Football

Zinedine Zidane can stay at Real Madrid as manager for life, club President Florentino Perez said on June 3, after the Frenchman became the first manager to win the Champions League two years in a row with a dominant 4-1 win over Juventus. “Zidane can stay at Real Madrid for the rest of his life,” said Perez.

Real produced a ruthless second-half display after an evenly matched first 45 minutes. They put more goals past Juventus in 90 minutes than the Italian champions had conceded in their previous 12 Champions League games.

The impressive win crowned a remarkable first full season in charge for former Real midfielder Zidane, who led the team to a first La Liga title in five years, delivering the club’s first European Cup and league double since 1958. Zidane became the fifth manager in the history of Real Madrid to win 5 or more titles with the club, in the quickest one to do so.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s knee operation has been a success and he will make a full recovery, according to his agent Mino Raiola. The 35-year-old has gone under the knife in America to repair ligament damage suffered in Manchester United’s Europa League win over Anderlecht in April and Raiola has confirmed that the injury has not ended the striker’s career.

“Zlatan Ibrahimovic has undergone successful knee surgery. He will make a full recovery and has not suffered a career-ending injury,” Raiola said in a statement on May 2.

 Cricket

Champions Trophy, semi-final, Cardiff:

England 211 (49.5 overs): Root 46, Bairstow 43, Hasan 3-35| Pakistan 215-2 (37.1 overs): Azhar 76, Fakhar 57

Pakistan ended England’s Champions Trophy hopes in Cardiff in an eight-wicket semi-final thrashing.

England struggled on a slow pitch against some brilliant Pakistan bowling and fielding, mustering only 211. Fakhar Zaman’s 57 launched Pakistan’s chase, while Azhar Ali made 76 as victory was sealed with 12.5 overs to spare. Pakistan will play India or Bangladesh in the final at The Oval on June 18.

T20I world rankings update: England and Pakistan were the biggest gainers in the ICC’s annual T20I rankings update, climbing to second and third place respectively. New Zealand held on to the top spot despite losing two points, while India and South Africa slipped down the table.

England gained 7 points and climbed 3 places on the table to second, while Pakistan, who were ranked seventh last year, climbed to third place after gaining 5 points. Both teams had 121 points but Pakistan was ranked behind England by a fraction. India and South Africa both lost six points and dropped to fourth and fifth on the table. The rankings are important for qualification for the 2020 World T20. Australia, hosts for the tournament, and nine other top-ranked teams will gain automatic entry. The bottom eight sides will join regional qualifiers in the 2019 World T20 Qualifier. Six sides from the qualifier will then join the 16-team World T20 pool.

T20I world rankings & points: 1 New Zealand (125), 2 England (121); 3. Pakistan (121); 4.India (118); 5 South Africa (111); 6 Australia (110); 7 West Indies (109); 8 Sri Lanka (95); 9 Afghanistan (90); 10 Bangladesh (78); 11 Scotland (67); 12 Zimbabwe (65); 13 UAE (52); 14 Netherlands (49); 15 Hong Kong (46); 16 PNG (39); 17 Oman (38); 18 Ireland (36).

Squash

PSA World Rankings: Egypt’s squash star Karim Abdel-Gawad has become world number one for the first time ever as he topped the world ranking.

Despite his loss to Gregory Gaultier in the Gouna Open final last month, Abdel-Gawad has knocked the Frenchman into second place in the world rankings, becoming the fifth Egyptian to top the PSA. Gaultier pushed out Egypt’s long-time world number one Mohamed ElShorbagy who remained world number three this month. Abdel-Gawad followed in the steps of countrymen Amr Shabana, Karim Darwish, Ramy Ashour and Elshorbagy, who have all topped the World Rankings over the past 11 years.

In the Women’s rankings, world champion Nour El-Sherbini, remained in the driving seat, especially after retaining her world title, beating Egyptian compatriot Raneem El-Welily in the Gouna Squash Open final in April.

El-Welily moved forward two places to sit at World No 2 in this month’s rankings, while compatriot Nouran Gohar remained in fifth place.

PSA Men’s World Rankings: 1-Karim Abdel-Gawad EGY; 2-Gregory Gaultier FRA; 3- Mohamed Elshorbagy EGY; 4-Marwan Elshorbagy EGY; 5-Nick Matthew ENG; 6- James Willstrop ENG; 7-Simon Rosner GER; 8-Ramy Ashour EGY; 9-Ali Farag EGY; 10-Fares Dessouky EGY.

PSA Women’s World Rankings:1-Nour El-Sherbini EGY; 2-Laura Massaro ENG; 3-Camille Serme FRA; 4-Raneem El-Welily EGY; 5 Nouran Gohar EGY; 6-Nicol David MAL; 7-Amanda Sobhy USA; 8-Sarah-Jane Perry ENG; 9-Alison Waters ENG; 10–Joelle King NZL.

Tennis

Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian mixed doubles partner Gabriela Dabrowski, downed Sania Mirza-Ivan Dodig to qualify for the semi-finals of the French Open. Seventh seeded Bopanna-Dabrowski beat the second-seeded Sania-Dodig pair 6-3, 6-4 in 52 minutes. The defeat marks the end of Mirza’s campaign at Roland Garros as she also crashed out of the women’s doubles in the opening round with her Kazakh partner Yaroslava Shvedova.

French Open (May 21- June 10) – Player Tracker:

Men’s Singles:
(Round 2) R Agut ESP def Mikhail Kukushkin KAZ – 6/3, 3/6, 6/3, 7/6. (Round 1) N Kicker
(Round 1) N Kicker ARG def Damir Dzumhur BIH – 6/3, 2/6, 6/3, 6/4;
K Anderson RSA Def Malek Jaziri TUN – 7/6, 6/3, 7/6.

Women’s Singles:
T Bacsinszky SUI def Ons Jabeur TUN – 6/2, 6/2.
(Round 1) S Rogers USA def Cagla Buyukakcay TUR – 7/6, 6/4; E Svitolina
E Svitolina UKR def Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ – 6/4, 6/3.

Men’s Doubles:
(Round 2) I Dodig CRO & M Granollers ESP def  Malek Jaziri TUN & A Seppi ITA – 6/1, 6/2. (Round 1)  F Verdasco
(Round 1)  F Verdasco ESP & N Zimonjic SRB def Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi PAK & F Mergea ROU – 6/3, 7/6.

Women’s Doubles
(Round 1) D Gavrilova AUS & A Pavlyuchenkova RUS def Sania Mirza IND & Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ  – 7/6, 1/6, 6/2.  E Hozumi
E Hozumi JAP & M Kato JAP def Asia Muhammad USA & T Townsend USA – 7/5, 6/3.

Mixed Doubles: (Round 1) D Inglot
(Round 1)D Inglot GBR & A Klepac SLO def Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi PAK & K Peschke CZE – 6/4, 6/2.