Sports

ISLAMABAD: Several prominent men and women international players will participate in the Chief of the Air Staff-Serena Hotels/ Combaxx Sports International Championship starting here at the Mushaf Squash Complex on Monday. This was stated by Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF) secretary Wing Commander Armghan Aziz during a news conference here on Friday. Addressing the presser alongside director National Squash Academy Aftab …

Former Zimbabwe captain and England coach Andy Flower has been named the Afghanistan team’s consultant for the Twenty20 World Cup, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) said. Flower played 63 tests and 213 one-day international matches for Zimbabwe from 1992 to 2003, then coached England from 2009 to 2014, helping them win the T20 World Cup in 2010. He has also …

MILAN: Ferran Torres put Spain into the Nations League final with a brace in a 2-1 win that ended European champions Italy’s world record unbeaten run at 37 matches in front of their own fans at the San Siro stadium. Italy, trailing by two goals at the break, had to play the entire second half with 10 men after captain …

LONDON: English Premier League club Newcastle United was sold to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund on Thursday after a protracted takeover and legal fight involving concerns about piracy and rights abuses in the kingdom. The 300-million-pound ($409 million) takeover by the Saudi Public Investment Fund initially collapsed last year over concerns about how much control the kingdoms leadership would have …

ISLAMABAD: Three weeks after calling off their tour of Pakistan due to security concerns, New Zealand are willing to reschedule the series and Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja said on Thursday that there will be more information regarding that in a weeks’ time. Ramiz was briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Inter-Provincial Coordination, which met here with Senator Mian …

LONDON: England all-rounder Ben Stokes could miss the Ashes series in Australia after undergoing another operation on his injured finger, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Thursday. The 30-year-old has not played since July, when it was announced he was taking a break to focus on his mental wellbeing and to rest his left index finger. “Ben …

LAHORE: Southern Punjab really mean business in the second leg of the Nation T20 Cup in Lahore where they are back in the semi-final race. Barely 18 hours after chalking up their first win in the competition luck has at last started to side with them as they sealed the Punjab derby against the superior Central side on Thursday. While …

LONDON: Former Arsenal star Mesut Ozil hopes to boost the numbers of British South Asians breaking into professional football after helping launch a development centre in Bradford. The United Kingdom has a South Asian population of more than three million people, which amounts to seven per cent of the population. While Britain’s Afro-Caribbean population is well-represented in elite sport, especially …

LAHORE: Just two days remain until Pakistan’s squad for this month’s Twenty20 World Cup has to enter a six-day quarantine before departing to the United Arab Emirates. Yet, there are no signs of things speeding up or the pressing matters being addressed. The final make up of the squad, which was originally announced before the cancelled tours of New Zealand …

The International Cricket Council (ICC) will change “batsman” to the gender-neutral term “batter” in its playing conditions starting from this month’s Twenty20 World Cup, the world governing body said on Thursday. The Lord’s-based Marylebone Cricket Club, the sole authority on the laws of the game since it was founded in 1787, last month made the change in the Laws of …