COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police ‘botched’ an investigation into the 2011 cricket World Cup final which the country lost to India, a senior minister told parliament Tuesday, reviving an explosive match-fixing controversy. Mahindananda Aluthgamage, who was sports minister at the time, said he was ‘not satisfied’ after the criminal investigation department dropped the case following allegations he made in June last …

KARACHI: While the National T20 Cup’s second-leg action starts at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from Wednesday, pressure is mounting on the underperforming Pakistan players who have been — originally — named in the Twenty20 World Cup squad. At least five among the 15-man national side were struggling to justify their selection during the 18-match first leg of the event …

LAHORE: With all six teams in fray for the semi-finals, the National T20 Cup’s second leg starts at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from Wednesday with question marks still hanging over many of the Twenty20 World Cup-bound Pakistan squad. The conditions at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi during the first leg were relatively tough for batting. But all that …

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: The simmering row between the federal government and the Pakistan Olympic Association shows no signs of abating with the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination on Tuesday seeking audited financial statements of accounts for the last three years from the POA. Pakistan’s poor performance at this year’s Tokyo Olympics has seen the government and the POA come to war with the …

KARACHI/LAHORE: The government is firmly on the Pakistan Football Federation Normalisation Committee’s side. It is probably the strongest reason why global football body FIFA has extended the mandate of the PFF NC till the end of the year. And it also explains why the court-elected PFF of Ashfaq Hussain Shah has formed a five-member committee to hold talks in order …

New Zealand coach Gary Stead played down suggestions of any tension around their Twenty20 World Cup opener against Pakistan after the Black Caps recently abandoned their limited-overs tour of the South Asian country citing a security alert. New Zealand’s withdrawal dealt a massive blow to Pakistan’s hopes of staging regular international cricket, with England subsequently calling off their men’s and women’s tours. New Zealand …

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/FAISALABAD: The Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) on Wednesday have boycotted Out-Patient Department (OPD) services across the country against torture over their colleagues in Islamabad during a protest outside Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC). In Islamabad, the young doctors have boycotted the OPD services at the PIMS against the manhandling of their fellow doctors in the federal capital during a protest against …

The United Arab Emirates has authorised the Russia-developed one-shot Sputnik Light as both a standalone COVID-19 vaccine and a booster shot, Russia’s sovereign fund RDIF said on Wednesday. Sputnik Light vaccine is based on human adenovirus serotype 26 which is the first component of the Sputnik V vaccine. The single-dose vaccine has also been approved in UAE as a booster shot. …

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen warned of “catastrophic consequences” if the island were to fall to China and vowed to “do whatever it takes” to guard against threats in an article published on Tuesday. Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the self-ruled democratic island as its territory to be re-taken one day, by force …

STOCKHOLM: US-Japanese scientist Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann of Germany and Giorgio Parisi of Italy on Tuesday won the Nobel Physics Prize for climate models and the understanding of physical systems, the jury said. The Nobel committee said it was sending a message with its prize announcement just weeks before the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, as the rate of global …