MANCHESTER, July 2(ABC): England will play host to the women’s European Championship over the next month with record crowds raising hopes the tournament will take the female game’s rising profile to an even higher level. Nearly half a million tickets have been sold to fans in 100 countries, including sell-outs for the opening game at Old Trafford when England face …

BIRMINGHAM, July 2(ABC): England great Stuart Broad set a new if unwanted record by conceding 35 runs in a Test over, against India at Edgbaston on Saturday. Stand-in India captain Jasprit Bumrah did the bulk of the damage by hitting 29 runs off the bat in an over from Broad that also featured five wides and a no-ball struck for …

BUDAPEST, July 2 (ABC): Ren Qian and Duan Yu claimed the 10th gold for the Chinese diving team at the FINA World Championships here on Friday as the pair cruised to the title in the mixed 10m synchronized. In the only diving final of the day, Ren and Duan collected a total of 341.16 points from the five dives, while …

BIRMINGHAM, July 2(ABC): Jos Buttler said on Friday his appointment as England s new white-ball captain could spell the end of his Test career. Buttler succeeded Eoin Morgan as England skipper in the one-day international and Twenty20 formats after the 2019 50-over World Cup-winning captain announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday. The dynamic 31-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman had been vice-captain …

BIRMINGHAM, July 2(ABC): Rishabh Pant gave Ben Stokes  England a taste of their own medicine with a superb counter-attacking century as India recovered from a top-order collapse to 338-7 at stumps on Friday s opening day of the Covid-delayed fifth Test. Recalled England great James Anderson and fledgling quick Matthew Potts reduced India to 98-5 at Edgbaston after Stokes won …

LONDON, July 2(ABC): Venus Williams made a winning return to Wimbledon on Friday when the 42-year-old American teamed with Britain s Jamie Murray in the mixed doubles. Williams, playing her first event since Chicago in August last year, and Murray defeated Michael Venus and Alicja Rosolska 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3 in their first round clash. The pair said their decision …

KARACHI, July 1(ABC): Pakistan’s national football team is 200th out of 211 teams in the FIFA world rankings, but the country’s more than 200 million people will still be feeling part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals to be played in Doha this winter. Together with China, Pakistan is supplying the soccer balls to be used in the forthcoming …

LIVERPOOL, July 1(ABC): Jurgen Klopp said Mohamed Salah s best years are still ahead of him after the Liverpool star ended speculation over his future by signing a new contract on Friday. Salah s new deal will reportedly make him the club s highest paid player of all-time on $425,000 a week until 2025. The 30-year-old had entered the final year of his …

KARACHI, July 1(ABC): Two foreign female climbers successfully summited Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest peak at 8,126m, on Friday morning, making it the first major summit of the season. Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, confirmed to Geo News that climbers Kristin Harila of Norway and Grace Tseng of Taiwan reached the top this morning at around 11:00am. Both …

GALLE, July 1 (ABC): Spinner Nathan Lyon starred with a match haul of nine wickets as Australia wrapped up the opening Test on Friday with a crushing victory over Sri Lanka before lunch on the third day. The hosts were bundled out for 113 in their second innings allowing the Australians to seal a 10-wicket victory in their first over …