NEW DELHI: The United Arab Emir­ates (UAE) face Afghanistan in a Group ‘D’ clash of the T20 World Cup at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Monday.

The UAE will look to plug their middle-order frailties, particularly against spin, a strong area of the Rashid Khan-led team.

The two sides head into the contest after contrasting results in their previous outings. The UAE scraped past Canada to register their first win, while Afghanistan suffered a heartbreaking defeat despite pushing their last game into two Super Overs in one of the greatest T20 matches.

With South Africa and New Zealand occupying the top two spots in the group with six and four points respectively, UAE’s qualification hopes hinge on a combination of victories and favourable results elsewhere.

UAE’s batting will face a sterner test against Afghanistan’s formidable spin trio of Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi.

Afghanistan, meanwhile, are desperate to open their account after coming agonisingly close against South Africa. They not only need to win their remaining matches convincingly but also rely on other outcomes to stay in contention.

Rashid said his side were unlucky to be staring at an early exit from the T20 World Cup and stressed the need for smaller nations to play regularly against top teams to make major tournaments more competitive.

“I don’t think much has gone wrong. We played good cricket and were a little unlucky. You saw the last match, we were very close, we were in the second super over. I think it shows that we put in the effort,” Rashid told reporters.

“You have seen all the games one-sided. I think that’s something which, as a team, if you don’t get a chance to play against a big team, that’s what happens.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2026

Source link

LONDON: Leeds United survived an FA Cup scare to reach the fifth round with a penalty shoot-out victory against second-tier Birmingham on Sunday.

Birmingham substitute Patrick Roberts snatched an 89th-minute equaliser at St Andrew’s to cancel out Lukas Nmecha’s 49th-minute opener for Leeds.

With a feisty fourth round tie level at 1-1 after extra-time, Leeds won the shoot-out 4-2.

Joel Piroe, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Brenden Aaronson and Sean Longstaff all converted their penalties for Daniel Farke’s team.

Tommy Doyle’s effort was saved by Leeds goalkeeper Lucas Perri before Roberts fired over the crossbar.

Battling to avoid relegation from the Premier League, Leeds are one win away from reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2003.

Meanwhile, Wolverhampton Wanderers also avoided an upset as they won 1-0 at fourth-division Grimsby.

Grimsby stunned Manchester United in the League Cup earlier this season.

But Wolves avoided similar embarrassment thanks to Santiago Bueno’s 60th-minute goal from the visitors’ first shot on target on a mud-caked pitch at Blundell Park.

Grimsby did not manage to force Wolves ‘keeper Sam Johnstone into a save until Andy Cook’s header in the 90th minute.

It was Wolves’ first away win since beating Manchester United in April.

Mired in a miserable season that has left them bottom of the Premier League and almost certain to be relegated, Rob Edwards’ side can still salvage some pride in the FA Cup.

Another Premier League outfit, Fulham came from behind to win 2-1 at second tier Stoke City.

Cottagers boss Marco Silva made 10 changes from their midweek defeat at Manchester City and nearly paid for the gamble.

South Korean midfielder Bae Jun-ho capped a fine move to put Stoke ahead after 19 minutes.

But Brazilian winger Kevin got his reward for an impressive performance in the 55th minute, sending a first-time shot into the bottom corner.

Harrison Reed completed Fulham’s escape act in the 84th minute, intercepting a poor pass from Stoke keeper Tommy Simkin and slotting home.

Elsewhere, Sunderland reached the fifth round for the first time since 2015 as Habib Diarra’s controversial penalty clinched a 1-0 win at second tier Oxford.

Regis Le Bris’ side went in front after 32 minutes when Dennis Cirkin tumbled under Christ Makosso’s challenge.

Referee Thomas Kirk pointed to the spot despite Oxford’s protests and Diarra rubbed salt into their wounds as he calmly converted the penalty.

In Saturday’s late match, Moh­amed Salah scored as Liverpool beat Brighton and Hove Albion 3-0.

Liverpool delivered a commanding win as Curtis Jones struck first with a composed finish before Dominik Szoboszlai hammered home a second, capping a slick team move.

Salah sealed the result by converting a penalty after being fouled by Pascal Gross.

“It’s very nice to have him on the scoresheet again (Salah), but he also helps the team a lot defensively, and that is something very positive,” Liverpool coach Arne Slot told reporters.

The FA Cup fifth round draw is on Monday.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2026

Source link

MILAN: Evergreen Italian Federica Brignone won a glorious second gold medal of the Milan-Cortina Games on Sunday as Mikaela Shiffrin faded, while Norwegian cross-country skier Johannes Klaebo became the first Winter Olympian in history to win nine gold medals.

Brignone is fast becoming one of the outstanding storylines of these Games as the 35-year-old skier who was on the surgeon’s table 10 months ago won her second gold in front of her home fans.

Already the winner of the super-G at these Games, Brignone clocked a combined time of 2min 13.50sec in sparkling weather in Cortina d’Ampezzo to become the first Italian woman skier to win gold in two events at the same Olympics.

In April 2025, she suffered a broken leg after crashing in a race that required extensive surgery.

Mikaela Shiffrin, the 30-year-old American who is the most successful skier in history in World Cup events, faded and could only finish 11th, continuing her fruitless Olympic run that began at the 2022 Beijing Games.

Shiffrin has one more medal chance, in the slalom on Wednesday.

Lisa Vittaozzi made the day even more delightful for the Italians as she put on a superb display of shooting to hit all 20 targets and win gold in a thrilling women’s 10km biathlon pursuit race, sending home fans into ecstasy at the Antholz-Anterselva arena.

Vittozzi shot clean under enormous pressure to win by a margin of 28.8 seconds over Norway’s Maren Kirkeeide who stormed back from two late misses to secure silver. Suvi Minkkinen of Finland took bronze.

“I’m so happy. What I’ve done today, I’m really proud of myself, I had goosebumps in the last few kilometres. It was a dream come true,” a delighted Vittozzi told Italian TV.

“I didn’t think today that I would reach the gold medal because the level of the women is really high, but I really did a good job at the range and I’m very happy. I was very calm, I tried to work well and I hit all the targets so I’m very happy.”

In Tesero, Klaebo led home the Norwegian 4×7.5 kilometre relay team to win the ninth gold medal of his career, more than any man or woman has ever achieved in the Winter Olympics.

It was also his fourth gold medal of these Games and he has two more events still to come.

The Norwegian quartet were so far ahead that Klaebo was able to wave to the crowd with his ski poles in the home straight before he was greeted by his celebrating team-mates.

The 29-year-old overtakes two of his compatriots who have won eight golds at Winter Olympics — former cross-country skiers Marit Bjoergen and Bjoern Daehlie, and former biathlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen.

Canada’s “King of the Moguls” Mikael Kingsbury signed off his Olympic career in style, winning the men’s dual moguls to collect his fifth medal at a Winter Games.

The 33-year-old fell marginally behind Ikuma Horishima early in the super final in Livigno but his Japanese opponent lost control, flying over the second jump with no tricks to cross the line first.

Kingsbury, who took silver in the individual event earlier in the Milan-Cortina Games, kept his cool to become the first-ever winner of the men’s dual moguls — the discipline is making its Olympic debut in Italy.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2026

Source link