LAHORE, Pakistan: Controversial Pakistani batsman Umar Akmal was banned Monday from all forms of cricket for three years after pleading guilty to failing to report match-fixing approaches, the country’s cricket board announced.
Umar, who turns 30 in May, last month withdrew a challenge to the charges.
The batsman’s ban is effective from February 20, when he was provisionally suspended by the board under its anti-corruption code, which states a player must report being approached to fix games.
The decision was announced by a disciplinary committee after a brief hearing of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which charged the player with two breaches.
“The PCB referred the matter to the chairman of the disciplinary committee after determining that the batsman had not requested a hearing,” said the board.
Asif Mahmood — the PCB’s anti-corruption and security director — said authorities took no “pleasure in seeing a promising international cricketer being declared ineligible” for three years on corruption charges, but defended the ban as necessary.
“I request all professional cricketers to stay away from the menace of corruption and immediately inform relevant authorities as soon as they are approached,” Mahmood added.
Umar was whisked away by his driver without speaking to the media after the sentence was delivered.
The batsman burst onto the scene with a century in his first Test in 2009, but his career has been marred by disciplinary problems, resulting in various bans and fines.
He was arrested in February 2014 after a scuffle with a traffic warden who stopped him for a signal violation.
Umar last represented Pakistan in two Twenty20 internationals against Sri Lanka in Lahore last year, falling to first ball ducks on both occasions.
He has so far played 16 Tests, 121 one-day games and 84 Twenty20s for Pakistan.
Umar’s ban is the latest in a series of match- or spot-fixing punishments meted out to Pakistani players.
In 2000, former captain Salim Malik was banned for life and six other players — including greats such as Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis — were fined after a judicial inquiry on fixing.
A decade later then-Test captain Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned for five years in a spot-fixing case over an incident during the team’s tour of England.
The Pakistan Super League’s second edition in 2017 was also marred by a fixing scandal, resulting in a five-year ban on Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif.
Pakistan’s Umar Akmal gets three-year ban for match-fixing approach
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Pakistan’s Umar Akmal gets three-year ban for match-fixing approach
- The batsman burst onto the scene with a century in his first Test in 2009, but his career has been marred by disciplinary problems
- Umar’s ban is the latest in a series of match- or spot-fixing punishments meted out to Pakistani players
Iga Swiatek starts the 2024 Olympics tennis event with a win at the site of her French Open triumphs
Iga Swiatek starts the 2024 Olympics tennis event with a win at the site of her French Open triumphs
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini was the first tennis player to win a match at these Summer Games, eliminating Romania’s Ana Bogdan 7-5, 6-3 at Lenglen
PARIS: Iga Swiatek shook off a bit of a dip in the first round of the Paris Olympics tennis competition and grabbed the last four games to beat Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu 6-2, 7-5 on Saturday under a closed roof at Roland Garros, the site of the No. 1-ranked Polish player’s four French Open titles.
Swiatek, who won a third consecutive championship at Court Philippe Chatrier just seven weeks ago, got broken in that same stadium to trail 5-3 in the second set before getting back to her usual clay-court expertise. She wrapped up the victory by breaking at love when Begu double-faulted on the last point.
Day 1 of tennis began with showers that might have contributed to slow lines for umbrella-toting spectators at the facility’s security checks near entrances and postponed by hours the start of matches at the 10 courts without retractable roofs.
It’s a good thing the French tennis federation built a pair of covers recently: 15,000-capacity Chatrier added one in 2020, and the second-largest arena, 10,000-capacity Court Suzanne Lenglen, has one as of this year.
Italy’s Jasmine Paolini, who was the runner-up to Swiatek at the French Open in June and to Barbora Krejcikova at Wimbledon two weeks ago, was the first tennis player to win a match at these Summer Games, eliminating Romania’s Ana Bogdan 7-5, 6-3 at Lenglen.
Among the other big names from the sport scheduled to play later Saturday were reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz — facing Lebanon’s Hady Habib in singles in the afternoon and pairing with Spanish teammate Rafael Nadal in doubles at night — along with 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia and four-time major champion Naomi Osaka.
Nadal has won a record 14 of his 22 Slam titles at Roland Garros and owns Olympic gold medals in singles and doubles. He carried the torch and rode on a boat in the Seine River with retired tennis star Serena Williams during the drenched opening ceremony Friday night.
Coco Gauff, the female flag bearer for the United States on Friday, was slated to make her Olympic debut Saturday with Jessica Pegula in doubles. Gauff won the French Open doubles title with Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic last month and the US Open singles trophy last September.
Three years ago, Gauff missed the Tokyo Games after testing positive for COVID-19 right before she was supposed to fly to Japan.
Palestinian Olympian wore shirt showing bombed children at opening ceremony
Abu Sal was one of two flag-bearers for the Palestinian delegation during the rain-soaked river parade along the Seine on Friday.
His white shirt had embroidered images of warplanes dropping missiles over children playing sport.
“This shirt represents the current image in Palestine,” Abu Sal told AFP on Saturday.
“The children who are martyred and die under the rubble, children whose parents are martyred and are left alone without food or water.”
At least 39,258 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched a military campaign in retaliation for the October 7 attacks by Hamas militants, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry.
The October attack that began the war resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestine Olympic Committee, told AFP they had checked with the local organizing committee of the Paris Olympics to see if Abu Sal’s shirt contravened Olympic regulations.
“It’s a message of peace. It’s a message to attract attention,” he said. “This is anti-war, against killing. This abides with the Olympic Charter.”
“We presented it, they approved it,” he added.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) bans political statements on the field of play during sports events and during the opening and closing ceremonies, but athletes are free to express themselves in press conferences and on social media.
The Palestine Olympic Committee wrote to the IOC last week asking for a ban on Israeli athletes at the Paris Olympics, which has been rejected.
Rajoub said the Palestinian team intended to use the Paris Olympics to draw attention to the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
Abu Sal, 20, received a wildcard for the Olympics boxing.
He lives in the West Bank and is unable to train with his Cairo-based coach — a Gazan who cannot travel to him due to Israeli restrictions.
Verstappen fastest in final practice for Belgian GP, while Stroll crashes as rain keeps cars in garages
- Lance Stroll caused a red flag after he spun his Aston Martin off and smacked into the barriers
- Verstappen put in the fastest time, with water spray lingering in the air behind his path
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium: Max Verstappen clocked the fastest time in a final practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix that was largely washed out by heavy rain on Saturday.
Lance Stroll caused a red flag after he spun his Aston Martin off and smacked into the barriers, bending his front left wheel.
Before that accident Verstappen put in the fastest time, with water spray lingering in the air behind his path. Oscar Piastri, in his McLaren, had the second best lap.
Stroll’s crash came with more than half the hour-long session remaining. But with puddles forming on the track, the cars stayed in the garages.
Drivers and engineers watched the drops fall before the cars ventured out with around two minutes remaining. No driver got in more than seven laps.
More rain is forecast for qualifying later, although it appears Sunday’s race will be held under dry conditions.
Lando Norris put in the fastest time in his McLaren during Friday’s practice, on a dry track.
Verstappen holds a relatively comfortable 76-point lead over Norris in the overall standings despite having gone three races without a win for the first time since 2021.
Verstappen has won here for the last three years on the long seven-kilometer track set in the forested hills of the Ardennes. But not only is he facing fast rivals, the three-time champion will start Sunday’s race with a 10-place grid penalty after Red Bull exceeded the number of engines for his car.
Sevilla beat Al-Ittihad 1-0 to take Antonio Puerta Trophy
- La Liga club host annual match in honor of former player who died aged 22 in 2007
- Match is latest pre-season friendly for both clubs ahead of the start of their domestic leagues in August
DUBAI: La Liga club Sevilla FC defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad 1-0 to claim the Antonio Puerta Trophy at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Seville on Friday night.
Lucas Ocampos scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after 42 minutes.
The annual friendly has been hosted by the Andalusian club since 2008 in honor of former player Antonio Puerta who died from heart disease in 2007 at the age of 22.
This was the 13th hosting of the match, which was not contested in 2015, 2018, 2020 or 2021. Sevilla now have won won the trophy 11 times.
The match was also the latest outing for both clubs ahead of start of their respective domestic campaigns.
Al-Ittihad will play two more friendlies against Real Betis (Aug. 3) and Inter Milan (Aug. 7) before kicking off their Saudi Pro League season with a match against Al-Kholood on Aug. 24.
Sevilla will launch their La Liga campaign on Aug. 16 at Las Palmas.
Rahm leads by 2 after first round of LIV Golf UK
ROCESTER: Jon Rahm is accustomed to being in contention after most of his LIV Golf rounds this season. But for the first time since joining the league, he has the outright lead.
Thanks to a bogey-free 8-under 63, Rahm has a two-stroke lead over Abraham Ancer and Andy Ogletree after the first round at LIV Golf UK by JCB. Meanwhile, his Legion XIII is atop the team leaderboard by one stroke over Smash GC, HyFlyers GC and Fireballs GC.
Friday’s round was the 29th that Rahm has completed in LIV Golf. He has been inside the top 5 after 13 of those rounds, including a tie for the lead after the first round in Jeddah.
Six other times, Rahm has been inside the top 10. In each of his nine completed tournaments — he had to withdraw in Houston due to a foot infection — he has produced a top-10 result, and he is currently second behind Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann in the season-long points standings.
It is an impressive show of consistency that Rahm hopes will peak with his first individual LIV Golf title this week at JCB Golf & Country Club.
“Nothing much to say obviously but good things,” said Rahm, who entered the week off a tie for seventh at The Open Championship, his best major result of the year. “Played really good golf all day. With days like this, it almost feels effortless.”
Rahm played in the same group with his teammate and former Ryder Cup partner, Tyrrell Hatton, along with another Legion XIII player, Caleb Surratt, as the LIV Golf captains were grouped with their top-two teammates for the first round.
Not only did Rahm go low — the 8-under score matches his lowest LIV Golf round relative to par — but Hatton shot 66, bouncing back from an opening double bogey. The duo fueled Legion XIII’s 12-under total that also included a counting score of 72 from Kieran Vincent. Legion XIII has won three team titles during its inaugural season and is second in the points standings behind Crushers GC.
“It was the first time I played with any teammates in LIV Golf,” said Rahm, who had six birdies in his final nine holes to pull away from the pack. “I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. I was a little curious.”
Hatton said: “We’ve shared some pretty cool stages over the last few years, and we generally play well when we play together. So, it was nice for both of us to have a good round of golf and have some momentum going into the weekend.”
Ancer, the winner via playoff earlier this year in Hong Kong, finished with a flourish. The Fireballs star birdied four of his last five holes during a brilliant putting round in which he led the field.
Ogletree’s best finish during his first full LIV Golf season is a tie for third in Adelaide. He has battled a wrist injury that may require offseason surgery and forced him to make some swing adjustments to alleviate the pain.
“I’ve had a lot of days where I’ve played 13 and 14 really good holes and then kind of held myself back by a bad stretch,” said the HyFlyers member. “Today, I was in it all day and played some solid golf.”
Hatton and Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith are tied for fourth, while a group of seven players — including Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka and local resident Sam Horsfield of Majesticks GC — are four strokes off the lead in a tie for sixth.
On a course that was unfamiliar to most players and expected to give up low scores grudgingly, 35 of the 54 players in the field broke par, with a stroke average of more than one shot under par.
It was not a surprise for Rahm. “You can’t really say surprising when the best players in the world show up at a course,” he said.
Standings and counting scores for Friday’s opening round:
The three best scores from each team count in the first two rounds while all four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.
1. LEGION XIII -12 (Rahm 63, Hatton 66, Vincent 72)
T2. FIREBALLS GC -11 (Ancer 65, Garcia 68, Puig 69)
T2. SMASH GC -11 (Koepka 67, McDowell 67, Gooch 68)
T2. HYFLYERS GC -11 (Ogletree 65, Tringale 67, Mickelson 70)
T5. RIPPER GC -9 (Smith 66, Herbert 69, Jones 69)
T5. RANGEGOATS GC -9 (Wolff 67, Uihlein 68, Watson 69)
7. STINGER GC -8 (Oosthuizen 67, Burmester 68, Schwartzel 70)
8. TORQUE GC -6 (Munoz 68, Niemann 69, Pereira 70)
T9. CRUSHERS GC -5 (Casey 67, Lahiri 69, Catlin 72)
T9. CLEEKS GC -5 (Meronk 68, Bland 69, Samooja 71)
11. MAJESTICKS GC -4 (Horsfield 67, Stenson 70, Westwood 72)
12. 4ACES GC -1 (Varner 69, Johnson 71, Reed 72)
13. IRON HEADS GC Even (Na 70, Vincent 70, Kozuma 73)
