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CAIRO: Egypt coach Shawky Gharib told AFP on Thursday (Mar 25) that Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah was ready to add significant weight behind the country's quest for a first ever Olympic football medal in Tokyo. "I have made it public that I'd like to have him on board in our Olympic campaign and he hasn't refused, which means he also wants to play with us," Gharib, the celebrated former Egyptian player turned manager, said. "Salah's participation in the Olympics is endorsed by the

New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson has been fined 15% of his match fee for “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision” during Tuesday’s One Day International against Bangladesh in Christchurch, the governing International Cricket Council said. Jamieson had reacted angrily after the TV umpire ruled his return catch from Tamim Iqbal had not been taken cleanly. He admitted the offence and accepted the sanction, the ICC said in a statement. The 26-year-old also had one demerit point added to his disciplinary record. It

England skipper Eoin Morgan has been ruled out of the final two one-day internationals against India in Pune after splitting the webbing between his thumb and index finger in Tuesday’s opener, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Thursday. Jos Buttler will be captain from Friday’s second match, while batsman Liam Livingstone is set to make his ODI debut. Wicketkeeper batsman Sam Billings, who has a bruised collar bone, will be sidelined on Friday, with a decision on his fitness for

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton said he had spoken to Bahrain officials about human rights in the country after promising last year he would not let any abuses go unnoticed. The Mercedes driver, who will be chasing a record eighth world title in a season that starts in the Gulf kingdom on Sunday, detailed on Thursday efforts he had made to inform himself. The Briton said in December he had been moved by a letter from the son of a jailed man

Sebastian Vettel revealed on Thursday he had named his new Aston Martin AMR21 Formula One car ‘Honey Ryder’ after the character played by Ursula Andress in the 1962 James Bond movie ‘Dr No’. The film was the first of a long-running film franchise featuring the fictional British secret agent famed for his love of gadget-filled Aston Martins, and Honey Ryder was the first ‘Bond Girl’. Ironically, Bond’s first car in ‘Dr No’ was a Sunbeam Alpine Series II, with the Aston Martin DB5

LONDON - England kicked off their World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign with a 5-0 thrashing of San Marino as Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored twice and Ollie Watkins marked his debut with a goal. On a night when Gareth Southgate could have dispensed with defenders altogether, England toyed with FIFA’s lowest-ranked nation who rarely got past the halfway line in the Group I game. They might be disappointed, however, that San Marino goalkeeper Elia Benedettini only had to pick the ball out of his net

LONDON - Former champions Germany, England and Italy got off to winning starts in their World Cup qualifying campaigns on Thursday but Spain were held to a 1-1 home draw by Greece. Four-times winners Germany enjoyed a 3-0 win over Group J rivals Iceland in Duisburg thanks to goals from Leon Goretzka, Kai Havertz and Ilkay Gundogan. The German team followed the example of Norway on Wednesday in making a protest before the start of the game, lining up in Tee-shirts spelling out

DUISBURG, Germany - Germany displayed their support for migrant workers building 2022 World Cup stadiums in Qatar ahead of their 3-0 home win over Iceland in their opening Group J qualifier on Thursday. The players lined up before kickoff wearing shirts displaying the message “HUMAN RIGHTS” and midfielder Leon Goretzka, who scored Germany’s opening goal, elaborated on the protest. “We have the World Cup coming up and there will be discussions about it. We wanted to show we are not ignoring that,” he

World No.1 Ash Barty faced down a match point against qualifier Kristina Kucova at the Miami Open on Thursday before clawing her way back for a 6-3 4-6 7-5 victory in the Australian’s first match outside her home country in more than a year. After a solid first set Barty, who had said she was suffering jet lag after a marathon journey to Florida, got into trouble as the unforced errors began to pile up. She fell behind 5-2 in the third and

WELLINGTON: New Zealand Rugby is "really confident" of adding Pacific teams to Super Rugby in time for the 2022 season despite concerns over their financial viability, a senior NZR official said on Thursday (Mar 25). World Rugby said on Wednesday it will spend £1.2 million (US$1.64 million) annually over three years to help facilitate the entry of Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika into the competition, subject to NZR Board approval and key conditions being met. "We’re really confident. We’re not there yet but

MUNICH: Bayern Munich defender Alphonso Davies said he hopes to boost support for refugees around the world after becoming the first footballer to be appointed a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency. Davies was born to Liberian parents in a refugee camp in Ghana, where he spent five years before moving to Canada. The 20-year-old joined Bayern in 2018 and played a key role in the side that won the Champions League and Bundesliga titles last season. "My own experiences make

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy is in a slump of form, and nothing embodied that more than his drive on the fifth hole at the WGC Matchplay on Wednesday. The big-hitting Northern Irishman walloped his drive, leaning on his club when he realized it was hooking dramatically to the left, with the ball eventually finishing in someone's swimming pool in a nearby house. The wayward drive wasn't the only time McIlroy's ball took a splash during his match against Ian Poulter, as he

This will be the 18th occasion that a Grand Prix has been held at Losail International Circuit and the 14th under floodlights. This will be the 15th successive year that the track has hosted the season opener, although in 2020, only Moto2™ and Moto3™ races were held as the MotoGP™ race was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Qatar is the seventh different Asian country to host a Grand Prix (all solo classes) along with Thailand, Turkey, Japan, Malaysia, China and Indonesia. Losail

FUKUSHIMA: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics torch relay set off from Fukushima on Thursday (Mar 25), beginning a four-month countdown to the Summer Games, delayed from 2020 and the first ever organised during a global pandemic. Organisers hope that the relay will sweep away persistent doubts about the event. The nationwide relay, like the Olympics themselves, will be vastly different from previous editions, with spectators banned from cheering and kept away from the launch ceremony and first leg over COVID-19 concerns. Fans will be

ISTANBUL: Veteran captain Burak Yilmaz netted a hat-trick as Turkey saw off a late rally from the Netherlands to secure a 4-2 home victory on Wednesday (Mar 24) at the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign. Yilmaz opened the scoring in the 14th minute of the Group G match with a deflected shot followed by a penalty 20 minutes later at Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium to put the Turks 2-0 up at halftime. The game looked to be effectively over when Hakan

PARIS: France kicked off their World Cup qualifying campaign in unconvincing fashion as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Ukraine on Wednesday (Mar 24). Antoine Griezmann put the world champions in front in the first half with a brilliant strike, only for defender Presnel Kimpembe to hand the visitors a point with an own goal after the break. The result left Didier Deschamps's side and Ukraine level with Finland and Bosnia in Group D after they drew 2-2 in the

LEUVEN, Belgium: Belgium shrugged off an early scare to see off Wales 3-1 and make a winning start to their World Cup qualifying campaign on Wednesday. Harry Wilson gave Wales a surprise 10th-minute lead in their opening Group E match at Den Dreef in Leuven but the top-ranked Belgium came from behind to win the game with goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Thorgan Hazard and Romelu Lukaku. It continued the dominant performances in qualifying competition for Belgium, who won all 10 group games

MIAMI: No final decision has been made on the status of the LPGA Blue Bay tournament planned for China in May, LPGA officials said on Wednesday (Mar 24) while confirming Singapore and Thailand events. While tweaking the United States schedule to ease travel to Asia for two other events, the LPGA said in a statement that the fate of the LPGA event on China's Hainan island, planned for May 13 to 16, "will be announced in the coming weeks as the LPGA continues

In the last decade, Lyon's dominance in women's football has been nigh on complete. Since 2011, the French club has been involved in nine Champions League finals, winning the competition seven times. Anita Asante, who currently plays for Aston Villa in the Women's Super League (WSL) and works as a pundit for the UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL), explains how Lyon's ability to continually bring in new talent has been key to success. "I think they've always had that consistency and that continuity,"

Zlatan Ibrahimovic was reduced to tears in his first media conference since returning to Sweden international football squad while explaining his son's reaction to his call-up. The normally stoic 39-year-old, who is making a return to international football after first retiring in 2016, became emotional as he described how his 12-year-old son Vincent became tearful when he left home to rejoin the squad after a five-year absence. "Vincent cried when I left him," Ibrahimovic said in the press conference, sitting alongside Sweden coach