Sports
T20 World Cup: Hasaranga, Theekshana lead Sri Lanka to win over Ireland
Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana combined for six wickets to lead Sri Lanka to a 20-run victory over Ireland in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 game at the R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on Sunday.
Chasing 164, Ireland struggled against Sri Lanka’s spin attack and were bowled out for 143 in 19.5 overs.
The Irish innings began shakily as Maheesh Theekshana struck early, dismissing skipper Paul Stirling for six off 13 balls, which included a four, in the second delivery of the third over.
Ross Adair and Harry Tector then steadied the innings with a crucial partnership, guiding Ireland past the 50-run mark.
However, Wanindu Hasaranga broke the stand, dismissing Adair for 34 off 23 balls, which included five fours and a six, leaving the team at 56-2 in eight overs.
Tector and Lorcan Tucker tried to rebuild, taking the score past 100 with a valuable 50-run partnership. Dunith Wellalage broke the stand, dismissing Tucker for 21 off 18 balls, including two fours, at 105-3 in 14.2 overs.
Tector continued to impress with a fighting 40 off 34 balls, including a four, before Hasaranga removed him, claiming his third wicket of the match.
The spinners then wreaked havoc as Theekshana dismissed Ben Calitz for four and Gareth Delany for a duck in the same over, reducing Ireland to 120-6 in 16.4 overs.
Curtis Campher fell to Hasaranga, while Dushmantha Chameera accounted for Mark Adair, who scored 10.
Matheesha Pathirana wrapped up the innings by dismissing George Dockrell for nine, and Matthew Humphreys for a duck.
Batting first, Sri Lanka made a steady start through openers Pathum Nissanka and Kamil Mishara, who began accumulating runs early on.
However, their 28-run partnership was broken when Mark Adair dismissed Mishara on the final delivery of the fourth over. Mishara scored 14 off 11 balls, including two boundaries.
Kusal Mendis then joined Nissanka in the middle, and the pair stabilised the innings with a 34-run stand, taking Sri Lanka past the 50-run mark.
The partnership ended when George Dockrell removed Nissanka, who scored 24 off 23 deliveries, including a four and a six, leaving the hosts at 62-2 in 8.2 overs.
Sri Lanka suffered another setback soon after as Dockrell struck again, clean bowling Pavan Rathnayake for five off nine balls.
The pressure mounted further when Dunith Wellalage was dismissed for 10 off 13 deliveries by Gareth Delany, reducing Sri Lanka to 86-4 in 13.5 overs.
Kusal then found solid support from Kamindu Mendis as the duo rebuilt the innings and pushed the total beyond 100. Their crucial 50-run partnership saw Kusal bring up his 18th T20I half-century for Sri Lanka.
The stand was eventually broken in the 19th over when Barry McCarthy dismissed Kamindu, who played a blistering cameo of 44 off 19 balls, featuring four fours and two sixes, with Sri Lanka at 153-5.
McCarthy struck again in the same over to remove skipper Dasun Shanaka for a duck.
Kusal Mendis remained unbeaten on 56 off 43 balls, laced with five fours, while Wanindu Hasaranga managed one run off two deliveries as Sri Lanka closed on 164-6.
Sports
Iran’s soccer team honors victims of elementary school airstrike
ANTALYA, Turkey — Players held small backpacks as Iran‘s national soccer team used a match against Nigeria on Friday to honor the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school.
More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, when a Feb. 28 strike, likely launched by the U.S., hit the school in southern Iran.
– Iran bans sports teams’ travel to ‘hostile’ nations
Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The U.S. military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.
During the national anthem Friday, the Iranian team honored the memory of the slain children by placing small pink and purple school backpacks in front of them.
Video of the ceremony also showed the players wearing black armbands in remembrance of those killed since the war began.
The match was played in Antalya, southern Turkey.
Nigeria won 2-1 in a game that was a World Cup tuneup for Iran, ahead of the tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The Islamic Republic’s team is scheduled to play three group-stage matches in June in the U.S. The Iranian ambassador in Mexico City has said the country asked FIFA to move those three games to Mexico after U.S. President Donald Trump discouraged the team from attending, citing safety concerns.
Iranian government and soccer officials have said they do not want to boycott the World Cup but that it is not possible for the national team to go to the U.S. because of military attacks on Iran by Israel and U.S.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has dampened Iran’s attempts to move its matches, saying global soccer’s governing body wants the tournament “to go ahead as scheduled.”
Separately on Friday, Iran’s judiciary threatened to seize the property of soccer player Sardar Azmoun, two semiofficial news agencies said. The announcement follows threats from Iran’s hard-liner judicial chief that authorities planned to seize the assets of celebrities viewed as critical of the government.
Sports
Tiger Woods arrested at crash scene on suspicion of DUI, sheriff says
Tiger Woods showed signs of impairment and was arrested Friday at the scene of a car crash in which he struck another vehicle and rolled his Land Rover, authorities said.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Woods and the person in the other vehicle were not injured. Woods was able to crawl out of the passenger side of his Land Rover.
The crash occurred just after 2 p.m. not far from where Woods lives on Jupiter Island. Budensiek said Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-land road. He swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck, but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer. Woods’ vehicle then rolled onto its driver’s side.
Budensiek said investigators at the scene found Woods to be showing signs of impairment. He did a breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but he refused to take a urine test. Authorities charged him with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, Budensiek said. Both charges are misdemeanors.
Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information.
Woods, 50, had spent the past several months recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and another back surgery in October. The 15-time major champion competed for the first time in more than a year during Tuesday’s TGL finals, where his Jupiter Links GC team lost to the Los Angeles Golf Club.
He had been weighing whether to return to the PGA Tour at the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, the first major of the season, which begins April 9.
Woods last competed on the PGA Tour in July 2024 when he missed the cut at the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. He last played four rounds in a PGA Tour event at the 2024 Masters.
In February 2021, Woods suffered significant leg injuries in a one-car crash outside of Los Angeles, in which his SUV rolled several times and left him trapped in the car. He later had surgery to deal with “open fractures” to his lower right leg, had a rod placed in a tibia and had screws and pins inserted in his foot and ankle during emergency surgery. Woods was hospitalized for three weeks following the surgery.
At the 2021 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Woods said, “I’m lucky to be alive and also have a limb.” He said it was 50-50 as to whether part of his right leg could have been amputated.
He had at least one more surgery related to injuries from the crash in April 2023.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sports
FIFA clears Fulham’s Diop, Ajax’s Bounida to play for Morocco
Morocco got FIFA permission to select Fulham defender Issa Diop and Ajax midfielder Rayane Bounida among seven players recruited this month by the 2022 World Cup semifinalist ahead of the next edition in North America, and 16 in total since last March.
The 29-year-old Diop was a France youth and under-21 international and Bounida is among six players aged 20 or under changing eligibility this month to represent Morocco after playing youth games for Belgium or the Netherlands.
All have direct family ties to Morocco that allow them within FIFA rules to change national eligibility, typically when players have not played a senior competitive game for the first country they represented.
Diop and Bounida are in new coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s squad for World Cup warmup games against Ecuador on Friday in Madrid, and Paraguay on Tuesday in Lens, France.
At the 2026 World Cup Morocco is in a group with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti playing games, respectively, near New York, Boston and in Atlanta.
Morocco gets direct entry to the 2030 tournament as a co-host with Spain and Portugal, plus single games to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The Morocco federation, under the leadership of Fouzi Lekjaa, an increasingly influential figure in soccer politics, has actively recruited players from a diaspora in Europe.
The squad which made World Cup history in Qatar as the first semifinalist from Africa included stars such as Hakim Ziyech and Sofyan Amrabat who had been Netherlands youth internationals.
The eligibility changes FIFA approved in March include Bounida and Genk midfielder Saif Eddien Lazar who had represented Belgium.
Players switching to Morocco from the Netherlands were Benjamin Khaderi and Sami Bouhoudane, both aged 18 from PSV Eindhoven, 20-year-old Utrecht defender Oualid Agougil and 18-year-old Ayoud Ouarghi from Feyenoord.
FIFA also approved nine more players changing eligibility from March to December last year, from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway.
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