Category: 6. Sports

PESHAWAR:

The Imran Khan Cricket Stadium in Peshawar has finally been prepared to host matches after eight years of renovation and upgrades. On Saturday, the stadium will host a high-profile charity match between Peshawar Zalmi and Legends XI to raise funds for flood victims.

Cricket stars including Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Babar Azam, and Kamran Akmal will showcase their talent during the much-anticipated event. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 PM.

The stadium, which has a seating capacity of over 17,000 spectators, now features newly built players’ dressing rooms and VVIP enclosures.

Ticket prices have been set at Rs1,000 for general spectators*, Rs10,000 for VIPs, and Rs50,000 for VVIPs. A special VVIP enclosure has also been designated for high-profile attendees.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister, along with cabinet members and senior officials, has already purchased VVIP tickets worth Rs50,000 each to support the cause.

All proceeds from the charity match will be donated to flood-affected families in the province.

Tickets are now available at 20 locations across the provincial capital. For the first time in 19 years, international cricketers will be seen in action in Peshawar, with proceeds dedicated to supporting flood-affected communities.

Commissioner Peshawar Division, Riaz Khan Mehsud, speaking at a ceremony held at Nishtar Hall, said that district administrations across the division have been mobilized to ensure maximum ticket sales and fundraising. He urged the business community and industrialists to actively contribute by promoting ticket sales and generating greater support for the cause.

The ceremony was attended by Deputy Commissioner Peshawar Capt (retd) Sanaullah.

KATOWICE (Poland) – The stars came out to play as FIBA EuroBasket 2025 action tipped off in Limassol and Katowice on Thursday, with Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo headlining the Top Performers.

But who had the best showing in an action-packed opening day in Groups C and D?

We have left that for you to decide by casting your vote in the fan poll below and letting us know who you think deserves to be named Player of the Day.

As expected, Luka Doncic put on quite a show at the start of another EuroBasket campaign. The Slovenian superstar dropped 34 points, dished out 9 assists and picked opponents’ pockets five times for a tournament-high efficiency of 42, albeit in a 105-95 defeat to hosts Poland.

Jordan Loyd is the main reason for Luka’s sorrow as Poland’s guard had a debut to remember. How do 32 points and seven made three-pointers for the fourth-best EuroBasket scoring debut of all time sound?

Elsewhere, Israel tipped off their campaign with a 83-71 win over Iceland, and Roman Sorkin had everything to do with it. The big man tallied 31 points with four made three-pointers, grabbed 5 rebounds and blocked 1 shot which amounted to an efficiency of 31.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led Greece to a 75-66 victory over Italy in a European classic between two basketball powerhouses. The Greek Freak scored 31 points, also grabbing 7 rebounds and dishing out 2 assists in the process.

Earlier, Georgia shocked defending EuroBasket champions Spain 83-69 to make an early mark in the tournament. Sandro Mamukelashvili put the team on his back with an all-around showing of 19 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in a game that Georgia will surely remember for a long time.

FIBA

Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell, Dina Asher-Smith and Max Burgin produced impressive performances at the Diamond League Final as they finalised their preparations for next month’s World Championships.

The trio, each named in the British squad for Tokyo earlier this week, achieved second-place finishes in Zurich with just 16 days until the action gets under way in Tokyo on 13 September.

Having last week chosen to target the 800m in pursuit of another global podium, Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Hunter Bell ran a personal best one minute 55.96 seconds in that event as she finished runner-up in a thrilling finish against Switzerland’s Audrey Werro (1:55.91).

That time moved Hunter Bell, whose decision to switch to the 800m could see her line up alongside training partner and Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson in the world final, above Dame Kelly Holmes to third on the British all-time list.

“It would be amazing [to make the world podium],” Hunter Bell told BBC World Service Sport.

“I don’t think two [British] athletes have been on the podium together since maybe Sebastian Coe, Steve Cram or Steve Ovett, so if me and Keely could do that, it would be pretty special.”

It was on 29 August 2012 that Real Madrid lifted their ninth Spanish Super Cup. In that edition, the Whites, who were playing as LaLiga champions, faced Barcelona. The first leg took place on 23 August at the Camp Nou, where Barcelona won by the narrowest of margins (3-2). Six days later, the madridistas turned the tie around at the Santiago Bernabéu and won the trophy on away goals (2-1).

FIRST LEG (CAMP NOU, 23/8/2012)
3-Barcelona: Valdés, Dani Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Adriano, Busquets, Xavi (Cesc Fàbregas, 81′), Iniesta, Pedro (Jordi Alba, 85′), Alexis Sánchez (Tello, 70′) and Messi.
2-Real Madrid: Casillas, Arbeloa, Albiol, Ramos, Coentrão, Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Özil (Marcelo, 79′), Callejón (Di María, 65′), Benzema (Higuaín, 60′) and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Goals
0-1 (min. 55): Cristiano Ronaldo.
1-1 (min. 57): Pedro.
2-1 (min. 70): Messi, penalty.
3-1 (min. 78): Xavi.
3-2 (min. 85): Di María.

SECOND LEG (SANTIAGO BERNABÉU, 29/8/2012)
2-Real Madrid: Casillas, Arbeloa, Pepe, Ramos, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Khedira, Özil (Modric, 83′), Di María (Callejón, 79′), Higuaín (Benzema, 81′) and Cristiano Ronaldo.
1-Barcelona: Valdés, Adriano, Piqué, Mascherano, Jordi Alba, Busquets (Song, 75′), Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro (Tello, 81′), Alexis Sánchez (Montoya, 32′) and Messi.

Goals
1-0 (min. 11): Higuaín.
2-0 (min. 19): Cristiano Ronaldo.
2-1 (min. 44): Messi.

Trent Alexander-Arnold will make a swift return to Anfield after Liverpool were drawn to host Real Madrid in this season’s Champions League.

The right-back will face his old teammates months after his controversial move to the Bernabéu, which drew vocal disapproval from sections of the Liverpool support.

It was one of several high-profile reunions produced in a league phase draw that also pits Kevin De Bruyne, now with Napoli, against Manchester City. The Napoli manager, Antonio Conte, will also meet his former club Chelsea. Arsenal will prime themselves for the latest appearance of Harry Kane, a long-time nemesis while at Spurs, in Bayern Munich colours at the Emirates.

The sprawling draw, which paired each of the 36 contenders with eight opponents, offered England’s six representatives a mixed bag. Liverpool will also host Real’s city neighbours, Atlético, as well as softer-looking tasks against PSV Eindhoven and the Azeri champions, Qarabag. They will travel to Inter, Eintracht Frankfurt, Marseille and Galatasaray.

Manchester City will renew acquaintances with Real Madrid, who they have faced 10 times in the past five and a half years. Madrid most recently defeated them 6-3 on aggregate in the playoff round in February and will host this season’s tie at the Bernabéu. City will also visit newcomers Bodø/Glimt, Villarreal and Monaco; Pep Guardiola’s side will host Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Galatasaray along with Napoli.

Arsenal will hope to avenge their quarter-final defeat against Kane and Bayern of 2023-24. Atlético, Olympiakos and the Kazakh debutants Kairat Almaty will also visit north London; last season’s Premier League runners-up will travel to Inter, Club Brugge, Slavia Prague and Athletic Bilbao.

Chelsea face a relatively tough-looking path through the league phase. They will meet Barcelona, Benfica, Ajax and the Cypriot side Pafos at Stamford Bridge, playing away ties against Bayern, Atalanta, Napoli and Qarabag. The theme of reunions persists for Tottenham, who will travel to Bodø/Glimt after defeating the Norwegians in the Europa League semi-finals in May.

Spurs also face the reigning champions, Paris Saint-Germain, who edged them out on penalties in the Super Cup a fortnight ago, at the Parc des Princes. Their assignments on the road include Frankfurt, another opponent from 2024-25, and Monaco. Thomas Frank’s team host Dortmund, Villarreal, Slavia Prague and Copenhagen.

There will be few easy games for Newcastle, particularly if they find themselves shorn of Alexander Isak before the competition begins. St James’ Park will play host to Barcelona, Benfica, PSV and Athletic Bilbao; their fans will await trips to PSG, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille and Union Saint-Gilloise.

Other noteworthy clashes include a rerun of the 2021 final between PSG and Bayern, along with an epic trip to the Kazakh capital for Real Madrid when they face Kairat Almaty.

The first set of games will take place between 16 and 18 September; five subsequent rounds are scheduled before mid-December, with two more lined up for January. The order of the fixtures, along with dates and kick-off times, will be released on Saturday.

NEW YORK — “Venus, she’s a legend. She’s an icon. Growing up, when I first started playing tennis, people asked me, ‘Who did you watch when you were growing up?’ I always said Justine Henin and the Williams sisters.”

Leylah Fernandez said that matter of factly, on the rooftop of the player clubhouse at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio during a casual conversation in early August.

Less than a month later, in a scene she likely would not have predicted, she was sharing a court with her idol on Louis Armstrong Stadium in front of more than 14,000 rabid fans who were no doubt thrilled to have one more opportunity to see Venus play. 

And the result was a good one for the American-Canadian pairing. The duo, which accepted a wild card into the US Open doubles draw on Tuesday, upset sixth-seeded Lyudmyla Kichenok and Ellen Perez, 7-6 (4), 6-3, in their first-round matchup on an unseasonably windy day in Queens. (It was downright uncomfortable if you were dressed for summer, though the fired-up crowd hardly seemed to notice.)

Towering over her partner — a former US Open singles finalist and doubles quarterfinalist — and looking at times like a big sister, the 45-year-old Williams earned her first win in three New York tries after bowing out in the revamped mixed doubles tournament last week and losing to Karolina Muchova on Monday.

It looked bleak to start, with Williams and Fernandez falling behind 5-2 in the first set, but they rallied to even it at 5. And with the thunderous crowd firmly in their corner, they eked out the tiebreak to take the first set and grab firm control of the match.

The next set was far less dramatic, as the unseeded pair jumped out to a 4-1 lead and comfortably closed it out.

“I’m used to being the big sister,” Williams told reporters after the match, “so I’m kind of asking her what she wants. It’s important for her to feel comfortable. Theoretically I have more experience, but she’s been playing a lot more matches, so maybe that makes us neck and neck  in terms of how we can compete.

“But I think we just had to see what happened, because you never know what’s going to happen in a match and you have to adjust. Once we got down, I feel like we just put our foot on the gas.”

It was a full circle moment for the 22-year-old Fernandez, who remembers practicing with Venus outside of Lexington, Kentucky back in 2020. She was new to the Hologic WTA Tour at the time and didn’t know many players, and the gesture was a meaningful one.

“I thought I was going to be very intimidated, but she was super nice and welcoming,” Fernandez recalled during the Cincinnati Open.

She certainly appeared nice and welcoming again on Thursday, as the two embraced after securing the win. 

This was Williams’ first doubles victory in Queens in 11 years, though she’s certainly no stranger to doubles success at this venue. The seven-time Grand Slam singles champion won the doubles tournament here in 1999, alongside her sister Serena, and the pair won it a second time in 2009.

Williams and Fernandez will play Eri Hozumi and Ulrikke Eikeri in the second round on Saturday.