Nick Compton believes there’s still a place for his ‘old-fashioned’ approach to top-order batting, even though he accepts he is playing for his England place heading into tomorrow’s second Test against Sri Lanka at the Riverside.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad will face the Gujarat Lions in the IPL qualifier to see who will face the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final, after the Sunrisers beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by 22 runs in New Delhi yesterday.

“I haven’t really seen Serena that often. Which I don’t know if I’m sad or happy, because then I don’t have to like be all freaked out.”

Croatian Ivo Karlovic became the oldest man to reach the third round of a grand slam for 25 years when the 37-year-old came through a marathon five-setter against Australian Jordan Thompson at the French Open yesterday.

Naomi Osaka has three dreams – to meet Serena Williams, play at the Olympics and learn to speak Japanese, the language of her own country.

Juan Mata has as much to fear as any Manchester United player after, according to Sky TV reports, Jose Mourinho agreed personal terms to succeed Louis van Gaal in the Old Trafford hot seat on Tuesday.

Diego Simeone aims to climax his rebuilding of Atletico Madrid by winning the club’s first Champions League, on Saturday against crosstown rivals Real in Milan.

Just five months into his first senior managerial role, Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane is already living up to the unenviable task of matching his credentials as one of the finest players of his generation.

Programmes like Challenge 22 are providing people from the Middle East the opportunity to make a telling contribution to the future of the region and ‘give back’ to their countries, according to a prominent Qatar University (QU) academic.

With a large number of interested teams having signed up for the Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) Ramadan Sports Festival (RSF) within record time, registration for several tournaments within the festival has come to a close ahead of the deadline.

QNB, a leading financial institution in the Middle East and Africa, has announced yesterday the signing of a contract with international star soccer player Xavi Hern?ndez, by which Xavi will be brand ambassador for the Group.

Mike Tyson has branded the Amateur International Boxing Association’s (AIBA) decision to let professional fighters take part in the 2016 Rio Olympics as “ridiculous” and “foolish”.