MOSCOW: Russia accused Inter­national Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach on Tuesday of taking part in a “conspiracy” with Ukraine to exclude its strongest athletes from this year’s Paris Games. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova made the allegation after two Russian pranksters known as Vovan and Lexus published a recording of a conversation with Bach in which he was …

PHUKET: China’s Olympic gold medallist Zhihui Hou broke her own snatch world record at weightlifting’s World Cup in Phuket on Monday, before North Korean Ri Song-Gum equalled it and won the women’s 49kg competition by earning a new record total. Hou, who lifted 96kg in the snatch in July 2021 to win gold in Tokyo, lifted 97kg to take the …

The Dutchman has served the Pakistan senior and junior sides in the role during different periods since 2004 and was involved with the youth side in in his recent-most stint. The cash strapped PHF is currently looking to hire Oltmans only for the Azlan Shah Cup and the Nations Cup, set to be held in Malaysia and Poland respectively in …

LONDON: England Test captain Ben Stokes has ruled himself out of the team’s T20 World Cup title defence, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Tuesday. The 32-year-old will skip the tournament in the United States and the West Indies to make sure he is fit to be a fully-fledged all-rounder in Test cricket. “Opting out of the …

CHITTAGONG: Prabath Jayas­uriya, Lahiru Kumara and Kamindu Mendis each claimed two wickets as Sri Lanka came within grasp of another resounding victory in the second and final Test on Tuesday. Bangladesh were 268-7 at stumps on the fourth day in Chittagong, still needing 243 runs for an improbable win. Mehidy Hasan Miraz played an unbeaten knock of 44 to take …

ISLAMABAD: Services’ exports rebounded year-on-year in February after contracting in the preceding four months, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday. The services exports reached $627.05 million in February, marking a 6.11 per cent increase from the $590.96m in the corresponding month last year. In rupee terms, the export of services grew 11.08pc in …

ISLAMABAD: The Com­p­­etition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has issued show-cause notices to the Fertiliser Manufacturers of Pakistan Advisory Council (FMPAC) and six leading fertililiser companies for allegedly fixing urea prices, a prima facie violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act 2010. Urea prices play a crucial role in determining the prices of essential food commodities. Any arbitrary increase in …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Devel­opment Economics (Pide), a state-owned think tank, has asked the government to shift gear from bureaucratic permissions to rule-based market liberalisation, exploit over Rs300 billion annual revenue potential from real estate through transparency, generate gains in agriculture sector worth Rs1.7 trillion and open up public land in Islamabad worth Rs2.2tr for private investment — all …

The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Wednesday said that the country is facing a 30 per cent water shortage at the start of the sowing season for cash crops such as rice and cotton. Irsa said the gap is based on lower than normal winter snowfall in the northern areas, affecting catchment areas of the Indus and Jhelum Rivers …