Sports

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 …

KARACHI: Omar Khalid and Yashal Shah, Pakistan’s top and third-ranked amateurs, will feature in the 74th US Junior Amateur Championship, one of the biggest junior competitions in international golf, at the world famous Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon, USA. It is a rare occasion for Pakistan golf as Omar and Yashal earned exemptions to play in the prestigious championship …

LONDON: The board of the Scottish cricket federation resigned en masse on Sunday following accusations of institutional racism in a damning independent review which is due to be published on Monday. “The Board of Cricket Scotland has resigned. We will work in partnership with @sportscotland with immediate effect to ensure appropriate governance, leadership & support is in place for sport …

KARACHI: The National U-19 Championship (three-day matches) will kick off in Karachi on Monday, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced Sunday. The championship will feature 12 teams from six cricket associations, which were earlier involved in the one-day version of the tournament — won by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Whites. The matches will take place at the UBL Sports Complex, Rashid Latif Academy, …

Former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has decided to tell his own story in the form of a biopic and named it Rawalpindi Express, after his on field nickname for being one of the fastest bowlers of his time. On Sunday, he shared a teaser for the film, captioned, “Beginning of this beautiful journey. Announcing the launch of my story, my life, my biopic, Rawalpindi …