Rafael Nadal was confirmed as the year-end world number one for the fifth time after the ATP released its season-closing rankings on Monday. The Spaniard did not make it beyond the group stage of last week’s ATP Finals in London but Novak Djokovic’s failure to reach the semi-finals meant Nadal closed the year with 9,985 points, 840 clear of the ...

Denmark and Switzerland secured spots at Euro 2020 at the expense of the Republic of Ireland on Monday as Roberto Mancini’s Italy completed a perfect qualifying campaign by scoring nine. Ireland needed to beat Denmark in Dublin to clinch qualification for next year’s 24-team European Championship finals, but Matt Doherty’s late header was only enough to earn Mick McCarthy’s men ...

The revered Brazil striker Pele scored his 1,000th goal on November 19, 1969 at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana stadium in a match between his beloved Santos and local outfit Vasco de Gama, whose vast ranks of fans gave the iconic No. 10 a standing ovation. That goal half a century ago was a beautifully converted penalty which escaped the grasp ...

Steve Smith insists he does not feel “hard done by” after the West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran received a four-match ban for ball-tampering compared to the master Australian batsman’s year-long suspension. The talented Pooran was last week suspended by the International Cricket Council for four Twenty20 internationals for “changing the condition of the ball” in a one-day match against Afghanistan in ...

KARACHI: Pakistan has achieved the 10th position out of 16 Asian countries with regards to quota places for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. According to the list issued by the Asian Shooting Confederation (ASC), Pakistan won three quota places to take 10th position out of 16 countries in shooting in Asia. China tops the list with 25 quotas and India is ...

Opening batsman Fakhar Zaman on Monday admitted that he himself is not satisfied with his form, but remains confident of overcoming his shortcomings and mistakes by World T20, set to be played in Australia next year. Zaman, who was the star batsman of the 2017 Champions Trophy final, has experienced a dramatic loss of form over the past year, scoring ...

SYDNEY: Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Emily Smith on Monday was handed a one-year ban under cricket´s anti-corruption code for posting her team line-up on Instagram an hour before its official release. Nine months of the strict penalty was suspended, meaning the Hobart Hurricanes player effectively cannot pad-up for three months, ruling her out of the rest of the season. The 24-year-old was ...

The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Monday announced the 23-member squad for this month’s Asian Football Confederation Under-19 (AFC U19) championship qualifiers to be played in Oman from November 22nd. According to a PFF official, Kahuta Research Laboratories’s (KRL) Zaid Omer has been named captain while Islamabad’s Mamoon Musa Khan has been named as Zaid’s deputy for the event. The ...

Following his inconsistent performances, Kamran Akmal has become a “persona non grata” for Pakistan Cricket authorities. The wicket-keeper batsman however is now hopeful of getting his perception changed in the eyes of the new-look Pakistan team management. Kamran on Monday smashed another half-century in Quaid e Azam trophy, which helped him complete the 13,000 runs milestone in first class cricket. ...

Australia’s Tim Paine has said the upcoming Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand may be the last time he captains the side at home as he enters the twilight of his career. Paine, who turns 35 next month, was named captain after former skipper Steve Smith was handed a one-year ban in March 2018 for ball tampering and the ...