Cricket
Pakistan batsman Nasir Jamshed was one of two men arrested by the National Crime Agency in Britain on February on Februarys 13. as part of an investigation into cricket corruption, the BBC understands.
The 27-year-old has played in two Tests, 48 one-day internationals and 18 Twenty20 matches for Pakistan. Both men were later bailed until April pending further inquiries. Jamshed is among three players who were recently suspended for violating a cricket anti-corruption code.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also suspended Pakistan internationals Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif, who are due to appear in front of the board on Wednesday.
Jamshed has not commented on the allegations. The spot-fixing allegations relate to the Pakistan Super League – the country’s top-flight cricket championship which is held in the United Arab Emirates for security reasons.
Khan and Latif play in the Pakistan Super League for current champions Islamabad United. The PCB previously said it was investigating “an international syndicate which is believed to be attempting to corrupt the PSL”.
Football
Africa Cup of Nations Final February 5: A late goal by Vincent Aboubakar sealed a 2-1 championship win for Cameroon over Egypt in the Africa Cup of Nations on February 5 in Gabon. It was the fifth title for Cameroon in the tournament and its first since 2002. Egypt opened the scoring when Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny found the back of the net in the 22nd minute. That score managed to hold until halftime as the teams headed to the locker room with little between them.
Two substitutions proved to be the difference in the second half for Cameroon as it scored a pair of unanswered goals to secure the victory. French Ligue 1 Lyon defender Nicolas N’Koulou tied the match with a header in the 59th minute. And with two minutes before full-time, Aboubakar, the Turkish league striker who had received little playing time, kicked in a goal for the first time in the tournament.
Champions league February 15: Zinedine Zidane praised the way his Real Madrid side hit back from the shock of conceding an early opener to put one foot in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with a 3-1 first leg win over Napoli.
Lorenzo Insigne’s stunning eighth-minute opener threatened to give the Italians the first-leg advantage but Real were level within 10 minutes through Karim Benzema before second-half strikes from Toni Kroos and Casemiro turned the tie around.
Zidane told UEFA.com: “We played a great game – it was a shame about the Napoli goal but we rectified things, scored ourselves and turned the game on its head and I think it was the right result.”
Squash
UCS Swedish Squash Open, February 3-5: World number 2 and winner of the last year’s Swedish Squash Open, Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt, failed to defend his title this year after he lost the final to world number 3 Gregory Gaultier. The French champion won the final by 3-1 (7-11/11-3/11-0/11-8).
The first Egyptian to win this championship was Karim Darwish in 2004.
Gaultier seeded second in the 2017 Swedish Open and qualified to the final after winning the semifinal match without giving a chance to his opponent, Germany’s Simon Rösner, to win even a single game. The match’s result was 3-0 (11-9/13-11/11-8) to the French champion.
Abdel Gawad, seeded number one in this championship, won the other semifinal against Scottish Alan Clyne. The Scottish player made a good start by winning the first game 10-12. Abdel Gawad then turned the tables, winning the following three consecutive games by 11-4/11-8/11-5.
This is the second time for Abdel Gawad and Gaultier to meet in a final in 2017. The previous one was the J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions final, which took place in New York on 19 January. It was a tough battle which ended 3-1 (6-11/11-6/12-10/11-7) in Abdel Gawad’s favour.
Tennis
Australian Open, January 16-29: Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig failed to clinch their maiden Grand Slam title as the Indo-Croatian pair lost 2-6, 4-6 to Juan Sebastian Cabal and Abigail Spears at the Rod Laver Arena on January 29.
