Category: 6. Sports

MANCHESTER:

Manchester City will embark on a new era this season in their first in 10 years without talisman Kevin De Bruyne as Pep Guardiola looks to make last term’s third-place finish a distant memory and restore his revamped outfit to their former glory.

They face a tough task against champions Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea — all big spenders in the transfer window — but the anticipated return of Ballon d’Or winner Rodri and scoring machine Erling Haaland to top form give reason for optimism.

City were tipped last season to win a record-extending fifth consecutive Premier League title, but a mid-season nose-dive saw them fall well off the pace and miss a top-two spot for the first time since 2016-17.

They finished third behind Liverpool and Arsenal with their worst points total under Guardiola, their nine league losses were more than their two previous seasons combined, they crashed out of the Champions League and League Cup early and their FA Cup final loss to Crystal Palace meant no silverware for the first time in eight years.

Rodri was sidelined for most of the season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament against Arsenal in September. Guardiola’s men showed how much the Spaniard was missed when they went on a woeful run of nine defeats in 12 games across all competitions.

After leading the Premier League in scoring for two successive seasons, Haaland’s 31 goals across all competitions in 2024-25 remarkably constituted a drop in performance, although he still showed his lethal scoring ability in what was considered an off-year for the Norwegian. He will be keen to prove a point this season and put himself back in the running for the Golden Boot.

Guardiola began his rebuilding last term, splashing out 180 million pounds ($241.72 million) on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonzalez and Vitor Reis. Marmoush had an almost immediate impact with a 13-minute hat-trick in a 4-0 win over Newcastle United in February.

KARACHI:

A five-year ban has been imposed on the former agent of Pakistani stars, Mughees Ahmed Sheikh, in connection with a corruption case in England. An independent anti-corruption tribunal of the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) has sentenced him for allegedly offering a bribe to a coach, which he has denied, indicating that he may pursue legal action.

Details reveal that Mughees Ahmed Sheikh was the head of the International Cricketers Association (ICA), representing players in the past such as Saim Ayub, Aamer Jamal, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan, Shadab Khan, Sufiyan Muqeem, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Haris, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Usama Mir, and others.

He also worked with former cricketers like Aaqib Javed, Mohammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Razaq, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanveer, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, and Misbah-ul-Haq.

A few months ago, after investigations by the cricket regulator and hearings in the independent anti-corruption tribunal, he was found guilty of four violations of the ECB Anti-Corruption Code, leading to the suspension of his registration.

Following this, many cricketers distanced themselves from him. The recent decision by the ECB’s Cricket Discipline Commission’s independent anti-corruption tribunal has resulted in a five-year ban for Mughees Ahmed Sheikh, effective from March 26, 2025, with the last 30 months suspended. During this time, he must complete educational programs and maintain proper conduct in the future.

Chris Howard, the director of the cricket regulator, stated that Mughees Ahmed attempted to involve a professional county coach in a corrupt scheme, which could have serious implications for the integrity of cricket in England, Wales, and beyond.

The long ban accurately reflects the severity of this conspiracy, emphasizing that offering, seeking, or accepting illegal financial incentives for selection is unacceptable and a serious blow to the integrity of the game.

He noted that where there are suspicions of corruption, investigations will be conducted to bring the responsible parties to justice. This matter came to light due to the courageous reporting of the affected coach and others, who immediately reported the offer and cooperated fully during the investigation and tribunal process, deserving commendation.

On the other hand, Mughees Ahmed Sheikh expressed his disappointment with the tribunal’s decision, raising serious concerns about the fairness of the process. He stated that the case against him was primarily based on the testimony of a single individual, lacking any corroborative evidence such as messages, financial transactions, or involvement of the affected players or matches.

The tribunal acknowledged that there was no evidence of match-fixing or betting. The allegation was that he offered a coach a share of his commission if the coach selected players represented by him for foreign franchise tournaments. He maintains his innocence, claiming that the allegation is baseless and reflects the vengeful behavior of one person.

He mentioned that all his records, including bank statements and messages on his mobile phone, were thoroughly examined during the investigation, but nothing was found to substantiate the claims. The tribunal prioritized the coach’s statement, despite the fact that the coach has not been associated with any team or franchise since then, raising serious questions about the practical significance of the allegation.

He stated that he has distanced himself from any position or activity within the International Cricketers Association (ICA) and has never been involved in any form of fixing, bribery, or corruption, considering all appropriate legal actions to clear his name.

Meanwhile, sources indicate that many star cricketers had already severed ties with the ICA months ago, and Aaqib Javed, the director of high performance, is no longer associated with the company.

In the past, a former Pakistani captain played a significant role in securing multiple new player contracts with the ICA, encouraging several young cricketers to become represented by the company, and he still holds a high position.

According to sources, the coach making allegations against Mughees is a former South African international cricketer.

Official Result: Eric McConico defeats Cody Brundage by split decision (29-28, 27-30, 29-28)

Eric McConico and Cody Brundage kicked off Saturday’s action with a gruelling clash between traditional middleweights elevated a weight class as a result of the fight coming together on short notice.

McConico clipped Brundage in the opening seconds of the contest, hurting the Factory X representative, but failed to capitalize, allowing Brundage to wrestle and work back into the frame. The second was a grind, with the more experienced Brundage leaning on his wrestling and McConico landing the better strikes in their sporadic exchanges. In the third, the duo once again spent a great deal of time stapled against the fence, with McConico being the fresher of the two, but Brundage doing well to land sharp, individual shots.

The judges were tasked with determining the victor, and when the scorecards were collected and totalled, it was McConico that came out ahead, registering his first UFC victory in the process.

One player who stole the spotlight and perhaps inked their name on the cast list for opening night is fly-half Zoe Harrison.

One of four players to keep their starting spot from the win over Spain, Harrison did not let seeing her first conversion rebound off the posts to put her off.

A large part of England’s success in France came through kicking for the corner, dominating the line-out then rolling a maul over the tryline. Harrison’s kicking was pinpoint and lengthy, allowing the plan to function.

Holly Aitchison has been the main rival for the 10 shirt in recent years, but Harrison has definitely put her best foot forward in the run up to the World Cup.

Other spots are uncertain. Only one of the six tries was scored by a back – centre Megan Jones. Given their wealth of riches in that area, they should produce more.

And of course we have been here before. During the last World Cup England were on a long winning run and reliant on tries scored via forward power. They will need to find other routes in August and September.

There are players to return. Wing Claudia Moloney-MacDonald and Aitchison, contenders for starting spots in a first-choice backline, are still managing knocks, as is veteran centre Emily Scarratt, who suffered a head injury before her fifth World Cup.

Mitchell may be asking for daily medical updates on those three.

Among the forwards, it was all positive in the south of France. Following such a dominant display and some standout moments from open-side Sadia Kabeya, it will be fascinating to see if Marlie Packer returns to the back row.

The 35-year-old flanker is a Red Roses legend, but was not missed amid a suspension because of her red card against Spain.

After the match Mitchell highlighted the performances of prop Maud Muir, Kabeya and his captain Zoe Aldcroft, who also praised try-scorer Muir.

“Maud is a fantastic player,” Aldcroft said. “She’s an absolute bulldozer in attack, and in the scrum as well she’s formidable. She’s very quick, deceptively quick, and very powerful.”

As far as headaches go, there are only fairly mild ones for Mitchell. A few things to tidy up, with a mind on those painful final losses to New Zealand, but these are minor script tweaks, not a full rewrite.

He added: “We’re going to be thrown a lot of challenges when the tournament starts so we’ve just got be ready for anything and to be able to adapt, and the girls have managed this particular week very, very well.

“It’s a privilege to have pressure. We’ve earnt it over the three-year cycle so it’s not something we are going to walk away from, we’re going to walk towards it.”

When the 2025 World Cup final comes around on 27 September in Twickenham there is every reason for England fans to hope and expect their team will be there – and can extend their winning streak to 1,050 days.

Saturday’s draw was particularly galling to Rangers fans considering Dundee arrived with a poor start to their season heaping pressure on their new head coach, former Rangers defender Steven Pressley.

Dundee, who managed just two attempts on goal in their opening Premiership defeat at home to Hibernian, had not beaten Rangers in their previous 17 meetings and had lost their latest 19 visits to Ibrox.

The passing style being adopted under Martin meant centre-half John Souttar attempted 131 passes in this game, the highest of any player in the opening two weekends, the team overall attempted 709, again the highest of any team, and their 20 goal attempts were highest too.

Yet they still relied on a penalty to rescue a draw and have now failed to win both of their opening two league matches for the first time since 1989.

Martin could understand the reaction of the home support.

“The fans have lacked the success they want for quite some time, so I understand the frustration,” he said. “I didn’t get too high on Tuesday, so we’re not going to get too low today.

“We are at a point now at this club where something needed to change.

“The ownership has changed, there’s a new coaching staff, there’s new players, there’s hopefully a new way of behaving in the training ground – properly, every single day, regarding standards and what’s expected at this football club. So it’s not a quick fix and this is not me coming out and making excuses.

“I think we change the manager from year to year and nothing really changes.

“So now it’s about really changing the culture and the feel of the club day in and day out. That will end up in a good outcome. Good process, good people, will always end up in a good outcome. But maybe not so quickly as everyone wants.”

On 10 August 2022, Real Madrid were crowned European Super Cup champions for the fifth time in their history, with a 2-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. After lifting La Decimocuarta on 28 May, Madrid added another continential trophy to their collection at Helsinki’s Olympic Stadium.

Our team went ahead through an Alaba effort in the first half (37′), before Benzema made sure of the result with a shot from inside the box after the break (65′). Casemiro was named MVP, while Tchouameni and Rüdiger both made their competitive debuts for the madridistas. The European Super Cup was the team’s fourth title of a remarkable 2022, in which they also lifted the Spanish Super Cup, LaLiga and the Champions League.

LINE-UPS
2-Real Madrid: Courtois, Carvajal (Rüdiger, 85′), Militão, Alaba, Mendy, Casemiro, Kroos (Tchouameni, 85′), Modrić (Rodrygo, 66′,) Valverde (Camavinga, 76′), Vini Jr. (Ceballos, 85′) and Benzema.
0-Eintracht: Trapp, Touré (Lucas Alario, 70′), Tuta, N’Dicka, Knauff, Rode (Gotze, 58′), Sow, Kamada, Lenz, Lindström (Kolo Muani, 58′) and Borré.

Goals: 
1-0 (min. 37): Alaba.
2-0 (min. 65): Benzema

Medal of the day: The golden shock of Spanish acrobatic gymnasts Juan Daniel Molina and Jose Moreno

There was hardly a still moment inside Dong’an Lake Gymnasium, as the venue pulsated with the cheers, celebrations and joy of athletes and fans alike.

With medals on offer across four events in both acrobatic and trampoline gymnastics, the stakes were high, and it showed on the faces of those involved.

The first highlight of the evening came in the form of a historic moment, when Belgium’s Brent Deklerck became the first athlete from his nation to claim men’s double-mini trampoline title.

However, the atmosphere reached a near fever-pitch when the trio of Ding Wenyan, Gu Quanjia and Ma Yixing claimed a popular home gold medal in the women’s acrobatic gymnastics group event.

But nothing could beat the raw emotion on display in the men’s pairs competition, where Spain’s Juan Daniel Molina and Jose Moreno delivered the performance of lifetime to claim an unexpected gold medal in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

“We felt confident,” Moreno told the FIG. “But with the boys who we are competing with, we never know what is going to happen.”

The pair went first in the final, and could only watch on as the next three pairings tried to best their score. It was an excruciating wait, but one well worth the stress in the end. At least, that’s what Molina and Moreno’s screams of obsolete joy would suggest.

“We are proud of our work,” added Moreno. “At the moment we are on a cloud, because we still can’t believe we’ve won.”

JEDDAH (Saudi Arabia) – Keisei Tominaga knows how quickly momentum can shift at the FIBA Asia Cup 2025. Two games in, he has been one of the tournament’s most reliable scoring threats, averaging 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 triples per game. Yet the 24-year-old guard also left Japan shorthanded in their last outing, fouling out in a narrow loss to Iran.

“It’s definitely a tough one,” Tominaga admitted. “I feel bad for the team that I couldn’t stay with them until the end of the game. But we’ve got another game coming up, so we’ve got to keep our heads up.”

That next game comes on Day 6 against Guam, with both teams at 1-1 in Group B. The winner at King Abdullah Sports City will likely secure second place in the group and a potentially stronger position heading into the Final Phase.

This is Tominaga’s second Asia Cup, having made his senior national team debut at the 2022 edition. Then, he was a rising talent with a quick release and a knack for scoring in bunches. Now, he is a central piece of Japan’s offense, a marksman whose three-point shooting can break games open.

“It’s exciting to be here at the Asia Cup again,” he said. “We’re trying to get win it all, we’re trying to get the championship. You know, winning here would be huge. Japanese basketball is getting bigger right now, and this will help it grow even more.”

Against Guam, Tominaga’s duel with their perimeter talents like Jericho Cruz and fellow B.League player Takumi Simon will be key. His ability to space the floor will free up captains Yudai Baba and Josh Hawkinson to operate, while his defensive energy will be just as important in containing Guam’s backcourt.

For Japan to bounce back, they will need more than just Tominaga’s shooting touch. They will need his composure. And after the sting of their last loss, there is little doubt he will be locked in.

FIBA