Sports

BERLIN: Union Berlin slumped to a 4-2 loss at Hoffenheim on Saturday to require victory on the last Bundesliga matchday to secure what would be a sensational Champions League spot for next season as fellow Berlin club Hertha were relegated. Union, this season’s surprise team, have only themselves to blame for the defeat, gifting the first two goals to the …

LAHORE: An all-round performance from Zimbabwe Select’s Blessing Muzarabani helped the hosts beat Pakistan Shaheens by 80-runs in the second one-day of the six-match series in Harare on Friday and take a 2-0 lead. Muzarabani scored an unbeaten 24-ball 50 that included seven fours and two sixes. The fighting knock towards the end of the Zimbabwe innings lifted them to …

NEWCASTLE: Newcastle United claimed an emphatic 4-1 home victory over Brighton & Hove Albion to take a massive step towards clinching a top-four finish in the Premier League on Thursday. An own goal by Deniz Undav and a Dan Burn header before the interval put third-placed Newcastle in command. But Brighton, in sixth and themselves seeking to qualify for Europe …

SEVILLE: Erik Lamela propelled Europa League kings Sevilla into the final once again with a 2-1 victory over Juventus on Thursday, sealing a 3-2 aggregate triumph in a gripping clash. Lamela headed home in extra-time to complete an impressive comeback for the record six-time winners, who will face Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma in Budapest on May 31. Roma went through …

NEW DELHI: England could not make the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) but their ‘Bazball’ approach is something batting great Ricky Ponting longs to see when India and Australia clash in the one-off contest at the Oval next month. England’s chances of qualifying for the WTC final evaporated after debacles in Australia and West Indies last year with …

Rafael Nadal on Thursday withdrew from the French Open because his hip injury has not healed and said he expects 2024 to be his final year in professional tennis. “It’s not a decision I’m taking, it’s a decision my body is taking,” said the 36-year-old Spanish player, who has played at the claycourt major every year since 2005 and won …

LOS ANGELES: Teams at the expanded 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico will be based in regional clusters during the early rounds to ease travel, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday. Speaking in Los Angeles to unveil the official logo and branding for the tournament, Infantino said the move was prompted by the scale of …

LAHORE: Pakistan junior hockey team manager Hanif Khan is expecting the side to win the Junior Asia Cup, which starts in Oman on Tuesday. Clinching the tournament would also secure the national junior team to secure a spot in the World Cup and Hanif said it was well-prepared to do so. “The boys are well prepared for the Asia Cup …

LAHORE: A number of ump­ires and match referees, who rendered their services in last year’s Kashmir Premier League haven’t been paid their match fees till date, Dawn has learnt. All of the officials in question are affiliated with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which permits the holding of the regional T20 league, of which the second edition was held in June 2022. …

ISLAMABAD: Head coach Sabih Azhar belie­ves that despite an outstanding performance in Bang­ladesh recently, Pakistan U-19 team still need to improve. Pakistan’s U-19 squad was returning home from Bangladesh on Thursday after a memorable tour. They won in all three formats — one-off four-day match, one-day series and the solitary T20 against their Bangladesh counterparts. Sabih, however, feels like that there is still …