Sports

The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has signed a partnership with Global Soccer Ventures (GSV) to kick off the country’s first-ever football league, the Pakistan Football League (PFL), and upgrade the infrastructure for the sport in the country, according to a press release issued on Tuesday. The statement noted that apart from delivering Pakistan’s first domestic inter-city franchise league, the new …

TOKYO: Britain’s Oliver Townend, Laura Collett and Tom McEwen on Monday won Olympic team gold in equestrian eventing, bringing the top medal back to Britain after decades of the country coming second, while Germany’s Julia Krajewski won individual gold. Australia claimed the silver medal, improving on their third place in Rio 2016, and defending champions France took bronze. Britain’s Tom …

TOKYO: Britain beat Spain in a penalty shootout to secure the last semi-final spot in the women’s Olympic hockey tournament on Monday, joining India, Argentina and the Netherlands in the last four. After a tense 2-2 draw in regular time, Britain won the game by scoring two shootout goals, while Spain missed four times thanks to a superb performance by …

TOKYO: Three women dominated the focus at the Olympics on Monday — US gymnast Simone Biles, Belarus sprinter Krystsina Tsiman­ouskaya and New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard — as politics and personal issues played out at the Tokyo Games. China’s women’s team sprinters took the first gold on offer in the track cycling programme, powering to victory and helping solidify China’s leading …

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has turned down the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) request to not recognise the Kashmir Premier League (KPL), explaining that non-international cricket events do not fall under its jurisdiction. The BCCI and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have exchanged words the past week after it emerged that Indian officials were trying to …

Since July 25, a day hasn’t gone by without someone eulogising Talha Talib for coming that far or cursing the darned ‘system’ for ignoring our track-and-field athletes. Talha Talib’s name has been front and centre everywhere and everyone wants a piece of him. Talib, which literally means seeker, is himself the sought-after (oh the irony!). This Talib overload also means that probably …

TOKYO: Lamont Marcell Jacobs won the most coveted crown in athletics on Sunday, giving Italy its first 100 metres gold on a night of high drama in Tokyo. As Jacobs stormed to the first Olympic title of the post-Usain Bolt era, the fate of a Belarusian sprinter’s Tokyo Games was playing out at a nearby airport. Krystsina Tsimanouskaya, who had …

TOKYO: Pakistan shooter Ghulam Mustafa Bashir put himself in contention for the final of the men’s 25m rapid fire air pistol event at the Tokyo Olympics on Sunday. His compatriot Mohammad Khalil Akhtar has work to do. Bashir finished with 293 points after the first qualifying stage at the Asaka Shooting Range, just inside the cut-off line at sixth. Just …

TOKYO: India reached the semi-finals of the men’s hockey tournament at the Olympics for the first time since 1980 thanks to a 3-1 win over Britain on Sunday to set up a showdown with Belgium at the Tokyo Games. Australia and Germany will contest the other semi-final. India, who had won the last of their eight Olympic hockey gold medals …

BUDAPEST: Frenchman Esteban Ocon won a chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton finished third to take the Formula One championship lead from Max Verstappen. Verstappen placed 10th after being taken out early in the race by Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a first-lap crash that caused him and four others to retire. Bottas, however, will have …