Sports

Daily crowds of between 25,000 and 30,000 will be allowed to watch the Australian Open, organisers said Saturday in a big boost to the season's opening Grand Slam. Aggressive restrictions on incoming travel have helped keep the coronavirus largely at bay in Australia, making it one of the few places in the world where fans can still attend sports events in significant numbers. Victoria state's Sports Minister Martin Pakula said it equated to some 390,000 spectators across the two-week spectacle -- around half

Kagiso Rabada achieved the feat on Day three of the ongoing first Test against Pakistan at the National Stadium in Karachi. Kagiso Rabada became the 8th South African to scalp 200 Test wicketsRabada took 8,154 balls to claim his 200th wicket in the longest formatRabada is the fourth-youngest bowler ever to reach the milestonePace spearhead Kagiso Rabada on Thursday not only became the eighth South African to scalp 200 Test wickets, but also became the third-fastest Proteas bowler to reach the milestone in

Changes to the F1 schedule confirmed for the 2021 season with races to again start at the top of the hour and Friday's two practice sessions reduced from 90 to 60 minutes apiece; first race in Bahrain on March 28 will start at 4pm in UK Formula 1 races will revert to starting at the top of the hour in the 2021 season, the sport has formally confirmed, while Friday practice track time has been cut by an hour. Grands Prix had started

Thousands of cheering fans packed the stands on Friday to watch some of tennis' biggest stars warm up for the Australian Open -- with hardly a face mask to be seen. In an unusual scene for the coronavirus pandemic, the 4,000 crowd sat cheek by jowl as big hitters including Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka emerged from their 14-day quarantine to play exhibition matches ahead of the first grand slam of the year in Melbourne next month.The scene prompted joy on

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — Spinners Nauman Ali and Yasir Shah rattled South Africa to help Pakistan win the first test by seven wickets inside four days on Friday. Nauman, a 34-year-old left-arm spinner making his test debut, returned 5-35 and Shah took 4-79 to dismiss South Africa for 245 in the second innings before lunch on day four. It set up a small target of 88 and despite Anrich Nortje’s (2-24) twin strike in one over, Pakistan reached 90-3 before tea in 22.5

In an unprecedented build-up schedule for an overseas Test series, India will take on India A in a four-day practice match when the two sides travel to England later this year. The game will be played at the County Ground in Northamptonshire in July later this year. The exact dates of the match will be unveiled later. The India cricket team is scheduled to tour England in August and September to play five Test matches, beginning with the opening game at Nottingham on

DUBAI, UAE — Richard Sterne fired a superb 8-under-par 64 to open up a one-stroke lead over Kurt Kitayama after the first day of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic, with Ryder Cup stars Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey also in contention. Sterne started on the tenth hole at Emirates Golf Club and notched five birdies before the turn and picked up another four shots on his closing nine, with just one blemish coming on the par-4 sixth hole. “It's always good to get

The 2021 Qatar International Rally roars into life at Katara on Friday evening. The ceremonial start podium will be held at 20.15hrs and teams will then tackle two runs and two laps of a purpose-built super special stage from 21.30hrs. Then, ahead of an impressive field of drivers and co-drivers from 12 nations are two days of high-speed competition across the northern deserts of the State of Qatar that will make the opening round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) such

Former India fast bowler Javagal Srinath will be the match referee for England's entire tour, which also comprises five T20Is and three ODIs.The International Cricket Council (ICC) has appointed the pair of Anil Chaudhary and Virender Sharma to stand alongside Nitin Menon in the first two Tests of the upcoming series between India and England, thus continuing the trend of home umpires officiating in Tests ever since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. According to a report in ESPN, Chaudhary will be the on-field

Gearing up for Australian Open 2021, Rafael Nadal said he is not obsessed about breaking records but said he will is looking forward to adding to his Grand Slam tally, which stands at 20. World No. 2 Rafael Nadal has said he is not focussed on going behind records but maintained that it would be "amazing" to add to his Grand Slam tally in the new season. Nadal is tied with Federer as the two tennis greats have won 20 major titles each,

MANCHESTER: This season's Premier League race has been touted as one of the most open in years, but Manchester City have quietly moved through the gears and are threatening to pull away from the pack.Pep Guardiola's men, who have won their past seven league games, host Manchester United's midweek conquerors Sheffield United on Saturday (Jan 30), hoping lightning cannot strike twice. United, their closest challengers, face a tricky trip away to rejuvenated Arsenal, while Liverpool travel to high-flying West Ham.Here are some of the

LONDON: Liverpool's spluttering attack burst back to life to help the champions return to winning ways with a commanding 3-1 victory at Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Thursday (Jan 28).Goals from Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane capped a dominant display by Juergen Klopp's side whose first league win since a 7-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace on Dec. 19 restored their place in the top four. Firmino's effort in first-half stoppage time ended Liverpool's barren run of 482 minutes without

Australian Open tennis players have begun to leave hotel quarantine after completing their 14-day isolation, about a week before the event starts.By Sunday, about 500 players will have been released from hotels in Melbourne and Adelaide, organisers said. High-profile stars Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams were among those allowed out on Friday. Players have quarantined because of the Australian government's Covid-19 rules for anyone entering the country. In early January, more than 1,700 players, staff and others tied to the Grand

Talk about a busy evening. Zlatan Ibrahimović generated plenty of headlines on Tuesday in the Milan derby -- and then some. From scoring to getting into a spat with a former teammate and then being sent off, the Swedish superstar did it all in AC Milan's dramatic Coppa Italia defeat to cross-city rivals Inter Milan. Ibrahimović's first-half strike put the Italian league leaders in front, further continuing his excellent form against Inter, his eighth goal in seven appearances against the Nerazzurri, who the

The 2021 edition will kick off today and will include 29 matches over 10 days. The Abu Dhabi T10 League kicks off on Thursday, with the fourth edition looking to further establish a proof of concept and longer-term legacy for the format, even as its suitability to spearhead cricket's long-awaited return to the Olympics Games continues to be discussed. With the Covid-19 pandemic still far from gone, this year's tournament has gone to extraordinary lengths to try and conduct the 29 matches over

With Tiger Woods missing one of his favorite tournaments due to his fifth back surgery, Rory McIlroy and former Farmers winners Jon Rahm, Marc Leishman, and Jason Day top the field at Torrey Pines. Rory McIlroy is playing the Farmers Insurance Open for just the third time, looking for his first tour victory since 2019 while getting a feel for the course that will host the U.S. Open in June. With seven-time winner Tiger Woods missing one of his favorite tournaments due to

Following the elimination of Egypt earlier today, Qatar were the only non-European team left among the title contenders. The unbeaten Swedes, however, proved too strong for the Asian side, securing their ticket to the next round following a commanding win, so that the semi-finals will feature European teams only.  QUARTER-FINALSSweden vs Qatar 35:23 (14:10) Qatar’s Ahmed Madadi opened the score in the match, but it did not take long for Sweden to claim the initiative. As their goalkeeper Andreas Palicka recorded five saves in

PV Sindhu looked in real danger of missing out on the BWF World Tour Finals for the first time in five years before a quarterfinal appearance at the Toyota Thailand Open combined with a slice of good fortune helped her sneak into the traditional year-end tournament. Sindhu was only ranked 10th in the World Tour rankings but Nozomi Okuhara's inability to participate and the rule allowing only two maximum entries from each nation helped Sindhu make the cut as the eighth and final

Rafael Nadal said "we all try to help each other" amid Covid restrictions ahead of Australian Open, but some need "to make public everything they do to help others." Rafael Nadal has taken an apparent swipe at Novak Djokovic over his requests for quarantined players preparing for the Australian Open, saying not everyone felt the need to "advertise" how they were trying to help. The Serbian world number one issued a list of suggestions to Tennis Australia last week on behalf of 72

New signing Michael Olunga unleashed his true potential yesterday as the Kenyan forward’s hat-trick helped Al Duhail rout Al Ahli 6-0 in the last 16 match of the Amir Cup. At the Grand Hamad Stadium, Olunga scored a sixth minute penalty before adding his second in the 43rd minute. He completed his hat-trick in the 69th minute. Edmilson Junior netted a brace in the 22nd and 90th minute, while Luiz Martin also found the net in the 78th minute. In the quarter-finals Sabri