Hollywood may have kicked karate onto the world stage, but its first-ever Olympic inclusion at the Tokyo 2020 Games promises to shine a light on the rich history of the discipline.

Alastair Cook admits to questioning how much longer he can extend his record-breaking England career, torn between the pride of playing for his country and the wrench of being parted from his young family.

Rival captains Misbah-ul-Haq and Jason Holder praise the fight till last attitude in the first day-night Test played with Pakistan upstaging West Indies by 56 runs in the final hour.

Bangladesh cricket authorities said Monday they have detained an Indian for suspected links with illegal gambling operations during a cricket series between Bangladesh and England.

Stand-in England captain Jos Buttler says he regretted his angry reaction after his dismissal during Sunday's second one-day international against Bangladesh in Dhaka, which his team lost by 34 runs.

Mohammad Amir quit Pakistan's one-day series against the West Indies and flew home after his mother was taken seriously ill.

Skipper Kane Williamson is quarantined from his team-mates after going down with a virus which ruled him out of the second Test against India.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) name their Test and One-Day International (ODI) squads for the forthcoming tour of Bangladesh, starting in October.

Child marriage is illegal in Nepal, yet the impoverished Himalayan nation has failed to put in place policies to curb the practice with almost 40 percent of girls married before the age of 18.

Cao Yuan shakes off the pressure of being the only Chinese diver left in the field -- a rarity in Olympic finals -- to deliver China's fifth diving gold medal.

China's hopes of repeating their 2012 Olympic sweep of all five badminton gold medals are shattered when both their pairs are knocked out in the semi-finals of the mixed doubles.

After successfully lighting up their homes with solar panels and stoves fueled by cow dung, the villagers are now clean energy crusaders in a gas-guzzling country that overwhelmingly relies on fossil fuels.

Bangladesh Cricket Board clears Mustafizur Rahman to play for Sussex, a senior official says.

Diego Maradona hails his old rival Pele as an "icon" as the pair are reunited for a "match of friendship" on Thursday.

Manohar Aich, the bodybuilder who became the first Indian to take the Mr. Universe title in 1952 and won the nickname 'Pocket Hercules' for his tiny stature, has died aged 104.

Indian Premier League chairman Rajeev Shukla tells AFP that this year's edition of the cash-rich extravaganza had been free of corruption thanks to a multi-pronged approach to tackling fixing.

Brazilian investigators expand their probe into possible corruption around the staging of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this August to include all the venues and services financed with federal funds, a lead prosecutor told Reuters.

As women flock to the stands and take prominent positions in commentary boxes and boardrooms, cricket's richest Twenty20 league is no longer solely a man's world.

FIFA's ethics committee on Friday recommend a two-year ban from all football activities for Wolfgang Niersbach, former president of the German Football Association (DFB), over an alleged corruption scandal around the right to host the 2006 World Cup.

AFP journalists choose Angela Merkel as the most influential figure of 2015 after the German chancellor stamped her mark on the European migrant and Greek financial crises.