Lincoln stun Burnley to reach FA Cup quarters

London

Minor league Lincoln City produced a huge FA Cup shock to beat top-flight Burnley 1-0 and reach the quarter-finals for the first time in their history on Saturday.

Sean Raggett's goal in the 90th minute settled a scrappy match at Turf Moor, making Lincoln the first minor league club to reach the last eight of English soccer's most prestigious knockout competition since 1914. The visitors, who play in the fifth-tier National League, matched a side 81 places higher up the English ladder and should have taken an early lead when Jack Muldoon fired over. Burnley, with only three defeats in their previous 29 home matches in all competitions, struggled to make their higher status show until the latter stages when they finally began to pile pressure on a tiring Lincoln side. 

BERLIN
Lewandowski rescues lethargic Bayern 

Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich needed a last-gasp goal from striker Robert Lewandowski to rescue a 1-1 draw at Hertha Berlin on Saturday and increase their advantage at the top to eight points. Hertha scored through Vedad Ibisevic with the Bosnian volleying in for his ninth goal and his first since November, with Bayern, who crushed Arsenal 5-1 in the Champions League in midweek, lacking any game plan despite controlling possession. 

BERLIN
North Korea will be at Pyeongchang Games 

North Korea will send a team to next year’s Winter Olympics in South Korea, the country’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) member has said.  Pyeongchang will stage Asia’s first Winter Games outside Japan next year, kicking off an Olympics cycle that reflects the continent’s growing influence on sport with Tokyo hosting the 2020 Summer Games and Beijing the 2022 Winter Olympics. North and South Korea are still technically at war and tensions have risen in the last week with the North’s test firing of a ballistic missile in contravention of UN resolutions.

Colombo
Eves to take on Pakistan in World Cup qualifier

The Indian women’s team will take on Pakistan, while Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in their last round of Super Six matches of the Women’s World Cup Qualifier on Sunday. India lead the points table with eight points while Pakistan are on four points and close to qualifying to the next stage. Pakistan’s huge 86 runs victory over Ireland on Friday means they have boosted their run-rate and gained confidence going into the match against India. India captain Mithali Raj (in pic) said her side had won all their matches but not dominated as she would have wanted to.

Karachi
More embarrassment in store for PCB: Akhtar

Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar believes that PCB could find itself in an embarrassing situation if it is unable to prove the spot-fixing allegations against Sharjeel Khan and Khalid Latif. Akhtar claimed that he had a feeling that the head of the PCB’s anti-corruption unit, Colonel (retd) Azam, had acted hastily and committed a blunder in the whole scandal. “I don’t know, but if Sharjeel and Khalid are pleading not guilty now and if the board has chargesheeted them and appointed a commission to probe the matter then I get a feeling that perhaps the ACU head overreacted and made a mistake by sending the players home,” Akhtar said. — Agencies