Isinbayeva says will not compete in 2015
MOSCOW - Double Olympic pole vault champion Yelena Isinbayeva will not compete next year but is fixing her sights on the Rio Olympics in 2016, the Russian said on Thursday. "I am now fully busy with my daughter and family and doing only light exercises. I will start full training no earlier than June 2015," she wrote on her Instagram page. The 32-year-old Isinbayeva, the world record holder and three-times world champion, gave birth to a daughter in June this year. "The main goal for me is the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, so in 2015 I will not participate in the competition. These are our plans, and how it would be in reality, only time will tell," she added. Her announcement means she will not defend her world title at the Beijing World Championships next year. –Reuters

Olympic gold medallist Thomas retires
SALZBURG - Three-time Olympic gold medallist Thomas Morgenstern of Austria, who suffered a horror crash in competition in January, announced his retirement on Friday at the age of 27. "My confidence never came back" after the fall, said Morgernstern, who won individual and team gold in the 2006 Turin Olympics and a second team gold in Vancouver four years later. "When you're sat on the bar at the top of the jump and you're thinking your boot binding risks coming undone, you're not in the best of conditions. I'm drawing a line. I'm stopping." The two-time World Cup winner leaves the sport with 23 victories on the circuit, the first coming at the age of 17. Morgenstern shocked the ski jumping world on January 10 when he lost his balance in mid-air and crashed heavily. –AFP

Olympic champion Adams has surgery
WELLINGTON - Two-time Olympic shotput champion Valerie Adams had surgery on her right elbow and left shoulder in Auckland on Friday. The injuries affected the 29-year-old New Zealander throughout the season, though she clinched her third Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow and extended her four-year winning record to 56 successive competitions. "Valerie's surgeries have been completed successfully," her manager Nick Cowan said in an Athletics New Zealand statement. "They were reasonably straightforward and the medical team are very happy. Valerie is now resting and her rehab programme begins." Adams, who won her first Olympic title at Beijing in 2008, was awarded her second after Belarusian Nadzeya Ostapchuk had to give up her London gold after failing a drug test.–Reuters

U-21 Inter District Tournament
LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Baord (PCB) women wing Lahore Region representative Ms Noshin Haneef Friday announced that the 6th Under-21 Inter District Tournament will be held in the month of October. She added that any club or individual interested to take part in the event can register their team by contacting her well before October 2. Only those players born on or after September 1, 1993 are eligible to participate in the event. “The PCB women wing organises this event every year, and this time too, we have announced to conduct the 6th edition of the U-21 Intern District Tournament. We have also informed through media to all those who wanted to take part in the event and I hope they will register their teams well in time, as after the due date, no one will be entertained,” she concluded.–Staff Reporter

Wapda, Railways play draw in PPFL
ISLAMABAD - Wapda and Railways played out 0-0 draw in the 11th Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) 2014 match here at Outer Stadium, Pakistan Sports Complex on Friday. The match started in positive fashion, as Wapda started to dictate terms in the early part, but despite lime share of possession and majority of play in the Railways’ half, Wapda at least have scored 3 or 4 goals in the first 30 minutes of the match, but poor finishing prevented them from taking deserving lead. The first half ended in 0-0. In the second half, Wapda players tried their best to score goals but all went in vain as they missed a lot opportunities. Wapda could have taken 1-0 lead in the dying moments of the match, but Railways goalie denied with series of fine saves. The match ended 0-0.–Staff Reporter