Sports

PARIS: Three months after a heartbreaking defeat in the World Cup final, France oozed class and confidence as they started their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign with a 4-0 thrashing of the Netherlands on Friday. Antoine Griezmann opened the scoring with a curled shot from Kylian Mbappe before Dayot Upamecano added a second six minutes later. Mbappe made it 3-0 after …

PORTIMAO: Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia won the first ever MotoGP sprint with a last-lap overtake at the season-opening Portuguese Grand Prix on Saturday to earn 12 points and move to the top of the rider’s standings ahead of the race on Sunday. Introduced this season in a bid to make the sport more entertaining, sprints will be run a …

SHARJAH: After their first-ever loss to Afghanistan in the series-opening Twnety20 Inter­national here on Friday, Pakistan opted to rest and reset on Saturday. The message was clear after the six-wicket humbling with Pakistan captain Shadab Khan stating his young side needed to learn from their mistakes as they face a series-saving clash against their neighbours on Sunday, where victory would …

NEW DELHI: The International Boxing Association has fulfilled all reform criteria and it would be “criminal” if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) drops boxing from Olympics, IBA president Umar Kremlev told Reuters on Friday. The IOC suspended the IBA in 2019 over finance and governance issues and did not involve it in running boxing events at the subsequent Tokyo Olympics either. The …

MIAMI GARDENS: Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina survived a spirited comeback from Russian Anna Kalinskaya at the Miami Open on Thursday, progressing to the third round with a hard-fought 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 win. Rybakina is aiming for the ‘Sunshine Double’ after defeating Aryna Sabalenka to win the Indian Wells final last week and she came into the match on the back …

LONDON: It was a record-breaking night for Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo as qualifying for the European Championship in 2024 got underway on Thursday. Kane became England’s all-time leading goalscorer as the Three Lions enjoyed a perfect start by winning 2-1 away to Italy. A first-half penalty lifted Kane to 54 goals for his country, one more than Wayne Rooney. …

BUENOS AIRES: Lionel Messi capped a night of unbridled joy with the 800th goal of his career as world champions Argentina celebrated their homecoming with a 2-0 friendly victory over stubborn Panama in Buenos Aires on Thursday. The 35-year-old seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s stunning free-kick in the dying minutes came after 21-year-old MLS sensation Thiago Almada gave a glimpse of …

LAHORE: A high-performance skills camp for emerging women cricketers commences on Saturday at the Inzamam-ul-Haq High-Performance Centre, Multan. In the two-week-long camp, a total of 27 emerging women cricketers will undergo skills and fitness training. The camp is set up to pick a Pakistan team which will represent the national team in the Asian Women Emerging Cup to be held …

Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan hailed the team’s maiden T20 victory against Pakistan but said their front-line batters need to improve ahead of the 50-overs World Cup in India later this year. Rashid and his teammates humbled a new-look Pakistan by six wickets in the opening T20 International in Sharjah on Friday. They restricted the young Pakistan side, led by Shadab …

NEW DELHI: India captain Rohit Sharma said his team-mates should consider skipping the occasional match during the Indian Premier League (IPL) to manage their workload ahead of the Cricket World Cup on home soil later this year. A recurring back injury kept middle order batter Shreyas Iyer out of the home one-day series against Australia, which the tourists won 2-1 …