Affan Salman from Pakistan has won the World Youth Scrabble Championship – fifth title for the country.
The 16-year-old won 19 out of 23 games during the championship.
Pakistan is the first country to win the World Youth Scrabble Championship five times.
138 players participated in the event in Sri Lanka from around the world.
Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 900th career goal during a Nations League match against Croatia.
He scored this goal in the 34th minute to lead his team, Portugal, to a 2-0 win against Croatia at the Estadio da Luz.
The 39-year-old looked emotional after crossing this new milestone in his football career.
So far, he has scored 131 goals for the Portuguese national team, 450 for Real Madrid, 145 for Manchester United, 101 for Juventus FC, 68 for his current club Al Nasr, and 5 for his first club, Sporting Lisbon.
Argentina’s Lionel Messi is the second-highest goalscorer in football history, with 859 goals.
Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has followed in his wife’s footsteps and entered politics, starting a new journey by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
BJP is the right-wing ruling party currently led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
His wife, Rivaba Jadeja, announced his entry into politics on X (formerly Twitter). She is a BJP Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Jamnagar in Gujarat. She joined BJP in 2019 and became an MP in 2022.
Jadeja scored over 3,000 runs and took 294 wickets in 72 Test matches. He played 197 ODI matches for India, in which he scored 2,756 runs and took 220 wickets. In T20 Internationals, Jadeja scored 515 runs and 54 wickets in 74 games.
After India won the T20 World Cup this year, Jadeja announced retirement from the T20 format.
Pakistan cricket team’s chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) have darkened after Bangladesh whitewashed the national team in the two-match test series at home, but these are still some possibilities for Pakistan to qualify for the championship.
After losing against Bangladesh, Pakistan lost 24 crucial points in the WTC and was relegated to 8th place in the rankings.
In the World Test Championship cycle, under Shan Masood’s captaincy, the Pakistani team has won only two out of seven matches. Its WTC points total 19.05, which is better only than the West Indies.
To qualify for the finals of the WTC cycle, Pakistan will have to win the remaining three matches against England at their home ground, and also whitewash West Indies and South Africa.
Now, the Green Shirts have to win all seven remaining matches, after which their percentage of points will be 58.2. If Shan manages to do this, then the chances of playing in the finals will still not be possible but will remain bright.
India and Australia are at the top of the points table, while the national team will have to monitor the results of other teams.
Bangladesh’s star cricketer and former Awami League member of parliament Shakib Al Hasan, facing a murder case in Bangladesh, is not returning home with other players after winning the Test series against Pakistan.
The Bangladeshi team has reached Karachi airport to return home and will arrive in Bangladesh via Dubai and Doha from Karachi.
However, sources at the airport say he has left Karachi for Dubai. He separated from the team at night and went alone.
A murder case was registered against Shakib on August 22 in Dhaka for allegedly killing a man during anti government protests.
Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan for the first time in Test history in the two-match series.
A post about Babar Azam’s retirement from Test cricket after individual scores of 31 and 11 in both innings in the second Test match against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, has gained immense attention on X (formerly Twitter).
A slightly detailed retirement announcement post is circulating on social media with the message ‘Khuda Hafiz Test Cricket’ and a thumbprint from Babar Azam’s parody account. Two such posts on Monday surprised cricket fans, but both posts had nothing to do with reality.
Pakistan cricket team’s batting star, Babar Azam, is under heavy criticism on social media platforms after poor performances in international cricket.
Moreover, his batting last year failed to produce any victories for Pakistan. As a result, social media users have been targeting him with often offensive memes, and now fake posts related to his retirement have gone viral.
Babar Azam stepped down as captain after ODI World Cup 2023 but was reinstated for the T20 World Cup 2024.
His recent form in Test cricket has been disappointing. He has scored just 190 runs at an average of 19 in his last 10 innings, while his average in the 50-over format has dropped to 34 a year earlier. Meanwhile, the 29-year-old cricketer has maintained an average of 38 in T20 cricket.
Under Babar’s captaincy, Pakistan exited from the T20 World Cup 2024 group stage after losing against the USA and India.
Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) and Advisor to Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah says that Mohsin Naqvi should choose between the Interior Ministry or Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
In a special interview with ARY News, he said, “The positions of the Ministry of Interior and Chairman PCB are full-time jobs; it is up to him to decide which position he wants to hold.”
Expressing his helplessness, he said, “The bad condition of sports in Pakistan is because an influential person is sitting on every sports body against merit, and he is also not on merit. Whoever does not get a place, he comes to a good sports body with his strength. They are so strong that I can not take any stand.”
The Pakistan cricket team is struggling against a team like Bangladesh on their home ground. Many think that this is all because of Mohsin Naqvi, who doesn’t have the ability to run the cricket board.
In the T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan faced an early exit from the group stage.
Commonwealth Games bronze medalist Pakistani wrestler Ali Asad has been banned for four years for using prohibited drugs.
Pakistan won eight medals, including one gold, in the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham. Ali defeated his Indian opponent in wrestling in 55 seconds to win the bronze medal in the 57 kg category.
Asad’s urine sample was taken on August 6, 2022. The International Testing Agency granted him an appeal and a B-sample test, but the wrestler has been banned for four years due to non-contact.
The four-year ban will begin from October 31, 2022, as the athlete has already been under provisional suspension since 2022.
The wrestler had remained adamant that he had not use any stimulants despite the positive dope result.
After the world of football, Cristiano Ronaldo has set his eyes on conquering YouTube. His YouTube channel, ‘UR Cristiano,’ won the Golden Button just a day after its launch, but now he has set a Guinness World Record by becoming the most subscribed channel in its first 24 hours.
His channel gained 100,000 subscribers in just 22 minutes, one million in 47 minutes, 10 million subscribers in 11 hours and 31 minutes, and 50 million subscribers in just one week.
In November 2022, he made history by becoming the first person to reach 500 million followers on the platform. He now has more than one billion followers across social media platforms.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sold Gaddafi Stadium’s naming rights to Punjab Bank for one billion rupees, with a five-year contract.
Before the Champions Trophy 2025, PCB upgraded the stadiums in Karachi, Lahore, and Rawalpindi. A tender was issued for the rights to rename the Lahore stadium.
A five-year contract has been agreed upon with the Bank of Punjab for one billion rupees. The name of Gaddafi Stadium will now be changed to the said bank. Karachi’s naming rights were sold for 45 crore rupees under a five-year deal; it is now called the National Bank Cricket Arena.
The current PCB administration has signed a contract with Lahore that is more than double the amount compared to Karachi. Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi has made more plans to bring money to domestic cricket.
It is a common practice worldwide to name sports stadiums after sponsors. Many cricket venues in Australia and England are also named after sponsors.