LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods will make his long-awaited return from injury at next month’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, the former world number one confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.

Woods jolted the golf world last month after aborting his planned comeback at the Safeway Open in California, sparking fresh uncertainty about his career after a 16-month layoff.

However the 40-year-old 14-time major winner said he would now be ready to host and play in his December 1-4 tournament at Albany in the Bahamas.

“I am excited to make my return at the Hero World Challenge at Albany and play in this terrific tournament,” Woods said.

Woods had already hoped to play in the Bahamas despite the concerns over his form, which prompted him to withdraw from the Safeway in Napa.

The 18-player Hero World Challenge is owned by his charity foundation. Woods, who has won the tournament five times before, made a similar return from injury at the event in 2014.

Woods told US television late night host Stephen Colbert last month his game has shown signs of improvement since his recovery from two separate operations on his back in 2015.

“I’m not quite there, where I feel like I can shoot 63s and 64s in tournaments,” Woods said.

“I’m shooting the low rounds at home. But I just don’t quite feel quite as ready to shoot those type scores under tournament conditions.”

Woods has won 79 US PGA titles, three shy of Sam Snead’s all-time record, and is four shy of the record 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus.

Woods was a vice captain for the triumphant US Ryder Cup team at Hazeltine in October.

He has been named an assistant captain to Steve Stricker for next year’s Presidents Cup.

The Hero World Challenge field features the cream of world golf, with the four reigning major champions, the top 11 players available from the world rankings along with the defending champion and two special-exemption players.

Kotetsu “No Face” Boku has been making the necessary adjustments to his skill set in an effort to avoid a losing streak and achieve victory in his next fight. But it will not be an easy feat, and he is fully aware of that.

Boku will face Timofey Nastyukhin in a featherweight showdown at ONE: DEFENDING HONOR on Friday Night, 11 November, at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

“Timofey is a young and very aggressive fighter,” the 39-year-old veteran states. “I must improve my overall game in all scenarios and make a good plan to win the fight.”

To say the Russian prospect’s style is intense would be an understatement. Training out of the highly acclaimed Russia Top Team, the 26-year-old is a FILA Pankration Champion who currently holds a 10-2 record, with four of those wins coming by submission and the other six by TKO.

In Nastyukhin’s most recent performance, he knocked out Australian brawler Rob Lisita in six seconds flat to tie the ONE record for fastest knockout.

Boku, who holds a 24-11-2 record, may not be able to predict the outcome of the contest, but he knows for sure the fans will be excited.

“Honesty, I do not have a good image of the fight yet,” the Japanese warrior says. “But I will promise all of you an exciting fight in ONE Championship in Singapore.”

Stepping into the ONE cage is a mental feat in itself. Game-planning, mental preparation, and a whole slew of factors going into fight night are just some of the things a mixed martial artist has to deal with in the weeks leading up to the bout.

What’s more, Boku lost in his last outing to former ONE Featherweight World Champion Narantungalag Jadambaa at ONE: ASCENT TO POWER via Von Flue choke in the third round. This upcoming contest will give his mind something to focus on, especially since Nastyukhin has a handful of submission victories and some serious knockout power.

The mental game is something that has changed for Boku along the way. Being a professional mixed martial artist since 2001, mental training was not something that came up often earlier in his career. However, now he knows that he has to be as calm as possible.

“A harmony of nervousness and relaxation,” laughs Boku, as he describes his present condition. “I always try to have a good vibes.”

The Krazy Bee product has had good vibes with ONE since debuting in the organization back in 2012, when he defeated Zorobabel Moreira for the inaugural ONE Lightweight World Championship at ONE: RISE OF KINGS.

Although he made history for being ONE’s first titleholder in the weight class, he lost the strap six months later to Shinya Aoki, who has not lost ownership of the belt since claiming it in April 2013. Boku has since gone 4-3 inside the ONE cage, while Aoki has won six in a row and defended his belt twice.  

Boku made a big career change in 2015 when he dropped to featherweight. Since making that adjustment, he has found success. He has gone 3-1 during that time, with all three victories coming by way of knockout. It looks as if Boku has kept all his punching power that he had at lightweight, while being able to outmuscle his opponents in the lighter featherweight class.

Despite his advancing years, “No Face” still has championship aspirations on his mind. He definitely has his sights set on gold, and surprisingly it is on Aoki’s title and not reigning ONE Featherweight World Champion Gafurov’s.

“Yes, of course I would love to fight Shinya Aoki again,” he admits. “I must keep fighting with big wins to face him again.”

Boku is no spring chicken though. On the wrong end of his 30s, the man from Japan has had retirement on his mind for some time. While fighting is still in his heart, and most certainly at the center, he has plenty of plans for his post-fight career.

“I am training and always prepared for retirement because I do not know what may happen to my life and me,” Boku says. “It is good to go on a journey after retirement. It might be good to also become a singer-songwriter or actor, or have a family.”

Boku may daydream about his future when he hangs up the gloves, but for now, he is completely focused on Nastyukhin, exciting fans and inching his way closer to another title opportunity.

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom – Ilkay Gundogan scored twice as Manchester City sank Barcelona 3-1 in the Champions League on Tuesday to give manager Pep Guardiola an electrifying victory over his former club.

Barca had won 4-0 when the sides met two weeks ago, but although Lionel Messi put them ahead, City stormed back in thrilling fashion as Gundogan scored twice either side of a Kevin De Bruyne free-kick.

It ended Barcelona’s run of five successive wins over City and moved Guardiola’s side to within two points of Luis Enrique’s Group C leaders with two games remaining.

“Our (first) goal here changed everything. Our players realised the bad moment was over,” Guardiola said.

“Today is a good step. We play against a great team and we compete. Now they will realise, ‘Wow, we won against the best team.'”

After the doubts engendered by a recent six-game winless run, this was a resounding validation of Guardiola’s principles, City outhustling his old team to give him the first statement win of his nascent tenure.

With Celtic holding Borussia Moenchengladbach in the other group game, City can secure a place in the last 16 by winning in Germany on November 23, when Barca go to Celtic needing a point to progress.

“It’s a shame that after the error we made for the first goal, from them on we had a bad time,” said Luis Enrique.

“We didn’t have as much of the ball and City took advantage of our errors.” Guardiola signalled his attacking intent by restoring Sergio Aguero to his starting XI, having left the Argentina striker on the bench for the reverse fixture two weeks ago.

The home side should have been awarded a penalty in the 11th minute after Raheem Sterling appeared to be tripped by Samuel Umtiti, but instead referee Viktor Kassai booked the England forward for diving.

Sterling was incensed and there was worse to come 10 minutes later as Barca took the lead in devastating style with a move that began with a block from Javier Mascherano inside his own area.

Messi, 15 yards outside the box, sprayed a pass wide to Neymar on the left and the Brazilian drove downfield before squaring to Messi, who neatly tucked away his 90th Champions League goal.

Gundogan fired a shot down Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s throat at the other end, but for a brief moment it looked like City were on the verge of being swamped as Neymar, Andre Gomes and Luis Suarez threatened.

City, though, refused to be deterred and their committed pressing game paid off in the 39th minute.

Sergi Roberto’s overhit square pass from Barca’s right was intercepted by Aguero, who played in Sterling, and he brilliantly rolled the ball across the box to give Germany midfielder Gundogan an easy tap-in.

City’s tails were up and they almost went ahead two minutes later when Fernandinho’s mishit shot eluded the lurking Aguero by inches.

The onslaught continued after the break, Sterling fluffing a chance with a heavy first touch and Aguero lashing wide, before Guardiola’s men took the lead in the 51st minute.

Sergio Busquets’s foul on David Silva presented City with a shooting opportunity 22 yards from goal and slightly to the left of centre.

De Bruyne administered the sentence, stroking the ball into the top-right corner past the wrong-footed Ter Stegen.

Now it was Barca who were rocking, De Bruyne’s free-kick just eluding Nicolas Otamendi, Aguero heading Silva’s cross wide and Aleksandar Kolarov narrowly failing to pick out the stretching De Bruyne.

Back came the visitors, Gomes rattling the bar after John Stones’s overzealous tackle sent the ball into Suarez’s path, but after De Bruyne had curled a shot a fraction wide, City struck again.

De Bruyne was the architect, his exquisite pass inside the full-back finding substitute Jesus Navas, whose cross struck Aguero and fell kindly for Gundogan to kill Barca off for good.