CHORZW (Poland): Ukraine’s Olympic and world champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh notched up her 22nd Diamond League victory in a high jump shoot-out with Australian Nicola Olyslagers in Katowice on Friday.
The women’s high jump was one of three disciplines along with the women’s shot put and women’s pole vault that were held in the main square of the southwestern Polish city.
The main Silesia Diamond League meet will be held in neighbouring Chorzow on Saturday, when Olympic champion Noah Lyles goes head-to-head with Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson in a much-anticipated re-match of last year’s Paris Games 100m final.
The high jump predictably turned into a battle between the two clear favourites.
Mahuchikh cleared 2.00 metres at her second attempt to heap the pressure on her Australian rival, the two-time defending indoor champion who won silver medals at the last two Olympics.
But it proved to be too much and Olyslagers had to be content with second place in 1.97m behind the world record holder who has now bagged three wins on the circuit this season.
Germany’s Imke Onnen was a distant third with a best of 1.91m.
Only three other jumpers of the 10-strong field made the 1.88m mark in blistering heat and in front of a big crowd packed into temporary stands.
Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands wrapped up victory in the women’s shot put with a best of 19.66m on her fifth of six attempts.
The two-time European champion saw off competition from Germany’s reigning Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye (19.50m), with American Maggie Ewen rounding out the podium, a further centimetre adrift.
Victory in the pole vault went to France’s Marie-Julie Bonnin, who managed a best of 4.70m. She failed three times at what would have been a new personal best of 4.77m.
Hungary’s Hanga Klekner took second with 4.60m on countback from Americans Brynn King and Hana Moll.
LONDON: Former Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure has joined Neom on a free transfer, the Saudi top-flight club said on Friday.
The 32-year-old Doucoure has moved to Neom, who will play in the Saudi Pro League for the first time this season, after his contract with Everton expired in June after a five-year spell.
“Football was not just a game, it was my dream, my heartbeat, my whole life,” Doucoure said in a video posted on his new club’s X account.
“And today, it’s time for my new journey with Neom. The story isn’t over, this is just the beginning,” he added.
Doucoure made 166 appearances for Everton in all competitions, scoring 21 goals.
Neom have signed several players in the clsoe season, including French striker Alexandre Lacazette, Polish goalkeeper Marcin Bulka and Ivorian midfielder Amadou Kone.
Neom begin their Saudi Pro League campaign against Al-Ahli on Aug 28.
LONDON: Australian batting great Steve Smith is raring to go against England in the home Ashes later this year.
The former skipper, who has the third-highest Test runs against England after Sir Don Bradman and Allan Border, believes England’s aggressive style of play is likely to produce an exciting contest Down Under.
“I watched a lot of the series against India and it was one of the best Test series I’ve seen in a long time,” he said in an interview released by Sky Sports on Friday. “The cricket that was played by both teams was outstanding.
Smith, however, doubted England’s approach would work as efficiently as in the UK in the Australian conditions.
“Coming down to Australia, particularly for their batters, it’s going to be a big challenge,” he added. “The pitches here over the last few years have been quite difficult. But we’ve got a very experienced bowling line-up that’s enjoyed long-term success. I’m really looking forward to it — it should be a fantastic series.”
The 35-year-old also praised Joe Root’s remarkable form, especially after the England batter surpassed greats such as Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting to become the second-highest run-scorer in Test cricket.
“Over the past couple of years, he’s been incredible,” Smith remarked. “He used to get stuck between 50 and 100, but now he’s consistently converting starts into big scores. Although, he hasn’t scored a hundred in Australia yet—and I’m sure that’s something he’s looking to tick off his bucket list.”
Root, who has been a key figure in England’s resurgence under the Bazball philosophy, recently became the first batter to reach 6,000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship.
Asked whether Australia would resort to traditional sledging tactics against Root in the Ashes, Smith said the team is more focused on execution than mind games.
“The way we’ve approached our cricket in recent years is to let our skills do the talking,” he said. “We’ve been consistent in Test cricket, playing in two consecutive World Test Championship finals. We’re doing a lot right.”
OLYMPIC AMBITION
Apart from the Ashes, another goal on Smith’s radar is representing Australia at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where cricket is set to return to the Games after more than a century.
“I’ve watched a lot of Olympics since I was a kid and always loved seeing Australian athletes compete,” he said. “When I heard cricket was being included, I thought it would be really cool to be part of it.”
Smith, who has featured in multiple World Cups and marquee bilateral series, views the Olympic Games as a fresh and unique opportunity.
“It’s still some time away, but representing your country on the Olympic stage would be an incredible honour. I’d love to be involved in that,” he concluded.
BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem vowed on Friday to fight government plans to disarm his group, with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam accusing him of making “unacceptable threats to unleash civil war”.
Qassem gave a televised address after meeting Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani, whose country has long backed the Lebanese group.
Hezbollah emerged badly weakened from last year’s confrontation with Israel, and the Lebanese government — under US pressure — has ordered the army to draw up a plan to disarm the group by the end of the year.
Iran has also suffered a series of setbacks, most recently in its own war with Israel, which also saw the United States strike its nuclear facilities.
“The government is implementing an American-Israeli order to end the resistance, even if it leads to civil war and internal strife,” Qassem said.
“The resistance will not surrender its weapons while aggression continues, occupation persists, and we will fight it… if necessary to confront this American-Israeli project no matter the cost.”
He urged the government “not to hand over the country to an insatiable Israeli aggressor or an American tyrant with limitless greed”, adding the state would “bear responsibility for any internal explosion and any destruction of Lebanon”.
Prime Minister Salam later denounced the remarks, saying on X that they “constitute an implicit threat of civil war”.
He added that “any threat or intimidation related to such a war is totally unacceptable”.
Salam also hit back at Hezbollah’s characterisation of the disarmament push as an American-Israeli effort.
“Our decisions are purely Lebanese, made by our cabinet, and no one tells us what to do,” he said.
“The Lebanese have the right to stability and security… without which the country will not be able to recover, and no reconstruction or investment will take place.”
Hezbollah was believed to be better armed than the Lebanese military before last year.
It long maintained it had to keep its arsenal in order to defend Lebanon from attack, but critics accused it of using its weapons for political leverage.
LONDON: Coach Thomas Frank hopes Tottenham Hotspur fans will give Mathys Tel a “really big cheer” in Saturday’s Premier League campaign opener after the forward faced racial abuse on social media for missing a penalty in Wednesday’s UEFA Super Cup loss to Paris St Germain.
Frank said no real Spurs fan would have done that to the 20-year-old.
“I think it’s terrible what happened to Mathys… there’s no real Tottenham supporter that will ever do that,” Frank told reporters on Friday ahead of their home game against Burnley.
“The real Tottenham supporters that we’ll see tomorrow at the stadium, they’ll back him, and I expect them to… in tough times we step up together, and I expect the fans to give him a really, really, really big cheer tomorrow.
Frank said he wanted to focus on the game ahead, with the Europa League winners hopeful of a winning start after finishing 17th in the Premier League last season.
Yves Bissouma, who was left out of the squad on Wednesday for being late several times, will be in the squad for the Burnley game, the Danish coach added.
The Mali midfielder has entered the final year of his contract, and his future could still be away from Tottenham as the club remain active in the transfer window.
Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze and Manchester City attacker Savinho are reportedly targets, but Frank refused to be drawn on specific names.
“In many ways, I’m very happy with the squad. I think there’s a lot of good players,” he said. “Of course, we want as strong and competitive a squad as possible.”
CINCINNATI: French qualifier Terence Atmane toppled another top-10 player in Holger Rune on Thursday to line up a semi-final showdown with world number one Jannik Sinner at the Cincinnati Open.
Atmane followed up his victory over fourth-ranked Taylor Fritz with a 6-2, 6-3 win over ninth-ranked Rune.
The 23-year-old will now face the ultimate test against defending champion Sinner, who said he “felt great” as he thrashed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-0, 6-2.
“I don’t think any words can describe how I feel right now,” the 136th-ranked Atmane said after blasting 22 winners past Rune, 14 of them off his powerful lefty forehand.
“It’s pretty insane to be honest,” added Atmane, who will move inside the top 100 in the rankings for the first time.
“I cannot believe it. Being here in the semi-finals of a Masters 1000, breaking into the top 100. It means a lot to me.”
He will face a formidable challenge in Wimbledon champion Sinner, who powered through a rapid-fire opening set and bounced back quickly after dropping serve to open the second.
Sinner prevailed in a brief 71 minutes as he claimed an eighth victory in a row at this event and his 30th match win this season.
COCO Gauff of the US in action during her Cincinnati Open quarter-final against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti.—AFP
“I felt great on the court today, you could see that,” said the Italian, who turns 24 on Saturday. “But every day can be different. Let’s see what I can do in the semis.”
Sinner took advantage of Auger-Aliassime’s serving troubles to take the first set in less than 30 minutes, the Canadian delivering three double-faults in the final game.
After going down a quick break in the second Sinner broke back to level at 2-2 and advanced as Auger-Aliassime coughed up his eighth double-fault on match point.
“I served well today, that was the key for me,” Sinner said. “I had a small drop in the second set and I’m happy that I broke back. He moves and serves well, he’s difficult to play.”
The Italian became only the fifth man this century to record 25 consecutive victories on the surface alongside Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
In the day’s only other men’s match, fifth-seeded Ben Shelton — coming off a title in Toronto — posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Jiri Lehecka to book a quarter-final clash with third-seeded Alexander Zverev.
“I’m hungry. I’m in a good rhythm,” Shelton said. “I’m playing good tennis and my body feels good.
“I think the confidence along with not being satisfied, wanting to prove myself over and over every time that I’m out on the court, and having things that I want to get better at is a huge motivation for me and it pushes me every match.”
GAUFF SETS UP PAOLINI CLASH
In the women’s draw, French Open champion Coco Gauff, the women’s second seed, booked her quarter-final berth with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Lucia Bronzetti.
“I could have maybe made some more first serves in that second set, but overall I had a lot of aces and unreturnables,” said Gauff, the 2023 Cincinnati champion who went on to win the US Open title that year.
“I’m happy considering where (my serve) was last week.”
The American next takes on seventh seed Jasmine Paolini, who crushed 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-1, 6-2.
Krejcikova had treatment on her left foot in the second set and her movement was clearly hampered.
“She’s a great player and can do anything she wants with the ball,” Paolini, a finalist at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2024, said. “But I don’t think she was at 100 per cent today.”
France’s Varvara Gracheva rallied to beat Germany’s Ella Seidel 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 in an error-strewn battle of qualifiers.
“I made her play her best game,” Gracheva said. “She was so hot at the end of the first set that I could barely see a ball.
“I had to go back to basics, I had so many mistakes. I was doubting myself but I stuck with it.”
She will face Veronika Kudermetova, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Poland’s Magda Linette.
WARSAW: Israeli soccer fans held up a banner reading “Murderers since 1939” during a match against a Polish team on Thursday, causing outrage in Poland as the president said it insulted the memory of Poles, including Jews, killed in World War Two.
Poland was occupied by Germany in World War II. The country’s 3.2 million Jewish population was the largest in Europe at the start of the war.
Historical disputes over World War II and the Holocaust have strained relations between Poland and Israel in the past.
Studies have spoken of complicity by some Poles in the killing of Jews, but many Poles reject such findings, saying they are an attempt to dishonour a country that suffered immensely during the war.
The “Murderers since 1939” banner was displayed prominently across a row of seats by fans of Israeli club Maccabi Haifa during their Europa Conference League match against Rakow Czestochowa, which was played in Debrecen, Hungary, for security reasons.
“The scandalous banner displayed by Maccabi Haifa fans insults the memory of Polish citizens — victims of World War II, including three million Jews,” Polish President Karol Nawrocki, a former head of the country’s Institute of National Remembrance, wrote on X. “Stupidity that no words can justify.”
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said “anti-Polonism and the scandalous distortion of Polish history by Israeli hooligans demand strong condemnation”.
The Israeli embassy in Warsaw also condemned the banner.
“There is no place for such words and actions, from any side, neither at the stadium nor anywhere else. Never!” the embassy wrote on X.
WASHINGTON: US Senator Josh Hawley launched a probe into Facebook parent Meta Platforms artificial intelligence policies on Friday, demanding documents on rules that had allowed its artificial intelligence chatbots to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have expressed alarm over the rules outlined in an internal Meta document first seen on Thursday. Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, chairs the Senate subcommittee on crime and counterterrorism, which will investigate “whether Meta’s generative-AI products enable exploitation, deception, or other criminal harm to children, and whether Meta misled the public or regulators about its safeguards”, he said in a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
“We intend to learn who approved these policies, how long they were in effect, and what Meta has done to stop this conduct going forward,” Hawley said.
Meta declined to comment on Hawley’s letter. The company said previously that “the examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed. In addition to documents outlining those changes and who authorised them, Hawley sought earlier drafts of the policies along with internal risk reports, including on minors and in-person meetups. Media reported on Thursday about a retired man who died while travelling to New York on the invitation of a Meta chatbot.
Meta must also disclose what it has told regulators about its generative AI protections for young users.
ISLAMABAD: Specialised committees set up by the prime minister to promote a cashless economy have outlined ambitious national targets for the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), aimed at accelerating the growth of digital financial services and fintech adoption across the country.
Under the PM’s Cashless Economy initiative, key goals include raising the number of active digital merchants to 2 million by the end of 2025-26, increasing mobile and internet banking users from the current 95 million to 120m within a year, and doubling annual digital payment transactions to 15 billion.
According to finance ministry sources, another primary target is routing 100pc of overseas remittances through bank accounts or mobile wallets, up from the current 80pc. This move seeks to eliminate cash payouts and boost transparency in remittance flows.
Following the directives of the committee chaired by the prime minister, the SBP is expected to play a pivotal role in expanding mobile banking services to all segments of society.
2m digital merchants and 15bn transactions targeted by FY26
Meanwhile, Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima said Pakistan, with over 143 million broadband users, has significant potential to transition to a cashless economy.
“Mobile wallets now outnumber traditional bank accounts, and the branchless banking infrastructure is robust,” she said, noting the government’s commitment to reducing reliance on physical currency and promoting digital payments. However, she acknowledged that among the four cellular mobile operators, only two — Jazz and Telenor — have established strong mobile wallet platforms.
Telenor’s Easypaisa, launched in 2009, was Pakistan’s first mobile wallet and has since evolved into the country’s first digital bank.
Farhan Hassan, Chief Digital Officer of Easypaisa Digital Bank, said the platform now offers a full range of banking services similar to those of traditional banks, helping to drive financial inclusion for millions of unbanked and underbanked Pakistanis. Easypaisa currently has around 18 million monthly active users, including 14 million mobile app users.
JazzCash, which began operations in 2012, remains the market leader with 21 million monthly active users and 15 million app users, making it the largest digital financial service provider in the country. Khayam Siddiqi, Head of Communication at JazzCash, attributed this growth to the ease of account opening, which requires no paperwork or branch visits. “Digital wallets offer a suite of services in one place — nano loans, savings, insurance, welfare disbursements, and everyday payments,” he said.
While JazzCash has gained traction in rural areas, Easypaisa enjoys a strong presence in urban centres. Despite occasional speculation surrounding its future amid the Telenor-PTCL merger, Easypaisa has retained a loyal user base.
The strength of mobile digital wallets lies in their simplicity — accounts are linked to mobile phone numbers, and transactions are facilitated by local shopkeepers acting as agents for cash-in and cash-out services. In contrast, Upaisa, the mobile wallet offered by Ufone, has a limited footprint, while Zong has yet to enter the digital market.
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended flat on Friday as sustained profit-taking in the latter half of the session wiped out earlier gains, with the benchmark KSE-100 index slipping 38 points amid concerns over IMF review delays and falling global oil prices.
The index opened on a strong note and climbed to an intraday high of 1,005 points, but investor caution ahead of the weekend led to profit-booking, pushing the benchmark down to close at 146,491.63 — a marginal decline of 0.03pc, according to Topline Securities Ltd.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corp said the market was weighed down by concerns about losses at State-Owned Enterprises, delays in the IMF’s next review under the Extended Fund Facility, unmet tax collection conditions by provinces, and declining international oil prices.
Engro Fertilisers, Lucky Cement, Engro Corporation, Meezan Bank, and Airlink collectively added 512 points to the index. Meanwhile, losses in Oil and Gas Development Company, United Bank, Pakistan Petroleum, Hub Power, and Mari Petroleum pulled the index down by 499 points.
Ali Najib, Deputy Head of Trading at Arif Habib Ltd, noted that investors largely squared off weekly positions, reflecting mixed sentiment. “The index failed to hold above 147,000 as traders adopted a cautious stance,” he said.
Despite the flat close, the index extended its weekly winning streak to an eighth consecutive week, gaining 1,108 points or 0.76pc. It opened the week at 145,650, touched a high of 147,977 and a low of 145,259 before settling at 146,491.
Market participation slowed, with trading volumes down 26.81pc to 473.6 million shares and traded value dropping 19.59pc to Rs32.88bn. Aisha Steel led the volume chart with 30.02 million shares traded.
