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Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum delivered a promise by giving away her ticket to the World Cup opening match.Sheinbaum, the first female president in the country’s 200-year history, donated her ticket No.00001 to Yolett Cervantes Cuaquehua,
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beIN MEDIA GROUP (‘beIN’), the global sports, entertainment and media conglomerate, won two prestigious broadcast industry accolades at the annual Asia-Pacific Broadcasting+ Awards in Singapore. Taking home the top prize in the ‘Digital Transformation – Qatar’ and ‘IP Broadcast Solutions – Qatar’ categories, the awards recognised beIN’s innovative on-screen graphics system and digital integration solutions. First held in 2023, the annual Asia-Pacific Broadcasting+ Awards recognise excellence and innovation across the broadcasting industry. Organised by Asia-Pacific Broadcasting+, a leading industry platform covering broadcasting and multimedia since 1983,this year’s ceremony brought together industry leaders at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The ‘Digital Transformation – Qatar’ category recognised beIN’s L-Shape system, which provides automated on-air graphics and is used to display real-time sports information powered by OPTA data feeds. Developed in-house by beIN’s Brand Directorate, the system also supports the promotion of content across beIN channels, including sports and non-sports content, ensuring dynamic, accurate, and consistent on-screen communications. Meanwhile, the ‘IP Broadcast Solutions – Qatar’ award celebrated beIN’s fully automated content generation system for social media.Previously, designers relied on traditional design platforms such as Adobe software to manually create images and enter data. With Digital Automated Tools, the entire process – design, data integration, and content generation – is automated, with OPTA data feeding directly into the system to produce multiple post adaptations without requiring any human interaction. Mohammed Al Bader, Managing Director of beIN Channels - MENA, said: “This recognition is a powerful affirmation of beIN’s commitment to engineering-led innovation and broadcast excellence. Our team works tirelessly to break down traditional silos between our linear and digital offerings to enable a better, more informative storytelling experience for our viewers. These two awards reflect the dedication and ingenuity of our teams, who continue to push the boundaries of what modern broadcasting can achieve. Now more than ever, beIN remains focused on building future-ready systems that deliver premium content to our audiences, ensuring they can access our unprecedented portfolio of sports and entertainment content anytime, anywhere, and on any screen.” This recognition comes at a time when momentum is building around beIN’s coverage of this summer’s FIFA World Cup 2026 on its flagship beIN SPORTS channels and OTT platforms, beIN CONNECT and TOD by beIN. The network will broadcast all 104 matches live and exclusive across the MENA region during the five-week tournament, between 11 June and 19 July.
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Bruce McLaren, in a 1964 eulogy for late friend and fellow driver Timmy Mayer, said "life is measured in achievement, not in years alone" and more than 60 years later his team are still living
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Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek exited Roland Garros as the top seeds continued to fall at the start of the second week, while Alexander Zverev cruised past lucky loser Jesper De Jong 7-6(3) 6-4
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Joao Fonseca said a change in mentality and months of hard work have helped fuel his rise to a first Grand Slam quarter-final after the Brazilian teenager's breakthrough run at the French Open.The 19-year-old reached
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Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli (centre) and team head coach Zimbabwe's Andy Flower (left) celebrate with the trophy after their team's win against Gujarat Titans at the end of the 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL)
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Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka celebrates winning her fourth-round match against Japan's Naomi Osaka at the French Open in Paris on Monday. (Reuters) World number one Aryna Sabalenka took down fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets in Monday's night-session match to reach the French Open quarter-finals.Sabalenka produced an impressive display against a battling Osaka to win 7-5, 6-3 and reach the last eight for a 14th consecutive major tournament.The Belarusian is now the only Grand Slam champion left in either the men's or women's singles draws at Roland Garros."I'm mostly happy with the way I served and I was able to keep all the pressure on her," said Sabalenka."I didn't expect I would serve that great... I feel like I'm getting better and better with every match I play and overall I'm super happy with how I played today."She made it three straight wins against Osaka this year, having lost their only previous meeting at the 2018 US Open.Sabalenka will next take on Russian Diana Shnaider as she continues her bid for a maiden French Open crown and to banish the memories of her painful final defeat last year by Coco Gauff.Japanese star Osaka, again sporting the sequined gold dress she likened to the Eiffel Tower at night, has to make do with her best ever run in Paris ending in the last 16.It was the first women's match to feature in the French Open night session since 2023, after a run of 32 consecutive men's ties which drew repeated criticism of tournament organisers. Berrettini beats Cerundolo Former Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini, who has been plagued by injuries in recent years, booked his first major quarter-final since the 2022 US Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (8/6) win over Jannik Sinner's conqueror Juan Manuel Cerundolo.The world number 105 is the lowest-ranked player to reach the Roland Garros men's last eight since Igor Andreev in 2007."This (tennis) is the love of my life, I guess, otherwise I wouldn't keep coming back after all the setbacks, the injuries," said the Italian, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2021."There were moments it was really tough to come back and hit a ball... But now I'm back and it's thanks to them (his team), my character and my resilience."Berrettini is one of only two Grand Slam finalists left in a wide-open men's draw, alongside Alexander Zverev, after surprise early exits for Sinner and Novak Djokovic. The 30-year-old will next face either American 19th seed Frances Tiafoe or fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi on Wednesday.Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli overcame some late nerves to beat Zachary Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5) on Court Philippe Chatrier.Cobolli wobbled badly from 4-0 and 5-1 up in the fourth set, before finally getting over the line in a tie-break to reach his second Grand Slam quarter-final after Wimbledon last year."The match is never done," said Cobolli. "I'm happy but I'm still nervous."The 24-year-old will battle fourth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime for a semi-final berth.World number six Auger-Aliassime is the highest-ranked player left in the top half of the men's draw and he laid down a marker with a dominant 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 success against Chile's Alejandro Tabilo. Related Story
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Cricket's governing body said Monday it would trial the use of pink-coloured balls in Test matches to maximise play during bad light.The red balls usually used in Tests are not easily visible in fading light, while white balls used in limited-overs matches have been found to be not durable enough for the longer format.Pink balls are already used in day-night Tests played under lights.The International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement its executive board had approved the "trialling the use of a pink ball in Test matches, with prior agreement from both teams, to maximise play in case of anticipated bad light".The global cricketing body said it had also given approval for new "research on lighting technology for match officials and venues to reduce lost play due to poor light"."Our discussions... have reinforced the ICC's commitment to governance, administration and the growth of cricket globally," said council chief Jay Shah, following a meeting in India's Ahmedabad.ICC suspends Cricket Canada's membership The International Cricket Council has suspended Canada over breaches of the national board's membership obligations, weeks after the global governing body's anti-corruption unit launched an investigation into Cricket Canada.The Canadian national team will still be able to participate in ICC events, and funding to operate the teams will be provided through a controlled mechanism, the global governing body said on Monday.A documentary aired in April by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had made allegations of corruption in the governance of Cricket Canada involving several players and officials, including match manipulation and threats of violence.Media reports said the anti-corruption investigation was launched soon after."The ICC board resolved to suspend Cricket Canada from ICC membership with immediate effect due to serious breaches of its membership obligations," the global body said in a statement a day after a meeting in Ahmedabad, India.Cricket Canada will have to follow a set of conditions, aimed at fixing its governance and administrative issues, to restore membership, the statement added."The progress against these conditions will be monitored by the ICC normalisation committee, supported by ICC management, with reinstatement of membership subject to the board being satisfied that the conditions have been fully met," the ICC said.The ICC also suspended the United States national body, USA Cricket, over membership rule breaches last year. The U.S. national teams continue to participate in ICC events and are set to compete at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. Related Story
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi swept the end-of-season IPL awards and in doing so won an SUV - but the 15-year-old cricket prodigy will have to wait three years to drive it.The Indian batting sensation plundered 776 runs at an average of 48.50 and a punishing strike-rate of 237.30 in 16 matches.On Sunday he was named most valuable player, despite his team Rajasthan Royals narrowly failing to reach the final, and he also scooped the Orange Cap for leading the batting charts.He was also named emerging player of the season, among other prizes.The boy wonder was gifted a car, a TATA Sierra SUV, which at top price comes in at Rs2.1mn ($22,000).His total prize money was over $57,000.However, he won't be able to get behind the wheel in the near future because the minimum driving age in India is 18.'It feels good, but I'm feeling a little pressure because I'm here for an interview,' Sooryavanshi said on winning the awards.'But yes, it's a proud moment, it feels great, and I'll try to do even better next season.'Virat Kohli led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to their second straight title after they beat Gujarat Titans in the final in Ahmedabad.Player of the match Kohli was seen speaking to Sooryavanshi during the presentation ceremony well past midnight.Sooryavanshi struck 97 and 96 in his final two innings of this edition of the IPL, adding to the growing clamour for him to earn a maiden call-up to the senior national team.According to Indian media, Sooryavanshi has been included in a 30-member of probables for the Asian Games in September-October in Japan.
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The French capital laid on a hero's welcome Sunday for Paris Saint-Germain players to mark their second straight Champions League title, amid bitter recriminations after hundreds of people were arrested and dozens of police hurt
