CORTINA D’AMPEZZO: US great Mikaela Shiffrin won women’s slalom gold, and her first Olympic medal since 2018, with a dominant performance in the final Alpine ski race of the Milano Cortina Games on Wednesday.

Switzerland’s Camille Rast, the only skier who has beaten Shiffrin on the World Cup this season, took silver and Sweden’s Anna Swenn Larsson clinched bronze, at the age of 34, but both were far behind their rival.

The most successful World Cup skier of all time, with a record 108 wins, sco­rched down the first run a mighty 0.82 clear of the field and increased her lead to 1.5 seconds over Rast after two legs.

Her combined winning time was one minute 39.10 seconds.

Shiffrin was the overwhelming favourite after winning seven of eight World Cup slaloms this season but the lack of medals after two events, along with a blank in Beijing four years ago, had ramped up the pressure.

“This feels like a really big moment,” she told NBC television. “Of course a medal and gold, that’s a dream come true. But at some point this week, I just said, like, stop dreaming. Just ski.”

Even after the first run down the Olimpia delle Tofane piste, there rema­ined a lingering uncertainty but Shiffrin nailed the second — her run slower only than team-mate Paula Moltzan’s mighty effort.

The gold was Shiffrin’s career third Olympic title, adding to the slalom title she won in 2014 and the giant slalom gold from Pyeongchang in 2018, where she also took a combined silver.

Shiffrin is the first female US Alpine skier to win three golds and Wednesday’s was also the second for the team in Cortina after Breezy Johnson’s downhill success.

Earlier on Wednesday, birthday boy Su Yiming delivered China’s first gold of this edition as he cruised to victory in the men’s slopestyle event.

Su later said there was “no better gift on his birthday” as the 22-year-old, who has battled injuries and faced mental struggles since he shot to fame at the 2022 Beijing Games, could not hold back the tears as the reality of his victory sunk in.

Su scored 82.41 points on his first run of three in bright sunshine at Livigno Snow Park to lay down a marker and was never caught, upgrading the silver he won in Beijing.

Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa was second with 82.13 while US snowboarder Jake Canter (79.36) won bronze, with the best run of three counting.

China had failed to win a single gold until Su’s triumph — a huge disappointment after winning nine at their home Games four years ago.

But just a couple of hours later they doubled their tally when freestyle skier Xu Mengtao won the women’s aerials final. Veteran Xu retained her title, adding another trophy to a stellar career.

Danielle Scott of Australia took the silver, while the bronze went to Xu’s compatriot Shao Qi. Meanwhile, Japan’s Mari Fukada won the women’s snowboard slopestyle gold medal.

Zoi Sadowski Synnott, the 2022 champion, took silver for New Zealand, while Fukada’s compatriot Kokomo Murase won bronze.

In the women’s 4x6km relay, Julia Simon cruised around the final lap to ensure a dominant victory for France, picking up her third gold medal of the Games after a superb third leg from Oceane Michelon set them up to win.

The Swedish team anchored by Ha­n­na Oeberg came in second to secure the silver, 51.3 seconds after the winners, with Norway taking the bronze.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2026

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LAHORE: Pakistan hockey faces a fresh crisis and a potentially massive one in the immediate backdrop of the off-the-field fiasco the national team experienced on their just-concluded tour to Australia for the FIH Pro League second leg.

The alarming element of the brewing disaster has made the fate of the incumbent Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) uncertain as national team captain Ammad Butt in an explosive media talk on Tuesday night soon upon reaching Lahore from Australia raised serious allegations against the team management over the issue of the mismanagement during the said tour.

In a disturbing development just five before the Pakistan squad is scheduled to leave for Egypt to play the World Cup qualifiers, Ammad along with a number of senior players of the squad urged the PHF to sack the current team management comprising head coach Tahir Zaman, manager-cum-assistant coach Usman Sheikh and assistant coach Zeeshan Ashraf.

On Wednesday, Tahir, Usman and Zeeshan also held a joint press conference at the National Hockey Stadium to express their position on the matter.

Tahir also presented the tour report to the PHF, which called up Ammad and some other senior players on Thursday to listen to their point of view before taking any decision.

Amid this highly undesirable development, the PHF and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) are already at loggerheads, blaming each other for the fuss created during the Australia tour.

“We had to spend 12, 13 hours in Sydney under open sky. From Sydney we left for Hobart where we came to know that there was no hotel booking for our squad. The team management [on the occasion] expressed that it did not have sufficient funds to pay the hotel charges [which had been increa­sed],” Ammad told reporters.

“I don’t know who is right or wrong. When we talked to the PSB [on the matter], they claimed that the Board had handed over funds to the team management [to meet the tour expenses]. On the other hand, the management asserted that the funds [provided] were not adequate,” the captain added.

In a depressing revelation, he added, “The players [during the tour] had to prepare their breakfast, do dishwashing and wash clothes. In this [miserable scenario], what kind of performance could a player produce for the team?”

In an extremely upsetting disclosure, the captain alleged that the team management asked the players if they were with the captain or the federation.

Ammad, in this disappointing situation, made an earnest appeal to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Gen Asim Munir to take a strict action against those responsible for the debacle.

Pakistan in a flat performance on the chaotic tour lost all four matches of the second leg — two each against Australia and Germany.

When asked about a video clip issued by the PHF on social media during the above mentioned tour in which he expressed complete satisfaction over the accommodation arranged for the team, the skipper said he spoke in Pakistan’s interest after the team management advised him to give a positive statement noting some sections of Indian media and their lobbies were creating a fuss on the subject to defame Pakistan.

When highlighted that Pakis­tan had lost all the eight matches of the FIH Pro League held so far, Ammad said he was satisfied with the team’s performance.

“The PHF is also responsible for some wrong actions but as a player I had to talk with the team management on any issue concer­ning the players,” he maintained.

Answering a question on allegations made by the team management that he used inappropriate language against the team members during the Australia tour, the skipper denied them while adding “yes sometimes in the heat of the moments we [team members] spoke harshly but there was no [verbal] abuse against anyone.”

Speaking on the subject of scanty daily allowance, the captain said that the PSB had agreed to pay $115 (to each player) but for the first time the players had to pay their bill of three daily meals from that tiny amount.

“Around nine players [of the squad] are still waiting for the payment of their daily allowance of the last three years,” he disclosed.

‘I am ready to quit’

Speaking at the presser on Wednesday, Tahir said that it was a routine practice that if the players stayed at a five-star hotel, they had to wash their clothes.

“If you have to play for the nation, you have to give some sacrifice and as the World Cup qualifiers are around the corner, this problem [of tour expenses] should be amicably solved by the top officials,” Tahir emphasised.

“We have a pool of 30 to 36 players, from which the best team for the World Cup qualifying round is to be picked,” he said. “If Pakistan can qualify for the World Cup without me I am ready to quit.

“We have presented our [Australia tour] report to the PHF and now it will take a final decision,” he added.

Tahir in his media talk also clai­med that some former foreign coa­c­hes of Pakistan team in the past had also complained against the national players over indiscipline.

“[Some] players of the current squad were reported for indiscipline in the past and they were punished too,” the head coach revealed.

Responding to the charges levelled by Ammad, Tahir said when the team reached the hotel boo­k­ed by the PSB, the squad came to know that it was not booked due to a delay in the payment.

“Our booking was not confirmed and we attempted to book another hotel but could not do so. Later, we had to arrange a separate residence [a villa] for the team that had all the facilities of a five-star hotel,” Tahir claimed.

Disputing Ammad’s allegation, Tahir said the squad in Sydney had to stay [only] for six hours; some Pakistanis settled there took full care of the squad.

“But unfortunately every incident was presented sensationally,” he said.

“We have suggested the PHF to also take a report from neutral people living in Australia on what happened there [to the team].”

In another serious allegation, Tahir also condemned the inappropriate language the players used for Pakistan legend Shahbaz Ahmed Senior, who accompanied the team as observer in Australia.

Expressing his views on the occasion, Usman said that he acted as assistant coach and manager during the last four tours of the national team.

“All the arrangements for the first leg [of the Pro League] held in Argentine were made with the help of the FIH, while for the second leg [in Australia] these made by the PSB,” he noted.

“I received a cheque from the PSB on Jan 29 which was transferred into my account on Feb 3, just two days before the start of the [Australia] tour.”

It seems a minor mistake allegedly made by the PSB of only confirming the booking at the hotel in Australia without making any payment, sparked the crisis. The rent of the hotel had been increased between the period when it was booked and when the team reached the hotel.

Meanwhile, an official of the team management speaking on the condition of anonymity said as the Sydney airport was closed at 11:00pm daily while the Pakistan team had to travel to Hobart from a domestic airport which opened at 4:00am, the squad spent six hours at Opera House where some former Pakistan hockey players properly entertained the touring party.

The said official also shared with the media the video clips of the villas where the team was staying. Terming the stay at the villas fantastic, the official said, “Every facility was available to the squad there”.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2026

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PARIS: Vinicius Junior scored and then alleged he had been racially abused during Real Madrid’s 1-0 win away to Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League play-off tie on Tues­day, while Paris St-Germ­­ain came from two goals down to beat AS Monaco 3-2.

Elsewhere, Galatasaray stun­ned Juventus, beating the Italians 5-2 in Istanbul, and Borussia Dortmund seized the upper hand in their tie against Atalanta with a 2-0 first-leg victory.

Real headed to Lisbon to play Benfica less than three weeks after a dramatic 4-2 defeat away to the same opponents, when goalkeeper Anat­oliy Trubin scored a stunning late goal to take the Portug­uese side through to the knock-out stages and force Real to drop into the play-offs.

Benfica coach Jose Mour­i­nho was hoping to again insp­ire his current side to victory against the club he coached from 2010 to 2013, but the night was instead overshadowed by the alleged racist abuse reported by Vinicius.

The Brazilian scored a superb goal early in the second half, arrowing his shot into the top corner. His moment of brilliance, tho­ugh, quickly bec­a­me controversial when he was booked for his dancing celebration in front of the crowd.

That booking sparked an exchange with Benfica’s Gian­luca Prestianni, who pulled his shirt over his mouth before appearing to say something to Vinicius.

The Real forward then ran over to referee Francois Letexier and, pointing at Prestianni, seemed to claim he had been called “mono”, the Spanish word for monkey.

That led to a hold-up of several minutes before the game resumed, with Vinicius then being jeered by the home fans.

Mourinho was then sent off in the final stages of a spiky game for complaining too vocif­er­ously as he appealed for a second yellow card for Vinicius, meaning he will not be on the touchline for the second leg at the Bernabeu next week.

The long stoppage led to 12 minutes of added-on time, but Benfica could not use them to find an equaliser, and face an uphill struggle in the Spanish capital next week.

UEFA on Wednesday said it would “investigate allegations of discriminatory behaviour”.

Prestianni has denied the allegations.

“I have never been racist with anyone and I regret the threats that I received from Real Madrid players,” the 20-year-old Argentina forward, who faces a potential 10-match ban if found guilty of racial abuse in UEFA’s disciplinary code, said on X.

Real forward Kylian Mba­ppe called on Prest­ianni to be banned.

“We cannot accept the­re’s a player playing in Eur­ope’s best competition and behaving like this,” the France captain told reporters.

“This guy doesn’t des­erve to play in the Cham­pions League again.”

Benfica coach Jose Mour­inho hit out at Vinicius for inciting Benfica’s players and fans with his celebration.

“When you score a goal like that, you celebrate in a respectful way,” said the Portuguese.

Meanwhile, in Monaco, reigning European champions PSG recovered from a shambolic start as Desire Doue inspired a comeback from two goals down to beat the principality side.

United States star Folarin Balogun opened the scoring after just 55 seconds and found the net again on 18 minutes to put Monaco in control.

Vitinha then missed a chance for PSG to reduce the deficit when he had a penalty saved and last year’s Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Demb­ele came off injured before the half-hour mark, but his replac­ement Doue was the hero.

He pulled one back within two minutes of coming on, and then helped set up Achraf Hakimi for the equaliser just before the break.

Monaco then had Alek­sandr Golovin sent at the start of the second half for a challenge on Vitinha before Doue got the winner on 67 minutes.

“He is an incredible pla­yer and a different player. I am very pleased for him because he deserved it,” PSG coach Luis Enrique told broadcaster Canal Plus of Doue.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gala­t­asaray produced a rousing performance to beat Juve­ntus 5-2 in a pulsating contest in Turkey, with Noa Lang scoring twice for the hosts.

Dortmund, beaten finalists in 2024, are on course to eliminate another Italian team after beating Atalanta 2-0 with Serhou Guirassy opening the scoring early on. His 16th goal of the season was followed by a Max­imilian Beier strike just before the break.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2026

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