World Sports: Paul Pogba Banned For Four Years; Quetta Gladiators Beat Karachi Kings By 5 Wickets In Last-Ball Thriller In PSL 2024 - As It Happened

Enough and more sporting action is lined up on the Leap Day 2024. The day begins early with New Zealand taking on Australia in the 1st Test at the Basin Reserve. Elsewhere, Namibia take on Netherlands in the Nepal T20I tri-series, while Ireland's bout against Afghanistan enters day 2 in the one-off Test match. In football, Athletic Bilbao will welcome Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final, late in the night. Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr are in Saudi Pro League action as well. Follow the live scores, updates and results of world sports for February 29 here. (Cricket News | Football News)

Long-standing rivals Manchester United and Liverpool will meet in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup while Manchester City will continue their defence of the trophy with a home match against Newcastle United. The Old Trafford showdown between Man United and Liverpool was confirmed after both teams won in the fifth round earlier this morning. City and Newcastle were already assured of progressing after winning the previous day. City thrashed Luton Town 6-2 and Newcastle won a penalty shootout against second-tier Blackburn.

Spain haven't lost momentum since winning their first-ever FIFA World Cup title, defeating France 2-0 to also annex the inaugural edition of the UEFA Women's Nations League. Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati and Mariona Caldentey scored a goal each for Spain in front of 32,657 fans at La Cartuja Stadium in southern Spain, Associated Press reports. It was a record crowd for Spain's women's team in the country. Spain also hold the men's Nations League title, having beaten Croatia in the final in June.

Long-time spearhead of English men's singles tennis and two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has reiterated that he is likely to retire from tennis before the season is over. “I'm likely not going to play past this summer," the 36-year-old Murray said after losing 2-6, 4-6 to fifth-seeded Ugo Humbert at the Dubai Championships.

“I get asked about it after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play. I'm bored of the question, to be honest," Murray said. “I'm not going to talk more about that between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop. But, yes, I don't plan on playing much past this summer.”

Australia end the day at a score of 279/9 against hosts New Zealand, with Cameron Green still at the crease after completing a glorious century (103 not out off 155 balls). Matt Henry was the pick of the bowlers for the BlackCaps, snaring four wickets to keep the home team in the reckoning. The pitch has a lot in it for the seamers, which is why it is hard to say which side has the upper hand at stumps at the Basin Reserve on Day 1.

Legendary sprinter Michael Johnson is starting a new track league which he hopes will help athletes earn more exposure and money in a sport that struggles for attention in between Olympic cycles, Associated Press reports. He said he is teaming up with the Winners Alliance, a group best known as a for-profit arm of the five-year-old Professional Tennis Players Association, to “build a professional truly fan-focused league that will unlock commercial value for the best track and field athletes in the world."

LeBron James scored 19 of his 34 points during a brilliant fourth quarter, leading the Los Angeles Lakers back from a 21-point deficit for a dramatic 116-112 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. The 39-year-old James hit five of his season-high seven 3-pointers while outscoring the Clippers by himself in the fourth quarter, Associated Press reported. He either scored or assisted on 11 of the Lakers’ 13 baskets in the final period.

India's 18-year-old Grandmaster Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa committed a time-pressure blunder as he suffered defeat at the hands of Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran in the second round of Prague Masters Chess tournament in Prague, PTI reports. The defeat ended Praggnanandhaa’s impressive 47-game unbeaten streak in classical chess. The 18-year-old Praggnanandhaa also lost the top ranking in live ratings among Indians -- a spot reclaimed by the legendary Viswanathan Anand who is also the brand ambassador of this event.

Confirming earlier reports pertaining to KL Rahul's quadriceps injury, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has announced that the middle-order batter will not be available for the fifth Test against England. Meanwhile, seam bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will return to the squad for the final Test.

India's updated squad for fifth Test: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Devdutt Padikkal, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep.

They were 106 for 5 at one stage, but Ireland's lower order has fired to give their side a crucial 108-run lead on Day 2 of the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi. An 80-run partnership between Paul Stirling and Lorcan Tucker resurrected the innings and helped the Irish side get to 263, which could prove to be enough here. Left-arm spinner Zia-ur-Rehman was the best Afghan bowler on display and bagged five wickets.

Rejecting the Wrestling Federation of India's invitation to compete in the upcoming national trials, ace Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia has moved an urgent joint petition in the Delhi high court, seeking a stay on the selection competition in New Delhi on March 10-11, PTI reports. Bajrang, Vinesh Phogat, Sakshi Malik and her husband Satywart Kadiyan moved the court on Wednesday and the matter will be heard on Friday, the report adds.

Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba was banned for a maximum of four years by Italy's anti-doping court on Thursday after the World Cup winner tested positive for testosterone, according to AP reports.

Pogba's positive test was announced in September, stemming from an exam that was carried out after Juventus' game at Udinese on Aug. 20. Pogba did not play in the Serie A match but was on Juve's bench.

According to PTI reports, the men's U-20 National Football Championships will be held in April in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced on Thursday.

The new competition in the AIFF's calendar will be known as Swami Vivekananda U20 National Football Championship. It will be played at the sprawling Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, which has a full-fledged, in-house football pitch, training facilities and residential area.

According to PTI, the reigning Asian Games champion Palak of Haryana won the women's 10m air pistol T3 trial in Bhopal at the M.P. State Shooting Academy ranges on Thursday.

Two days before the season opener in Bahrain, Formula 1 has inked a media rights deal in India, where it claims to have a 60 million strong fan base, according to PTI reports.

Streaming platform FanCode has secured the streaming as well as broadcast rights for the 2024 and 2025 Formula 1 seasons. Last year, Formula 1 did not have a media partner in India and fans could only watch the action on F1 TV, a subscription-based membership platform.

According to the PTI reports, two-time Paralympics gold medallist Devendra Jhajharia is set to be elected unopposed as the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) president in the delayed March 9 elections, succeeding another celebrated para-athlete Deepa Malik.

Wicketkeeper-batter Shreevats Goswami, who was a member of the 2008 Under-19 World Cup-winning team, on Thursday, alleged that a match in the Cricket Association of Bengal's (CAB) first division league seemed fixed from how some dismissals took place during the game.

Goswami shared videos of a game between Mohammedan Sporting and Town Club on his Facebook page.

India’s Yuki Bhambri made his first men's doubles semifinals of the ATP 500 tour after he and his partner Robin Hasse upset third seeds Jamie Murray and Michael Venus in the Dubai Duty-Free Tennis Championships on Thursday.

Chandigarh University clinched the overall championships of the fourth Khelo India University Games with their boxers securing five gold, one silver and four bronze medals on the final day of competitions in Guwahati on Thursday.

Swimmers Aryan Nehra, Aneesh Gowda, Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj registered the 'best Indian time' in the 4x200m freestyle relay on their way to a gold medal finish at the Asian Group Aquatics Championships in Philippines. The Indian quartet clocked 7:26.64s, bettering the 7:29.04s effort by Aryan, Aneesh, Kushagra Rawat and Tanish George Mathew at the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.

According to PTI reports, India's Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand progressed to the women's doubles quarterfinals of the German Open Super 300 badminton tournament with a straight-set win over the Czech duo of Sona Horinkova and Katerina Zuzakova in Mulheim an der Ruhr on Thursday.

Odisha FC registered a 2-1 victory over East Bengal FC to consolidate their position at the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) table in Bhubaneswar on Thursday.

The sailing wasn't as smooth for the home side though, with East Bengal FC winger Vishnu Puthiya making heads turn by notching the fastest goal by any player in the current ISL season to break the deadlock in the 33rd second of the match.

Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 25 runs in the Women's Premier League in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Opener Shafali Verma made a fluent 50 off 31 balls to steer Delhi Capitals to a hefty 194 for five after being asked to bat. RCB could not get over the line despite Smriti Mandhana's sublime 74 off 43 balls and ended with 169 for nine in 20 overs. It was RCB's first loss of the season.

Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev stayed on course toward a potential rematch for the title at the Dubai Championships after the Russians won their quarterfinals on Thursday.

Medvedev, the defending champion and No. 1 seed, defeated eighth-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-2 6-3 to set up a semifinal against third-seeded Hubert Hurkacz or fifth-seeded Ugo Humbert.

Quetta Gladiators beat Karachi Kings in a nailbiter in PSL 2024. RCB lost against DC by 25 runs in WPL 2024 and start footballer Paul Pogba was banned for four years in a doping case. We may take your leave. See you tomorrow on the Sports World's live blog. Until then, it's a goodbye from our side. Goodnight!