Sports

DOHA: Three quarters of the teams at the World Cup finals in Qatar will be based within a 10km radius of each other, FIFA said on Tuesday, announcing the hotels and training venues for the 32 national sides. Unlike in previous tournaments, all teams will stay in the same hotel and use the same training base throughout the tournament — …

NEW DELHI: India’s Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra will not defend his Commonwealth Games javelin title in Birmingham due to injury, the country’s Olympic association said on Tuesday, two days ahead of the opening ceremony. Chopra, 24, picked up the injury during the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, where he won silver at the weekend. The Indian Olympic Association did not …

Bad light stopped play in the second Test in Galle with Pakistan on 89-1 in their mammoth chase of 508 against Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Left-handed opener Imamul Haq, on 46, and skipper Babar Azam, on 26, were at the crease with more than 90 minutes and 26 overs of play left in the final session on day four. Spinner …

The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) played down threats to the game’s 50-overs format on Wednesday and said a “healthy” number of one-day internationals will be played in the 2023-27 cycle. The proliferation of lucrative domestic T20 leagues have cramped up cricket’s already-strained calendar and England all-rounder Ben Stokes attributed his shock ODI retirement to an “unsustainable” schedule. Earlier this month South …

MANCHESTER: England’s Premier League and Football League have announced tough new sanctions for pitch invasions and the use of smoke bombs and pyrotechnics. Last season saw an increasing number of pitch invasions at the end of the season with fans celebrating titles, promotion or survival. Several altercations took place on the field, including one involving Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira, …

LEEDS: Quinton de Kock believes it will become increasingly difficult for leading cricketers to play all three main formats, although he remains confident about the future for One-day Internationals. The South Africa wicket-keeper/batsman, who made a fine unbeaten 92 before the third ODI against England at Headingley on Sunday was washed out, ended his Test career late last year, shortly …

LAHORE: Already up against the Pakistan Sports Board, embattled Pakistan Hockey Federation president retired Brig Khalid Sajjad Khokhar has picked up another fight — this time within the federation. Earlier this month, Khokhar — along with PHF secretary Asif Bajwa and treasurer Ikhlaq Usmani — had been de-notified by the PSB after failing to hold elections of the country’s hockey …

GILGIT: Russian-Polish climber Denis Urubko has set another record by climbing 8,035m Gasherbrum-II within a span of 15 hours, just days after summiting 8,051m Broad Peak. This is his fifth summit of G2, while overall he is the 15th climber to scale all the 14 eight-thousanders and eighth to achieve the feat without the use of supplemental oxygen. According to …

GALLE: Ramesh Mendis chipped in with a lower order cameo and then claimed three wickets to put Sri Lanka on course for a significant first innings lead despite a fighting 62 by Pakistan batsman Agha Salman on day two of the second Test in Galle on Monday. Batting at number nine, Mendis contributed 35 in Sri Lanka’s 378 all out …

Azeem Rafiq said he was “incredibly proud” of former Scotland cricketers Majid Haq and Qasim Sheikh for speaking out about the racist abuse they had suffered in their careers, which led to a damning review into Cricket Scotland. The review, which was backed by SportScotland, was published on Monday and said the governance and leadership practices of Cricket Scotland were …