SYDNEY: Australia captain Pat Cummins said Friday he is targeting the Indian Premier League to make his return from a niggling injury that sidelined him from the Champions Trophy.
The 31-year-old quick has been struggling with a long-standing left ankle issue that flared during the Test series win over India in December-January.
He missed the dominant two-Test victory in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, where a Steve Smith-led Australia open their account against England on Saturday.
Cummins told cricket.com.au he aimed to honor his contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad when the IPL starts on March 22.
“The ankle is starting to come good,” he said. “It’s a funny one — it’s not like a hamstring where you need six weeks (to recover).
“It’s one of those ones where it really just needs a bit (more) rest to settle down.
“So we just ran out of time for Pakistan.”
Cummins said the injury was not new or an issue that would affect him long term.
“It’s just one of those ones you’ve got to manage. A bit of a break now, hopefully it sets it up for the next year or so,” he said.
Following the IPL, Australia play the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s on June 11 before a three-Test tour of the West Indies that runs into July.
Cummins said the intensity of the IPL would be adequate preparation to resume red-ball cricket.
“Physically it’s quite a nice build-up for the World Test Championship final, and then the Test matches after that,” he said.
“That’s the aim at this stage — start bowling over the next week or so, building up, and should be right for IPL.”
Australia’s Cummins targets IPL return after injury rules him out of Champions Trophy
https://arab.news/c4e3a
Australia’s Cummins targets IPL return after injury rules him out of Champions Trophy
- The 31-year-old quick has been struggling with a long-standing left ankle issue
- Steve Smith-led Australia will face England in Champions Trophy on Saturday
Liverpool players join family of Diogo Jota and his brother for funeral held in Portugal
- The service will be held at Igreja Matriz church in the Portuguese town of Gondomar, where Jota had a home
GONDOMAR, Portugal: Liverpool players joined family and friends for the funeral of their teammate Diogo Jota and his brother on Saturday, two days after the siblings died in a car crash in Spain.
The service will be held at Igreja Matriz church in the Portuguese town of Gondomar, where Jota had a home.
Portugal’s national team coach Roberto Martínez and several top Portuguese players also attended, including Manchester City duo Bernardo Silva and Rúben Dias and Manchester United’s Bruno Fernándes.
Jota, 28, and his brother, André Silva, 25, were found dead near Zamora in northwestern Spain early Thursday after the Lamborghini they were driving crashed on an isolated stretch of highway just after midnight on Thursday and burst into flames.
The brothers were reportedly heading to catch a boat from northern Spain to go to England where Jota was to rejoin with Liverpool after a summer break.
Spanish police are investigating the cause of the crash, which did not involve another vehicle, they said. They said they believe it could have been caused by a blown tire.
Their bodies were repatriated to Portugal after being identified by the family. A wake was held for them on Friday.
Jota’s death occurred two weeks after he married long-time partner Rute Cardoso while on vacation from a long season where he helped Liverpool win the Premier League. The couple had three children, the youngest born last year.
Jota was born in Porto but started his playing career as a child on nearby Gondomar.
Silva played for Portuguese club Penafiel in the lower divisions.
Their loss led to an outpouring of condolences from the soccer world and Portuguese officials.
Al-Dafrawy lights up Riyadh with stunning first-round submission at PFL MENA 2
- Saudi Arabia’s Hattan Al-Saif once again thrilled local fans with a second-round TKO over Nour Al-Fliti in their atomweight amateur bout
RIYADH: The 2024 PFL MENA welterweight champion, Omar Al-Dafrawy, delivered another show-stopping performance in front of a roaring Saudi crowd on Thursday night when he secured a spectacular first-round submission win over Italy’s Daniele Miceli.
Miceli wasted no time shooting for an early takedown, but Al-Dafrawy turned the tables with a textbook triangle choke. Miceli tried to power out, but the Egyptian champion tightened the hold and forced the tap just 1:15 into the fight.
Speaking exclusively to Arab News after his victory in the PFL MENA Riyadh main event, held at The Green Halls, Al-Dafrawy declared: “The plan is to fight the PFL Europe champion of 2024, so if he’s ready to come down here and grace the land, I’ll show.”
This was the third triangle choke on Al-Dafrawy’s record. He said: “I think I am probably the biggest superstar in the Arab World right now, whether you like it or not. No one has the skill set that I have. No one is as eager as I am. I took six fighters on short notice in the last PFL MENA in Jeddah, six fighters, all of them over 15 wins.”
Describing himself as “dangerous,” he added: “I’m getting the respect that I deserve where I go, so there’s no reason that I don’t rise to the occasion.”
Al-Dafrawy said he challenged any fighter, Arabian or international, in his bid to become “the best in the world.”
In the co-main event, 2024 PFL Welterweight runner-up Mohammad Alaqraa piled on relentless pressure to earn a dominant unanimous decision victory over Omar Hussein. Judges scored the contest 30-27 across the board to advance Alaqraa advances to the welterweight tournament semifinals.
Elsewhere on the card, Saudi Arabia’s own Hattan Al-Saif (4-0 amateur) once again thrilled local fans with a second-round TKO over Nour Al-Fliti in their atomweight amateur bout. Al-Saif overwhelmed Al-Fliti with knees and kicks before the session was waved off due to injury in round two.
In an action-packed bout, Mohamed Zarey dug deep to defeat Ayman Galal by unanimous decision and punch his ticket to the welterweight semifinals. Zarey survived an early barrage to claim the biggest win of his PFL career and will now face Alaqraa.
On the bantamweight side, Xavier Alaoui leaned on his wrestling to shut down Ziad Ayman with a 30-27 sweep on the scorecards, moving into the next round. Mokhtar Benkaci needed just 57 seconds to dispatch Marcel Adur with a left hook to the body for a first-round TKO.
Badreddine Diani outpointed Ahmed Abdelbast Darwish in a closely contested three-round battle, earning a unanimous nod and advancing to face Amir Fazli, who himself scored a knockout over Rostem Akman in round two of their quarterfinal.
In another bantamweight thriller, Nawras Abzakh displayed power and precision, stopping Ali Yazbeck with ground and pound in the second round to move one step closer to a PFL belt. Islam Youssef, stepping in at short notice, delivered a spectacular flying knee knockout to Benyamin Ghahreman with five seconds left in round two.
Kicking off the night, Abdelrahman Alhyasat remained undefeated by submitting Anthony Zeidan with a rear naked choke in round two of their lightweight bout.
The PFL MENA semifinals are now set, promising even more fireworks as regional champions pursue title glory.
Coach Ivanizevic slams Tsitsipas after early Wimbledon exit
- Stefanos Tsitsipas was forced to retire from his Wimbledon first-round match while trailing to French qualifier Valentin Royer
- ‘He wants to but he doesn’t do anything. All ‘I want, I want’, but I don’t see that progress… I was shocked’
Goran Ivanizevic gave a scathing assessment of Stefanos Tsitsipas, saying he has “never seen a more unprepared player” in his life following the Greek world number 26’s opening round exit at Wimbledon.
Tsitsipas, the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open runner-up, was forced to retire from his Wimbledon first-round match while trailing 6-3 6-2 to French qualifier Valentin Royer on Monday due to a back injury.
The 26-year-old, who said he had no answers to his ongoing fitness problems after his elimination, appointed Croatian Ivanizevic as his coach in May after a string of disappointing results at the Grand Slams.
Tsitsipas, a former world number three, has reached only one quarter-final in his last nine Grand Slam tournaments.
“It’s simple and it’s not simple. I’ve talked to him a lot of times. If he solves some things outside of tennis, then he has a chance and he’ll return to where he belongs, because he’s too good a player to be out of the top 10,” Ivanizevic told Serbian network Sport Klub after Tsitsipas’ exit.
“He wants to but he doesn’t do anything. All ‘I want, I want’, but I don’t see that progress... I was shocked, I have never seen a more unprepared player in my life. With this knee, I am three times more fit than him. This is really bad.”
Ivanizevic, who won Wimbledon as a player in 2001, helped Novak Djokovic claim nine of his 24 Grand Slam titles before leaving his team in March last year. He then had a short stint with Kazakh world number 11 Elena Rybakina this season.
Doug Ghim clings to one-shot lead at John Deere Classic
- Ghim, a 29-year-old Illinois native, is hoping to land his maiden PGA Tour victory in his home state
- The round of the day belonged to defending champion Davis Thompson, whose bogey-free 63 catapulted him to 11 under
SILVIS, Illinois: Doug Ghim shot a 3-under par 68 and held onto a one-stroke lead over Max Homa and a group of contenders at the John Deere Classic on Friday in Silvis, Illinois
Homa is part of a five-way tie for second after also posting a 68 late Friday afternoon at TPC Deere Run. He matched Ghim at 12 under with a birdie at the par-5 17th hole, but after finding a bunker off the 18th tee he failed to save par and dropped back a shot.
Ghim, a 29-year-old Illinois native, is hoping to land his maiden PGA Tour victory in his home state.
“They couldn’t make it today but I’m anticipating family coming (Saturday), and I’m excited about that,” Ghim said.
Ghim made an eagle for the second straight round, holing out from 179 yards away at the par-4 15th.
“I guess holing out two days in a row is always nice,” he said. “It’s been couple years since I think I holed out from the fairway. To get two back-to- back days is a great.”
He reached 13 under for the tournament with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 4-5, but Ghim bogeyed his closing hole, No. 9.
Homa entered the week an abysmal No. 122 in the FedEx Cup standings amid a disappointing season, but now he’s in the mix for his first win since 2023.
“I don’t think really much changes” on the weekend, Homa said. “I mean, just play the golf course. You’re going to have to shoot really low. If you went out there and tried to do something specific, I’m not so sure that is going to work. Somebody can go out there and shoot 11-under out there and jump everybody.
“So just go do what we did today and play another round of golf. Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday basically.”
The round of the day belonged to defending champion Davis Thompson, whose bogey-free 63 catapulted him to 11 under. Tied with Homa and Thompson are Brian Campbell (66), David Lipsky (67) and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (66).
“(On Thursday) I hit a lot of great putts early but they were just burning the edges,” said Thompson, who made four birdies on each nine Friday. “Then I was able to make a few on the back nine (Thursday) and just ride that momentum into today.”
Colombia’s Camilo Villegas (66) and Si Woo Kim of South Korea (67) are part of a group at 10 under as the second round finished up late Friday.
Rickie Fowler dropped four shots in a four-hole span on his back nine, with two bogeys and a double bogey, but he birdied No. 17 to finish up a 1-over 72 and get to 5 under, which wound up being the cut line at the end of the day.
Notable names who missed the cut included Tom Kim of South Korea (4 under), Australian Jason Day (2 under), J.T. Poston (1 under) and Canadian Adam Hadwin (2 over).
Germany off to winning start after beating Poland 1-0 in Women’s Euro 2025
- Germany are one of three big contenders for overall victory in Switzerland alongside world champions Spain and holders England
- Peter Gerhardsson’s team are now unbeaten in 13 games after a second straight win over the Danes, with Sweden running out emphatic 6-1 winners in the Nations League last month
ST. GALLEN, Switzerland: Germany made a winning start to their Women’s Euro 2025 campaign with Friday’s 2-0 win over Poland which moved the eight-time continental champions top of Group C.
Christian Wueck’s side lead Sweden, 1-0 winners in a Scandinavian derby with Denmark, on goal difference after coming through a hard-fought group opener in St. Gallen thanks to goals in the second half from Jule Brand and Lea Schueller.
Germany are one of three big contenders for overall victory in Switzerland alongside world champions Spain and holders England.
But the “Frauenteam” were far from their best for most of the match, with Wueck frequently bellowing at his charges to up their game.
And they lost captain Giulia Gwinn to what looked like a knee injury before half-time following a nasty fall in a challenge with Ewa Pajor.
“She’s injured her knee and will undergo an MRI tomorrow, at which point we’ll know what’s happened,” said Wueck.
“It was a tough, hard-fought victory. Poland made it very, very difficult for us with their style of play... We’re happy with the result and we know that we can do better.”
Germany had won all six previous encounters with Poland but the game was even until Brand cut inside and unleashed an unstoppable shot six minutes after half-time.
And Brand was on hand in the 66th minute with a perfect cross for Bayern Munich striker Schueller, who made sure of the points with a simple header.
Germany have now won six matches on the bounce, scoring 26 goals in that run, but looked some way below the standard shown by tournament favorites Spain on Thursday, with England facing France on Saturday.
Poland acquitted themselves admirably in their European Championship debut but Barcelona’s Pajor, who has scored 51 goals for club and country this season, was uncharacteristically wasteful with her finishing.
Pajor walloped a great chance at Germany goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger just before Schueller doubled Germany’s lead and did the same with a close-range header with nine minutes remaining.
Filippa Angeldahl scored Sweden’s winner in the 55th minute in Geneva after exchanging passes with Kosovare Asllani and firing into the far corner.
Sweden should have doubled their lead 10 minutes later when Madelen Janogy headed Hanna Lundkvist’s pinpoint cross narrowly wide, while moments before Stina Blackstenius was denied by Frederikke Thogersen’s brilliant goalline clearance.
“It was an enormous sense of joy and relief. There are so many nerves when you start a tournament that it was a wonderful feeling to score that goal,” Angeldahl told reporters.
Peter Gerhardsson’s team are now unbeaten in 13 games after a second straight win over the Danes, with Sweden running out emphatic 6-1 winners in the Nations League last month.
Sweden kept a tight handle on Denmark’s skipper Pernille Harder, although she did smash an effort off the crossbar with nine minutes remaining.
The Bayern Munich forward was also involved when VAR decided not to award a penalty to Denmark in the opening minutes for a potential handball by Madelen Janogy, who was marking Parder.
