try my best and do my best. I’ll put my 100 percent in each shot. So I haven’t really thought about the CME at the end of the week.”

After losing his opening match at London’s O2 Arena against Kei Nishikori, Federer would have crashed out if he had been beaten by Thiem.

Only once before has Federer failed to qualify from his group for the knockout rounds in his 15 previous appearances at the prestigious season-ending event.

That lone flop came 10 years ago when the Finals were held in Shanghai and Federer is still in with a chance of avoiding that ignominious fate thanks to his comfortable 66-minute dismissal of Thiem.

Bidding for a record seventh ATP Finals crown and a first in the tournament since 2011 — which would be the 100th singles title of his glittering career — world number three Federer must beat South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in his last group match to make the semi-finals.

“It feels good. I am very happy that I showed a reaction after the last match,” Federer said.

“Against Kei, instead of seeing things positively, I thought negatively. It was disappointing but it happens.

“Today I was more positive and happy on the court. I love playing in London and I had to remind myself what a privilege it is. I hope I showed it.”

Since winning his 20th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, Federer has been stuck in a prolonged slump by his sky-high standards.

A quarter-final exit at Wimbledon, blowing a two-set lead against Anderson, was followed by a stunning US Open last 16 defeat to Australian journeyman John Millman.

“It’s never easy to play against him, especially indoors. He deserved that win at Wimbledon but hopefully I’ll get my revenge,” Federer said of his Anderson rematch.

The 37-year-old’s defeat in his opening Finals match against Nishikori on Sunday marked the first time Federer had lost in straight sets in 46 group stage matches.

He responded to that setback by cancelling his practice session on Monday, sparking fears he was seriously hampered by a hand injury that has troubled him since the grass-court season in June and July.

Having cut a grumpy figure during his error-strewn loss to Nishikori, Federer’s spirits were lifted by this solid show, aided by Thiem’s 34 unforced errors.

After missing a break point in the opening game, Federer started to find his rhythm and he landed the first break for a 2-1 lead when the world number eight sent a forehand long.

– Anderson landmark –

Another break followed in the seventh game as Thiem netted a tame volley as Federer won the first set with ease.

While it wasn’t vintage Federer, he was doing enough to take advantage of Thiem’s sloppy display as the French Open finalist double-faulted to gift a break in the opening game of the second set.

That was all the encouragement Federer needed as he cruised to the finish line.

Earlier, Anderson handed Japanese star Nishikori a humiliating 6-0, 6-1 thrashing as the South African moved to the brink of a semi-final berth.

Anderson won the first 11 games and needed only 64 minutes to demolish the woeful Nishikori.

Having also won his opening match against Thiem in his ATP Finals debut, Anderson is close to becoming the first African to qualify for the last four.

It was a landmark moment for the 32-year-old, who has set a new career-high of 47 victories in a calender year.

He will rarely have had such an easy outing as this one throughout his memorable 2018, which saw him reach his first Wimbledon final in July.

“It’s amongst the best I’ve played. I did a really good job constantly applying the pressure and not letting up,” Anderson said.

Former US Open finalist Nishikori was at a loss to explain his performance, saying: “I played one of the worst matches this year. Today was a terrible match.

MotoGP™ has signaled a new era for motorsport by awarding DAZN, the live and on demand sports streaming service, the exclusive Spanish broadcasting rights for MotoGP™.

The move broadens horizons for MotoGP™ and supports its strategy to enlarge new audiences in one of the sport’s biggest and most successful markets. DAZN guarantees just one affordable price for access on all devices including Smart-TVs, Smartphones, Tablets, Games Consoles and PCs and no long-term contract with the main goal of spreading MotoGP™. Options of multi-device, multi-screen and multiple-feed streaming will give DAZN’s audience unrivalled coverage of the world’s fastest motorcycle racing Championship as well as a unique offering of each race weekend being available for a year on demand.

The new service will launch in Spain in early 2019 and will cover every session of MotoGP™, Moto2™, Moto3™ and MotoE™ from FP1 to the race, including the support races from the Talent Cups, Press Conferences and any relevant activity happening during the GP weekend, ensuring fans stay on top of every second of action.

The deal brings live online streaming to the sport, taking the action to where Spanish fans are and making the series more accessible than ever before. DAZN will be the exclusive streaming partner for MotoGP™, providing live streaming of every event combined with a regular window of free-to-air coverage – Live and SDD.

In order to round off the amazing offer for the viewers, DAZN will also stream the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship and the FIM CEV Repsol.

Simon Denyer, CEO of DAZN Group, commented: “We’re expanding at an incredible pace with our unique approach, breathing new life into sports with long and distinguished heritages and growing audiences. We give fans what they want; affordable and flexible access to the sport they love. We’re delighted to partner with these progressive rights holders to launch another big European market and look forward to unveiling more first-class sport before we go live in 2019.”

Manel Arroyo, Managing Director, Dorna Sports said: “We are incredibly excited to begin this new chapter in the story of MotoGP. We extend our thanks to Movistar, with whom we first experienced pay TV platforms in Spain, and after a successful partnership, MotoGP™ and Dorna will now begin another new era with DAZN. The combination of world-leading streaming, OnDemand content and free-to-air coverage will reconceptualise how our Spanish audience can access with and enjoy MotoGP™; getting each fan closer to the sport and allowing us to grow and enlarge our audience in Spain like never before. We are sure that DAZN, with their incredible vision and experience, will be the perfect partner for MotoGP™.”

About DAZN Group 

DAZN Group is the digital leader in global sports media and one of the fastest growing sports media companies in the world. Headquartered in the UK and with almost 3,000 employees in over 30 countries, our businesses touch every aspect of the way fans engage with sports from broadcast planning and production through to content distribution and commercialisation. DAZN Group consists of two distinct consumer and B2B brands: DAZN and Perform Content.

DAZN is the world’s first global, purely sport live and OnDemand streaming service. Most recently securing multi-platform broadcast rights for Italian Serie A in Italy, DAZN is a market leader in Italy, Germany, the US, Canada and Japan, acquiring the rights to some of the biggest events and sports in the world – including domestic rights to national football leagues and key properties in each territory, as well as a move to revolutionise pay-per-view boxing in the US.

The consumer division is home to DAZN, the world’s first pure-sport live and on-demand streaming service, as well as some of the most popular sports websites, including Goal.com, Sporting News, and Spox.com. DAZN is leading the charge to give sports fans around the world access to sport anytime, anywhere. DAZN guarantees no long-term contract, just one affordable price for access on all devices including TVs, smartphones, tablets, games consoles and PCs. DAZN is already live in the USA, Canada, Japan, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Visit https://media.dazn.com for more information.

The Thai FA boss stopped by at the Le Meridian Suvarnabhumi Hotel yesterday to visit the team who will play their second-round game on November 17 at 6.30pm.

Somyot said the Indonesian FA had increased their demand for tickets from 3,000 to 5,000, which prompted him to urge Thai fans to show up at the stadium this weekend in huge numbers.

Meanwhile, Nurul Sriyankem is poised to create more opportunities for Thailand against Indonesia. The 26-year-old winger from Phattalung province assisted twice for two of the six goals produced by Adisak Kraisorn in the previous game won by Thailand 7-0 at the same venue last Friday.

The Port FC player, a member of the 2014 AFF Cup winning team, predicted a tougher time against Indonesia and hoped to provide more assistance to his teammates to score.

“Indonesia are coming up against us with a defeat [to Singapore 0-1] so they wouldn’t want another loss,” said Nurul, who was part of the 2014 SEA Games gold-medal team.

“Indonesia always give us a hard time whenever we play. So I expect an even tougher match against them,” added the midfielder. “We need to go into the match with a good game plan.”

On Tuesday evening, Thailand beat  Thai League 3’s Kasem Bundit University 4-0 in a private friendly at the Windmill Football Club.