Category: Sports

West Indies secured their first Test victory since May 2015 when they beat Pakistan by five wickets on Thursday’s fifth day of the final Test in Sharjah.

West Indies, set 153 to win, reached their target before lunch when Shane Dowrich struck Mohammad Amir for four to reach 154 for 5.

Opener Kraigg Brathwaite, who carried his bat through the first innings with 142 not out, capped a memorable match by finishing with an unbeaten 60 as West Indies secured victory without further loss after resuming at 114 for 5.

Dowrich also scored 60 not out as he and Brathwaite added an unbroken 87 runs for the sixth wicket.

Pakistan won the three-match series 2-1 after winning the first Test in Dubai by 56 runs and the second by 133 runs in Abu Dhabi.

Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah claimed figures of 3-40 in the second innings while paceman Wahab Riaz, who had taken a five-wicket haul in the first, added two more to his tally.

LAHORE (PR): The ‘24th Palmolive Sindh Women’s Swimming Championship 2016’ drew to a close Sunday at Karachi Gymkhana.
This competition was organized by Karachi Women’s Swimming Association (KWSA) & sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive (Pakistan) Ltd.
Zulfiqar Lakhani, MD of Colgate-Palmolive (Pakistan), attended the final prize distribution ceremony.

KUANTAN (Malaysia): Top-ranked India had to dig deep into their reserves to eke out a 3-2 victory over arch-rivals and defending champions Pakistan in a preliminary league match of the fourth Asian Champions Trophy hockey on Sunday.

 

SINGAPORE-Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska overpowered Karolina Pliskova 7-5 6-3 on Friday to clinch the last available place in the semi-finals of the WTA tour championship and stay on course to defend the title she won last year.

Radwanksa, who made a stunning comeback to win the 2015 tournament despite losing her first two round-robin matches, made it through to the last four again after having lost her opening match when she beat Pliskova in a sudden-death showdown.
The 27-year-old will now face world number one Angelique Kerber in Saturday’s semis with the winner to play either Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova or Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.

Kuznetsova suffered her first loss of the tournament on Friday when she was beaten 3-6 6-0 6-1 by Spain’s French Open champion Garbine Mugurza but the result had no bearing on the semis with the Russian already assured of finishing top of the White Group and Muguruza out of contention after losing her first two matches.
“It was a dead match, but it kind of shows if the desire is there or not,” said Mugurza.
If you’re like, ‘Oh, man this match is so, you know, you know’, you kind of let it go.
But I’m like, ‘no.
I can’t do that.
‘”Pliskova, who qualified for the elite end-of-season event when she reached the final of the US Open last month, led 4-2 in the opening set before the more experienced Radwanska took control on the key points, capitalising on the Czech’s 29 unforced errors, which included hitting two routine overheads into the net late in the second set.

“It was a very tight match,” Radwanska said after she finished runner-up in the group standings.
I think I was waiting and praying that (the) first serves won’t be in, then there’s a chance for a second serve.
She is one of the best servers on the tour.Kuznetsova finally ran out of steam after winning a tournament in Moscow last weekend just to qualify for the WTA Finals then winning two gruelling matches at Singapore’s Indoor Stadium.
The 31-year-old seemed to be in cruise control after she took the opening set against Mugurza but won just one game in the last two sets as the physical effects of the past week began to take a toll.”I’ve done the most important job in the past matches,” Kuznetsova said.
“You definitely don’t want to lose the match.You try to fight (but) sometimes the lack of energy just won’t let you do that.”

KUANTAN –  Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) Friday said the training of its team for the Junior World Cup in the Indian city of Lucknow is in full swing, even as it awaited clearance from the government.

Shahbaz Ahmed Senior, Secretary of the PHF, said an unnecessary controversy had been created in the media whether Pakistan would participate in the Junior World Cup, to be played December 8-18 in India.
“The team’s preparations are in full swing and the tournament is more than six weeks away,” Shahbaz told PTI during the fourth Asian Champions Trophy in the western Malaysian city of Kuantan.

“There are procedural issues and sanctions that are sought from the government every time a team goes abroad,” said Shahbaz.

“We have applied to the government for the clearance and the tournament is more than month and half away.
In the meanwhile, our team is preparing for the tournament and travel issues are being looked into,” said Shahbaz, a former Pakistan captain and dazzling striker in his career that spanned over a decade and a half.
Shahbaz said the PHF had already communicated to the International Hockey Federation (FIH) that it was committed to participate in all international tournaments.

Recent political tension between the two countries led to media reports that sporting relations between the two countries may be affected.
Bilateral sporting tours are already under a strain, but media reports said international tournaments could also be affected.

“All this talk is speculative and an unnecessary controversy is being created,” said Shahbaz, adding that there was no problem about visas for the Pakistan junior team to visit India.
“Visas for Pakistan team are not a problem.
The matter has been resolved,” he said.
Pakistan have twice won the Junior World Cup, which started in 1979.

LAHORE – Hours after a parliamentary committee on Wednesday expressed reservations over cricket players doing push-ups to celebrate victories during matches, chairman of PCB’s Executive Committee chairman Najam Sethi clarified that the celebrations were done at the discretion of players.Clarifying media reports, Sethi further said there was no ban onperforming celebratory push-ups.However, the statement contradicts Sethi’s reported assurances to the parliamentary committee in which he said the practice was limited to the England tour and would not happen again.Sethi also went on to add that the media should refrain from politicising the country’s national cricket team.He also appreciated the Pakistan Army for providing fitness training facilities to the PCB.Earlier, PCB official Sethi assured the IPC Standing Committee that players would be barred from the push-ups when the ruling party MPs raised the concerns.

World number one doubles tennis player Sania Mirza had to teach former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar some common sense while she was celebrating 80 consecutive weeks of being at the top. Sania, with her former Swiss partner Martina Hingis, started on a journey to win grand slams and reached the top of the doubles player rankings and was celebrating her stay at the top for 80 consecutive weeks.

DUBLIN: Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has signed a two-year contract extension to stay on until the end of the 2019 World Cup, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said on Monday. The New Zealander, who took over in 2013 after a successful spell at Irish province Leinster, led the country to back-to-back Six Nations titles in his first two years and reached the quarter-finals at last year’s World Cup. Ireland finished a disappointing third in …