International Sports News

LAHORE: After playing a history-making T20I match in Lahore, Players and officials of Sri Lankan cricket team departed from Allama Iqbal International Airport in wee hours of Monday. Though Pakistan lifted the T20I trophy beating the visitors in three-match series, Sri Lanka won the hearts of the millions of fans filled Gaddafi Stadium to watch their stars play under intense security in the provincial capital. This is the first visit by a major cricketing nation since a 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team. Cricket-starved Pakistan celebrated the return of international cricket with a thumping 36-run win to clinch the final T20 match and the series against Sri Lanka at the Gaddafi stadium on Sunday. The hosting of the final T20I is a major step towards convincing international teams to begin touring Pakistan again. Earlier, PCB chairman announced that Pakistan would host the six-nation Emerging Asia Cup in April next year.                                                  

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia will allow women into sports stadiums for the first time from next year, authorities said Sunday, in a landmark move opening up three previously male-only venues to families. The kingdom, which has some of the world´s tightest restrictions on women, has long barred women from sports arenas by strict rules on segregation of the sexes in public. The announcement is in line with powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman´s ambitious reform drive shaking up the ultra-conservative kingdom, including the historic decision to allow women to drive from next June. "Starting the preparation of three stadiums in Riyadh, Jeddah and Damman to be ready to accommodate families from early 2018," the General Sports Authority said on Twitter. Restaurants, cafes and monitor screens would be set up inside the stadiums, the authority added. Last month hundreds of women were allowed to enter a sports stadium in Riyadh, used mostly for football matches, for the first

The India skipper, who cracked a 106-ball 113 in Kanpur, surpassed South Africa´s AB de Villiers as number one as he resumed the top spot after a gap of just 10 days. Kohli was the top run-scorer in the New Zealand series, accumulating 263 over three matches including his 32nd ODI century on Sunday as India secured a 2-1 series victory. He also paired with opener Rohit Sharma for a 230-run stand as they became the first batsmen to share four double century ODI partnerships. Kohli, 28, who also tops the Twenty20 batting chart, also became the fastest batsman to reach 9,000 ODI runs in the game at Kanpur´s Green Park Stadium.                                                           Click To Know More

HONG KONG: Victoria Harbour yesterday was made the platform to a swimmers' race taking over about 3,000 participants on board for a one kilometer swim. An exact count of 2,943 partakers swam across the original site on Kowloon ­side to Hong Kong Island, marking the tradition of first attempt back in 1906. The race offered 14 divisions compile two leisure groups for the event, Tsim Sha Tsui public pier to Gold­en Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, the competition introduced two winners and labeled separate fast swimmers. The annual  swimmers' competition has been a key event capturing sportspersons to its entity, “It was fun. I enjoyed swimming in the harbour. When you breath, you can see Hong Kong from a different perspective,” as Olympic swimmer Camille Cheng Lily-mei comments, who represented Hong Kong at last year’s Rio games. Although a few racers consumed minor injuries, sprains and scratches to 13 people, no casualties occurred unlike last year’s event as two people

DUBAI: Shadab Khan gave spectacular performances with the bat and ball on Friday, helping Pakistan to a thrilling 2nd last-ball victory against Sri Lanka in the second day-night T20 International on Friday in Abu Dhabi. Shadab hit a straight six and a couple off the next delivery denied Sri Lanka's valiant young side victory in an astonishing contest. Pakistan won the series against Sri Lanka after winning the second T20I by two wickets in Abu Dhabi. It was a low scoring thriller as Sri Lankan collapse that saw them lose eight wickets for 14 runs, three of them fell prey to Faheem Ashraf's outstanding deliveries that make him first Pakistan to achieve T20I hat-trick. That might suggest another rout of the hapless visitors. In the game of the entire tour, Pakistan edged home with one ball to spare, with only two wickets in hand when the winning runs were struck. T hey were struck by none other than golden boy Shadab Khan, who smashed a six off the game's penult