LE MANS: Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia claimed pole position for the French Grand Prix after he finished on top in Saturday’s qualifying session, while world champion Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha could only manage fourth place on the grid in front of his home fans. The Italian was fastest at Le Mans, posting a new lap record of 1 minute 30.450 seconds …

LAHORE: Sixty cricketers in two groups will be attending a national conditioning camp starting here at the National High Performance Centre (NHPC) on Sunday. The first group of 27 cricketers will attend the camp from May 15 to 25 while the second group comprising 33 players will undergo training from May 26 to June 10. The Pakistan players featuring in …

BERLIN: RB Leipzig scored in added time through Willi Orban to snatch a 1-1 draw at Arminia Bielefeld on Saturday and secure their Champions League berth for next season with a fourth-place finish in the Bundesliga as their opponents were relegated. Leipzig needed at least a point to make sure of a top four finish, but their job was made …

KUALA LUMPUR: China will no longer host the 2023 Asian Cup finals due to the Covid-19 situation in the country, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) said on Saturday, with Beijing’s strict zero-Covid strategy dealing another blow to the country’s sporting ambitions. Authorities in China are pursuing a strategy of stamping out the virus entirely, which includes rapid lockdowns and mass …

Andrew Symonds, who died on Saturday night in a car crash aged 46, was instantly recognisable on the cricket field with a mop of dreadlocks poking out from his baggy green cap and lips gleaming with white zinc cream. A hulking presence at 6ft 2in (1.87m) with a grin as broad as his shoulders, he was a supremely talented all-rounder equally at …

Former Australia all-rounder and two-time World Cup winner Andrew Symonds has died following a car accident in Queensland, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Sunday. Symonds was aged 46. He had played 238 matches, including 26 tests, for Australia between 1998-2009. He was also a member of Australia’s World Cup-winning teams in 2003 and 2007 and appeared in 198 one-day internationals …

NEW DELHI: India on Saturday banned wheat exports without government approval after its hottest March on record hit production, in a blow to countries reeling from supply shortages and soaring prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The announcement drew sharp criticism from the Group of Seven industrialised nat­i­ons’ agriculture ministers meeting in Ger­m­any, who said that such measures “would worsen …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s oil and eatable import bill surged by 58.98 per cent to $24.77 billion in the July-April period compared to $15.58bn in the corresponding period last year owing to higher international prices and a massive depreciation of the rupee. The country’s overall import bill increased by 46.51pc to $65.53bn in 10MFY22 compared to $44.73bn in the corresponding period last …

KARACHI: Tea blenders are flexing their muscles to increase prices of the commodity as one of the leading packers has informed the retailers about the new rates effective from the last week of this month. A retailer said that Unilever Pakistan Limited has shared a price list in which the new rates of Lipton 90gm, 190gm, 475gm and 950gm packs …

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Friday urged the federal and provincial governments in Pakistan to review movement restrictions under the exemption policy to minimise disruption to the food supply chain. This action is important to prepare for the emergence of a new Covid-19 variant or another pandemic, according to an ADB report on the continuing impacts of the …