Pakistan convincingly beat Sri Lanka by 31 runs in a low-scoring encounter at the Women’s T20 World Cup in Sharjah.
Chasing only 117 for victory, Sri Lanka slipped to 35-3 with captain and star batter Chamari Athapaththu gone for just six, and they failed to recover without her experience.
On a sluggish pitch, Nilakshi de Silva’s 22 off 25 balls and Vishmi Gunaratne’s 20 from 34 was Sri Lanka’s only resistance as they crawled to 85-9 from 20 overs, with only three boundaries struck in a dismal batting effort.
It was the second low-scoring encounter to start the tournament after Bangladesh’s opening win over Scotland in the earlier match, with spin dominating both games on slow pitches and in humid conditions.
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Athapaththu contributed figures of 3-18 with the ball as Pakistan were bowled out for 116 from the final ball of their innings, with fellow spinner Sugandika Kumari and seamer Udeshika Prabodhani also taking three wickets each.
Sri Lanka dominated early proceedings as Pakistan slumped to 84-8 with five overs remaining, before captain Fatima Sana provided a late boost with a valuable 30 from 20 balls.
Sana then crucially removed Athapaththu in the third over of the chase, leading from the front after her side was dealt the blow of losing strike bowler Diana Baig with a calf injury after delivering just one ball.
Gunaratne held firm as the rest of the top five fell for single figure scores but struggled to move the score along, with just 47 runs on the board from 11 overs.
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Pakistan’s spinners then utilised the scoreboard pressure to close in on victory, led by Sadia Iqbal’s 3-17 as spin accounted for seven Sri Lankan wickets and 14 in the match altogether.
Both teams face a big challenge in their second match, with Sri Lanka taking on defending champions Australia on Saturday and Pakistan looking to bounce back against rivals India the following day.
Ex-Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha discusses how his former team-mate Vincent Kompany will manage Bayern Munich in this season’s Champions League.
The year 2023 was a defining one for wrestling, not for any podium finish but for the large-scale protests by Indian wrestlers, primarily women, against the then Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, whom they accused of sexual harassment.
It was unprecedented, both in terms of the scale and longevity. Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia were the faces of the protest, with the agitators demanding that Singh be removed from the post and charged and tried in the court of law.
In May last year, as part of the protest, the wrestlers, led by the trio, were detained by Delhi Police when they attempted to march towards the new Parliament building for women’s ‘Mahapanchayat’. Alleging mistreatment by the cops and the Union government, the wrestlers decided to immerse their medals in Ganga, as a mark of protest.
The police high-handedness came in for severe criticism from eminent sportspersons like Abhinav Bindra, Sunil Chhetri and Kapil Dev.
But, what was set to be the ultimate show of defiance, ended in a whimper as the wrestlers returned without immersing the medals in Ganga, after they were ‘convinced’ by the Khap and farmer leaders to drop the plan. Senior farmer leaders Sham Singh Malik and Naresh Tikait, reportedly, collected their medals in their turbans and sought five days’ time then from the grapplers to resolve the issue.
However, Malik has now revealed in her autobiography Witness that things were not what met the eye on that day. Excerpts published by The Hindu present Malik’s version of the chain of events. On one hand, Punia was speaking to Home Minister Amit Shah over the phone. On the other, Tikait, who, as Malik wrote, was “one of the leaders of the farm rights agitation from a year ago and whom we respected as an elder of the Jat community we belonged to”, asked them to refrain from immersing their medals in the Ganga till he talked to them.
Malik further wrote that the crowd got bigger as they waited, and her heart began to sink. “And then, suddenly, from the midst of that crowd, Tikait emerged. He unwrapped the safa on his head, walked up to each of us, took our medals and placed them in that cloth. He told us the medals were the pride of the country and he’d make things all right.
“Then he walked away from the ghat, leaving us there by ourselves.”
Malik added that the wrestlers soon realised their mistake, that what “was supposed to be a great act of defiance had turned into a complete farce”. “All of us sat in a car in a state of complete bewilderment. We were crying.”
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The wrestlers were then taken to Tikait’s house, where he addressed a press conference, claiming credit for stopping the grapplers from immersing the medals in the river, Malik wrote.
“It was his moment to shine. As for us, we had been completely dishonoured.
“Later, people would tell us that Tikait, for all his image of confronting the government, had a history of selling out movements he had been part of, and he’d done the same to us. I don’t know the truth about that, but the fact is that the mistake of actually handing over the medals was made by us.”
IT IS 22 years ago since one of the most under the radar but magical European nights occurred at Newcastle – and Steve Harper got an incredible memento.
Tino Asprilla’s incredible hat-trick in the 3-2 victory over Barcelona back in 1997 still takes some beating for those members of the Toon Army old enough to remember it.
However, another club famed for wearing black and white have also suffered disappointment under the lights at St. James’ – and it was packed with superstars.
Alessandro Del Piero, Lillian Thuram, Pavel Nedved, Edgar Davids and Gianluigi Buffon were all part of the Juventus side that suffered a 1-0 loss to Sir Bobby Robson’s Newcastle on this very day in 2002.
The Magpies had lost each of their opening group matches that year with a 2-0 reverse at Dynamo Kyiv, a 1-0 home setback to Feyenoord and a 2-0 defeat in Turin leaving them with a mountain to climb.
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The probability of them reaching the next round was slim – so much so that Sir Bobby opted to play back-up ‘keeper Harper in order to just give him experience.
But it turned into an evening that the Toon legend would never forget as Andy Griffin scored the only goal to secure the win.
It was a result that reignited their Champions League campaign, with following victories over Kyiv and in Feyenoord meaning they completed a remarkable turnaround to reach the next stage, where they would eventually be eliminated.
Newcastle’s former Geordie goalie coach Simon Smith, who has also worked under the likes of Ruud Gullit, Steve Bruce and Eddie Howe during his two spells at his boyhood club, still remembers the game as if it was just yesterday.
He told Sun Sport: “We thought that we were out. We hadn’t won one of our opening three games and then we had Juventus, who were packed with great players.
“But, lo and behold, we won 1-0. We then went on and beat Feyenoord to get through into the next stage.
I was earning £10,000 a week at Newcastle before I went to jail and I’d still be in the Premier League now if I’d behaved
“There was no pressure at all. It really just felt like we hadn’t done very well and we were going out and Sir Bobby changed his team.
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“I know Harps played and I think Sir Bobby just wanted to give him some experience of playing in Europe, not thinking that we’d go any further. But he kept a clean sheet.”
And Smith’s work was only just beginning once the full-time whistle had gone.
He continued: “My main memory of that night is that Harps was desperate to swap shirts with Buffon.
“He gave me his shirt to go and swap and I had to go and stand outside of their changing room and ask their staff if Buffon would exchange his shirt after they had just lost.
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“To be fair to him, he came out and it was a real classic pink and black goalie shirt, and he swapped it for Harps’ blue Newcastle one. A quite remarkable night really.”
Smith enjoyed plenty of memorable moments sat in the dug-out at St. James’ – two of which came when the ground was being redeveloped into the huge arena it is now.
He said: “I’ve had two really magical experiences of the place that will always stand out. One was when they built the new stands with the top on.
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“We had an afternoon out, just before it was finished, and went right to the top and looked down and we all just thought ‘oh my, this is unbelievable’.
“Then they arranged for me to take Shay Given and Steve Harper to test out the floodlights when nobody else was there.
“We pitched up at St. James’ one night, just the three of us, to have a kickaround and they switched all of the lights on and it was all to make sure that the new lights would not be shining in the eyes of the goalies.
“So we did corners, free-kicks etc to make sure that the lights were on the right angle and it was totally unbelievable to be there, just the three of us with no crowd. That was very special.
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“The other special day was after Sir Bobby’s death and the tribute at the Leazes end with the scarves, flags – that was totally unbelievable.”
Last season’s Premiership was highly competitive between most sides, but Newcastle finished 27 points adrift at the bottom after losing all 18 games.
It was beginning to look like a similar scenario in the new campaign as they opened with four defeats, but victory moved them one point behind Exeter, albeit still in 10th place.
With the demise of London Irish, Worcester Warriors and Wasps still fresh in the memory, Diamond understands that the slimmed-down 10-team competition needs a competitive Newcastle outfit, as they prepare to face Gloucester on Saturday.
“I know we’re not going to win every game, but I need us to be competitive every game,” he said.
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“Sometimes that is more important than some wins. If we don’t win, we still pick up points and pick up respect.
“And opponents start to think, ‘Crikey, we’ve got to go to Newcastle and win’.
“Newcastle have gone up and down a couple of times, but they have never been looked at in the way it was starting to look.”
ABU DHABI – The UFC 308, which takes place at Etihad Arena on Yas Island with a main card that airs on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN+, goes down Saturday.
Before fight night arrives, though, the main card athletes, including headliners Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway, are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day, and MMA Junkie will have a live stream beginning at 4 a.m. ET/1 a.m. PT.
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If you happen to miss any of the individual sessions on the live stream, check below for the archived videos of each media day.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
The 39-year-old superstar and his 20-year-old son played almost 2 1/2 minutes together late in the first half of Bronny’s NBA debut. They are also the first father and son to play in the NBA at the same time, let alone on the same team.
LeBron scored 16 points, while Anthony Davis had 36 points and 16 rebounds in a dominant performance for the Lakers. Rui Hachimura added 18 points.
JJ Redick won his head coaching debut for the Lakers, who hired the 15-year NBA veteran for his first coaching job at any level.
Anthony Edwards scored 27 points for the Timberwolves, who are coming off their best season in 20 years.
Dalton Knecht scored five points in the Lakers’ first-round pick’s debut.
Timberwolves: There will be growing pains in the post-Towns era. Davis ran rampant against Randle and Rudy Gobert, and nobody stepped up to score alongside Edwards.
Lakers: Their largely unchanged roster showed the benefits of continuity, playing disciplined ball on both ends and getting organized defense led by Davis.
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Davis was phenomenal down the stretch, either scoring or assisting on 13 of Los Angeles’ next 15 points after he returned to the game with 7:09 left. LeBron’s 3-pointer put it away.
LeBron officially joined Vince Carter as the only players in NBA history to play in 22 seasons. James is sixth in career games played with 1,493 — not counting his NBA-record 287 playoff games.
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