Al-Qemzi wins Grand Prix of Italy to regain lead in title race

Al-Qemzi wins Grand Prix of Italy to regain lead in title race
Team Abu Dhabi's Rashed Al-Qemzi claimed victory in the Grand Prix of Italy on Sunday. (Supplied)
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Updated 02 September 2024
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Al-Qemzi wins Grand Prix of Italy to regain lead in title race

Al-Qemzi wins Grand Prix of Italy to regain lead in title race
  • World champion scores second victory of the season as Al-Mansoori makes another 1-2 triumph for Team Abu Dhabi

SAN NAZZARO: Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al-Qemzi regained the lead in the 2024 UIM F2 World Championship for a commanding victory in the Grand Prix of Italy.

The four-time F2 world champion led from start to finish to secure his second Grand Prix success of the season ahead of teammate Mansoor Al-Mansoori in a carbon copy of their dominant 1-2 success in Norway last month.

Al-Qemzi now has an eight-point championship lead over Sweden’s Mathilda Wiberg, who took the third podium place in San Nazzaro, with Lithuania’s Edgaras Riabko another point away after his fifth-place finish today.

Aiming to become the first driver to clinch the F2 title five times, the Emirati driver is in a powerful position to grab that place in the record books ahead of the back-to-back final two race weekends in Portugal later this month.

Meanwhile, Al-Mansoori has given himself the chance to secure a place in the championship’s final top three after a composed display today, which lifted him into fourth place in the standings.

After edging out his Abu Dhabi teammate to take pole position yesterday, Al-Qemzi once again looked in complete control as he secured his second successive Grand Prix success in San Nazzaro.

He had to be patient, with the race being stopped on three occasions and yellow flags coming out twice when turn buoys came loose, and another time when Norway’s Frode Sundsdal crashed and went out.

But the delays had no effect on Al-Qemzi, who went on to finish the job in style, underlining the quality that could make him the most successful driver in the championship’s history by overhauling the four titles of Sweden’s Erik Stark.

He will not be allowed to relax, however, with Wiberg and Riabko both capable of a big result in Peso da Regua on Sept. 16 to set up a tense climax to the championship in Vila Velha de Rodao a week later.


Bentaleb’s remarkable return could inspire Lille’s run for a Champions League spot

Bentaleb’s remarkable return could inspire Lille’s run for a Champions League spot
Updated 32 sec ago
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Bentaleb’s remarkable return could inspire Lille’s run for a Champions League spot

Bentaleb’s remarkable return could inspire Lille’s run for a Champions League spot
Doctors doubted the Algeria international would ever play again let alone resume his career at the top level
“It’s a story worthy of a movie. It brings Nabil even more joy and emotion because he is a boy who is very well liked in the group,” coach Bruno Genesio said

PARIS: If Lille need further motivation in their drive to qualify for the Champions League next season, then they need only look at Nabil Bentaleb’s remarkable return.
The Lille midfielder scored four minutes after going on last Sunday in a 2-0 win at Rennes and was mobbed by his teammates.
It wasn’t that he scored so soon after going on that made the goal so special, but rather because Bentaleb started training again only this month after suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest in mid-June.
The 30-year-old was put into an artificial coma and fitted with a pacemaker-defibrillator days later. Doctors doubted the Algeria international would ever play again let alone resume his career at the top level.
“It’s a story worthy of a movie. It brings Nabil even more joy and emotion because he is a boy who is very well liked in the group,” coach Bruno Genesio said. “It’s pretty rare to experience this. It’s a moment that will remain engraved in the history of the club.”
Bafodé Diakité said the atmosphere in the dressing room after last Sunday’s win was something special.
“I had never experienced anything like that,” he said. “It goes beyond football.”
Now Bentaleb and his teammates must focus on catching Monaco and Nice in the Ligue 1 race for a top-four Champions League spot.
Fifth-placed Lille are only two points behind Monaco and Nice in third, so things could change on Saturday when Lille host Monaco.
Third place is a realistic ambition for all three sides, given that unbeaten leader Paris Saint-Germain seem too far ahead and free-scoring Marseille are six points clear in second place.
Former teammates face each other
When Nice take on rock-bottom Montpellier on Sunday, former strike partners Gaëtan Laborde and Andy Delort are set to face each other amid contrasting circumstances.
Laborde has nine league goals for Nice this season, while Montpellier signed Delort on loan from Algerian side MC Alger to help in their desperate relegation battle.
Laborde and Delort enjoyed three full seasons together at Montpellier from 2018-21 and formed a strong partnership, with Laborde netting 33 league goals and Delort getting 38.
They began the next season together before both left. Their paths quickly met again when they played half of the 2022-23 season together at Nice — before Delort joined Nantes and angered Nice fans.
Timing could be right to beat PSG
PSG have not lost anywhere since Nov. 26 at Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
But Lyon will threaten that. Lyon will be fully rested after not playing in the Europa League this week. It is also resurgent after eight goals in the past two games under new coach Paulo Fonseca. PSG played on Wednesday when they trounced Brest 7-0 in the Champions League.
Rayan Cherki has found top form for Lyon in recent weeks and Fonseca has unearthed a surprising finisher.
Veteran midfielder Corentin Tolisso has scored in all three games since Fonseca took over and is enjoying his best scoring season since the 2017-18 campaign with Bayern.

A potential new dawn for cricket in Europe

A potential new dawn for cricket in Europe
Updated 20 min 15 sec ago
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A potential new dawn for cricket in Europe

A potential new dawn for cricket in Europe
  • The ICC has sanctioned the Abhishek Bachchan-backed European T20 Premier League which will launch in July this year

Into the existing global jigsaw of T20 franchise tournaments, in which the pieces do not quite fit together, another piece has been added. The International Cricket Council has sanctioned a league in Europe, to be known as the European T20 Premier League. It is made up of a partnership between the national cricket boards of Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands.

The first edition of the event will be held between July 15 and Aug. 3, 2025. This fits between the Major Cricket League in the USA, which is scheduled to run between mid-June and mid-July, and The Hundred, which runs between Aug. 5 and 31. It also avoids the 13th edition of the men's Caribbean Premier League which will be held between Aug. 14 and Sept. 21, but slightly overlaps with the Lanka Premier League, which will be played between July 1 and 21. The T20 Blast in England and Wales sprawls from the end of May until mid-September, excluding August. Four days of that schedule will clash with the ETPL in July. 

The concept of a European League has been long in the making. In March 2019, Cricket Scotland, Cricket Ireland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association announced the Euro T20 Slam for six teams. A player draft was held but, apparently, financial difficulties were encountered and the COVID19 outbreak ended the ambitions of the organisers. They were also responsible for the Canadian Global T20 tournament, which will enter its fourth edition in 2025. Last year, it ran from July 25 to Aug. 11. 

There is no association between those who were behind the Euro T20 Slam and those who are investing and planning the ETPL. As soon ICC approval was granted, none other than Abhishek Bachchan was revealed as a co-owner.

Indians will need no introduction to one of Hindi/Indian cinema’s leading stars and the son of legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan. Previously, Abhishek’s involvement in sport focused on kabaddi and football, rather than cricket. In an interview with him I asked him why he had added cricket to his sporting portfolio and why in Europe rather than India.

Bachchan explained that, because he was sent to boarding school in Switzerland when he was nine, he did not have the exposure to cricket that most children of his age experienced. Later, when opportunities to invest in cricket arose, he felt that he did not have the “bandwidth”. His time was fully occupied by his acting career, his investment in the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the Indian Pro Kabaddi League, plus co-ownership of Chennaiyin FC in the Indian Super League. This is not to say that he has no interest in cricket — far from it. He is a huge fan of the IPL and the Mumbai Indians, a side he will watch if filming commitments allow. 

Now, Bachchan believes that the time is right for him to invest in cricket. He believes that passion is required to spark investment interest, along with an opportunity to make an impact. This is what he feels about ETPL. A chance meeting opened up the opportunity to stir interest in a region that has not yet been able to tap into the explosion of T20 franchise cricket.

He regards T20 as the new frontier of cricket and was amazed at the amounts of money spent, not just by Indians, in buying stakes in The Hundred last week. Cricket had got to the stage where it needed private money invested in it, otherwise the game was in danger of stagnating.

In cricket’s ecosystem, the privately-owned ETPL will have a unique feature through its partnership with three cricketing nations. In the ICC’s T20 rankings. Ireland is in 11th place, Scotland is 13th and the Netherlands 14th. All three are ambitious to improve — Ireland is already a full member and a Test-playing nation. However, all three need additional funds to pursue their respective ambitions. A number of their players feature on the global franchise circuit. A European tournament will provide a platform for the leading talent from these three countries, playing alongside some of the best talent from around the world.

During the initial phase of the tournament’s development, an interim working group has been established to guide decision-making and oversee resourcing. It is chaired by the CEO of Cricket Ireland and comprises representatives from the three cricket boards and from strategic partner, Rules Sport Tech. This is a private limited company, headquartered in Haryana, India, and set up by Bachchan, Priyanka Kaul, Dhiraj Malhotra and Saurav Banerjee. They were present at the time of my interview with Bachchan, contributing additional information about their plans for the ETPL.

They have their work cut out. There are five months to go until the league opens. Without naming names, for obvious reasons, it was clear that discussions with players and their agents are underway, as are those with potential franchisees and investors.

I asked if any of the IPL franchise owners who did not secure a stake in The Hundred have expressed interest. The answer was a warm smile from Bachchan. His involvement will no doubt help in raising exposure in India and enhancing prospects of securing media coverage. This is not to say that the plan is to bankroll the league wholly with Indian funds. There is a clear will to have local involvement.

It seems likely that the league will be based in six cities — Dublin, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The format, along with other details, is due to be revealed at some stage in the near future. Bachchan spoke enthusiastically about the prospect of the league developing world class local talent. Success for him lies in that ambition as well as in profitability.

He is confident that the business model which they have in place will enable franchises to be earning profits by the end of Year 5. He pointed out that eight to 10 years is common in franchise cricket. If Bachchan’s positivity and belief are the lodestone for the ETPL, then it has a good chance of creating a legacy in Europe, a part of the world that is home to 34 of 108 ICC member countries but has struggled to establish cricket as a major sport.  


Pakistan fined for slow over-rate in New Zealand defeat

Pakistan fined for slow over-rate in New Zealand defeat
Updated 34 min 20 sec ago
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Pakistan fined for slow over-rate in New Zealand defeat

Pakistan fined for slow over-rate in New Zealand defeat
  • ICC referees panel says skipper Mohammad Rizwan pleads guilty to offense
  • Pakistan lost to New Zealand by 60 runs in Champions Trophy 2025 opener 

DUBAI: The International Cricket Council on Thursday fined Pakistan five percent of their players’ match fee for a slow over-rate in the Champions Trophy defeat to New Zealand in Karachi.

New Zealand smashed 320-5 in their 50 overs with Pakistan bowled out for 260 in 47. 5 overs, losing by 60 runs on Wednesday.
“Pakistan have been fined five percent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate against New Zealand,” said an ICC statement.

Andy Pycroft of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after Mohammad Rizwan’s side was ruled to be one over short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.

Rizwan pleaded guilty to the offense and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing, the ICC said.
“On-field umpires Richard Kettleborough and Sharfuddoula, third umpire Joel Wilson and fourth umpire Alex Wharf levelled the charge,” the ICC added.

Pakistan now face arch rivals India in Dubai in a must win game on Sunday to keep their semifinal hopes alive from Group A.
Bangladesh are the other team in the group while Australia, England, South Africa and Afghanistan are in Group B.

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals.

The Champions Trophy runs until March 9 in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates.


Towhid hits ton as Bangladesh reach 228 after 35-5 against India

Towhid hits ton as Bangladesh reach 228 after 35-5 against India
Updated 20 February 2025
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Towhid hits ton as Bangladesh reach 228 after 35-5 against India

Towhid hits ton as Bangladesh reach 228 after 35-5 against India
  • Indian pace spearhead Mohammed Shami takes five wickets in Dubai 
  • Towhid, Jaker put on solid partnership of 154 to lead Bangladesh fightback 

DUBAI: Towhid Hridoy struck his first ODI century and with Jaker Ali helped Bangladesh reach 228 from 35-5 against India as the two teams opened their Champions Trophy campaign on Thursday in Dubai.
India’s pace spearhead Mohammed Shami returned figures of 5-53 after Bangladesh elected to bat first but lost half their side in the ninth over.
Towhid, who made 100, and Jaker, who hit 68, put on 154 runs to boost the total, albeit with some assistance from sloppy Indian fielding including two dropped catches.
Towhid, who faced cramps later in his knock, raised his hundred and acknowledged the cheers of the fans at a largely empty stadium before he departed and the innings folded in 49.4 overs.
Shami struck in the first over to get left-handed Soumya Sarkar caught behind for a five-ball duck.
Harshit Rana combined from the other end to get skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto caught at cover-point for a duck with Virat Kohli taking a good catch over his head.
Mehidy Hasan Miraz could not last long as Shami struck for the second time as Shubman Gill took a sharp catch at slip.
Shami’s return from injury in India’s white-ball triumph over England at home boosted the team in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah, who was ruled out of this eight-nation tournament with a back injury.
Bangladesh lost half their side in the ninth over when left-arm spinner Axar Patel struck twice in two balls to send Tanzid Hasan, for 25, and Mushfiqur Rahim, for zero, trudging back to the pavilion.
It could have been six down and Axar with a hat-trick had skipper Rohit Sharma not dropped a catch at first slip to hand Jaker Ali a reprieve on nought.
Rohit slapped his hand on the grass and stood up with a wry smile to apologize to Axar for the slip.
Jaker, who survived another reprieve on 24 when wicketkeeper KL Rahul missed a stumping, and Towhid, who was dropped on 23 by Hardik Pandya at mid-off, combined to thwart the Indian charge.
Jaker reached his second ODI fifty and Towhid raised his half ton with a boundary.
Jaker finally fell to Shami but Towhid kept up the fight until his 118-ball knock ended with six fours and two sixes.
India remain title favorites and have Pakistan and New Zealand as the other two teams in Group A.


Spanish court sentences ex-soccer boss Rubiales to pay fine over kiss without consent

Spanish court sentences ex-soccer boss Rubiales to pay fine over kiss without consent
Updated 20 February 2025
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Spanish court sentences ex-soccer boss Rubiales to pay fine over kiss without consent

Spanish court sentences ex-soccer boss Rubiales to pay fine over kiss without consent
  • Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence for Rubiales
  • “The ruling bans Rubiales from going within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso,” the court said

MADRID: Spain’s High Court said on Thursday it had found former soccer federation boss Luis Rubiales guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent, and set a fine of over 10,000 euros ($10,434.00), but acquitted him of coercion.
Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence for Rubiales in a case that sparked a debate in Spain about sexism in women’s football and wider Spanish society.
“The ruling bans Rubiales from going within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year,” the court said in a statement.
Rubiales, 47, was accused of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso on the mouth. He was also accused — along with three other former soccer federation officials — of attempting to then coerce her into saying the kiss, at the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony in Sydney, was consensual.
A lawyer for Hermoso was not immediately available for comment.