Sports

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

The Netherlands team hope that this week's start of the World Cup qualifiers in Europe will highlight the plight of migrant workers in Qatar and help to improve their working conditions. "A lot of attention is now focused on whether we should go there if we qualify," coach Frank de Boer told news conference on the eve of his team's opening Group G match against Turkey in Istanbul, amid growing controversy at home over Qatar's hosting of the 2022 finals. "It is right

LONDON: World number three Simona Halep said she is more interested in silverware than her ranking and will focus on the Grand Slams and the Olympics as she looks to add to her trophy cabinet this year after a chaotic 2020 rattled by COVID-19. The 29-year-old Romanian is among a women's field stocked with top talent at the Miami Open, Halep's first tournament in the United States since the beginning of the pandemic, after she dropped out of the U.S. Open in August

LONDON: Stefanos Tsitsipas is keeping expectations low heading into the Miami Open but said the absence of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the tournament gives players like him a better chance for success. The 22-year-old Greek, who is ranked fifth, reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open last month and the final of the Mexican Open on Saturday, in a solid start to what he hopes will be his breakthrough year. "It is an opportunity, I won't lie," he told

PUNE, India: Debutant Prasidh Krishna and fellow seamer Shardul Thakur combined to derail England's chase and bowl India to a 66-run victory in the one-day series opener in Pune on Tuesday (Mar 23). Shikhar Dhawan made 98 but it was the blistering unbroken century-plus partnership between KL Rahul and debutant Krunal Pandya which helped India to a strong 317-5. Jonny Bairstow led England's robust reply with an incendiary 94 before the wheels came off their chase and the tourists folded for 251 in

LONDON: Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies is the stand-out talent in a Canada squad that takes its first steps on the long road to the 2022 Qatar World Cup this week with CONCACAF region qualifying games against Bermuda and Cayman Islands. Assembling a team during the COVID-19 pandemic may have proven a bigger challenge than the one 73rd-ranked Canada will face on the pitch on Thursday when they play 169th-ranked Bermuda and on Sunday against 193rd-ranked Cayman Islands. Both matches will be played in

LONDON: Lewis Hamilton will be fired up for a fight with Max Verstappen this season, but Formula 1's most successful driver may be in no rush to commit to 2022, according to 1996 world champion Damon Hill. Mercedes driver Hamilton can win a record eighth world championship having equalled Ferrari great Michael Schumacher's seven. The 36-year-old Briton is also set to become the first driver to win 100 grands prix, his tally now on 95, but his latest contract runs only to the

Manchester City will install over 5,000 rail seats at the Etihad Stadium, the Premier League club said, a move that will allow spectators to stand safely during matches next season. The seats, which are designed to lock into a folded position and give fans space to stand, would be installed over the summer in the lower tier of the South Stand, City said. Standing at grounds in the top two tiers is banned but clubs have looked to find a middle ground, with

On the sidelines of this week’s Milipol Qatar summit, the President of Huawei Middle East reaffirmed the company’s commitment to supporting the realization of the Qatar National Vision 2030 through its contribution to the country’s growing digital economy and major events like the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The executive praised the country’s strong progress on digital transformation under the Qatar Smart Program (TASMU) whilst empowering cross-sector collaboration, data sharing, and encouraging innovation across the country’s digital ecosystem. When it comes