'Cyber Monday' on track for record US online sales: estimate

NEW YORK: US online sales are set to hit a new record on this week's "Cyber Monday," Adobe Analytics said, as e-commerce outlets gear up to lure shoppers in the opening days of the holiday season.Internet purchases are expected to reach $9.4 billion, a jump of nearly 19 percent over last year's record-setting $7.9 billion take, according to a Sunday estimate from the company, which measures transactions from 80 of the 100 largest US online retailers.US merchants have long viewed the days after the Thursday Thanksgiving holiday as a prime time to part shoppers from their money, particularly during the "Black Friday" sales following the holiday.This year's expected record-setting shopping comes as Price Waterhouse Cooper found for the first time that a majority of people surveyed said they would rather shop online than in a brick-and-mortar store.Shoppers spent $7.4 billion online on Friday, according to Adobe. Some 40 percent of these purchases were made using smartphones. On Thanksgiving Day, US consumers spent $4.2 billion online.Online sales on "Small Business Saturday" amounted to $3.6 billion, up 18 percent over last year.This increase was "fueled by strong gains from both large and small retailers alike," said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe."The weekend between Black Friday and Cyber Monday is emerging as a truly lucrative period for online commerce," he added.The hottest toys included L.O.L. Surprise dolls and items linked to Disney blockbuster movie "Frozen 2." In the video game category, the top sellers were FIFA 20, Madden 20 and Nintendo Switch.The most popular electronics were Apple laptops, AirPods and Samsung TVs.Adobe expects shoppers to spend a total of $143.8 billion during the entire holiday season.According to a study released on Sunday by the International Council of Shopping Centers, an estimated 160 million people flocked to stores over the Thanksgiving weekend and spent on average just over $500 each.That's up from 151 million shoppers last year.

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POA nominates Gulfam as Pak SAG contingent flag-bearer

KARACHI: In a rare occasion, Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) on Saturday nominated a young shooter Gulfam Joseph, who has qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as flag-bearer of Pakistan’s contingent for the 13th South Asian Games (SAG) which will begin in Kathmandu with an opening ceremony on Sunday (today).The 19-year old Gulfam, who has featured in only a single national championship, qualified for Tokyo Olympics in 10m air pistol in the Asian Championships in Doha recently.Joseph is a Christian and belongs to Army.The POA took the decision after taking an input from the chairman of the Athletes Commission of POA and world leading wrestler Mohammad Inam.The decision of nominating Joseph reflects the spirit of Olympism shown by POA.The opening ceremony will begin at 5pm in Kathmandu on Sunday (today). Sources from Kathmandu told The News that water-tight security arrangements have been made for the competitions being held in Nepal’s capital and Pokhara from December 1-10.“Security is quite good,” a source from Kathmandu told this correspondent on Saturday.“Both players and officials are escorted from venue to hotels and from hotels to venues,” the source said. The source was quick to add that Pakistan’s contingent has been given good accommodation.An around 350-member contingent of Pakistan is set to feature in 20 disciplines in the biennial spectacle.As Pakistan’s contingent will proceed to Kathmandu in various phases so a limited number of athletes of the country would be part of the march-past on Sunday during opening ceremony.Sources said that the POA was trying to arrange accreditation cards for a couple of state officials who have been sent by the government.The issue created as Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) did not take any input from the POA while finalising the contingent. Pakistan would begin its swimming journey on Sunday while managers meeting of karate teams would be held today as the event will begin on Monday (tomorrow).Because of lack of proper preparation Pakistan is not expected to lift more gold medals. In 2016 South Asian Games Pakistan had finished third with 12 golds after India and Sri Lanka who finished at the top and the runners-up position respectively. Pakistan’s football team missed the Nepal’s event because of late entry. Golf and archery, which had a chance of medals, had already been excluded by the PSB which is sponsoring a 305-member contingent.

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Atalanta back to winning ways

MILAN: Mario Pasalic scored twice to get Atalanta back to winning ways with a 3-0 Serie A victory in a Lombardy derby at Mario Balotelli’s struggling Brescia on Saturday.Pasalic nodded in the opener on 26 minutes, before grabbing a second after an hour with Josip Illicic firing in a late third to end Atalanta’s four-match winless run in the league. The Bergamo side, boosted by claiming their first ever Champions League win against Dinamo Zagreb in midweek, are now level on points with fourth-placed Cagliari and Roma, who play later this weekend.Gian Piero Gasperini’s side had not won in Serie A since their 7-1 victory over Udinese a month ago. Italy forward Balotelli returned to the Brescia line-up having being dropped last weekend for his lack of commitment in training. But apart from hitting the crossbar on 55 minutes, Balotelli rarely threatened as the promoted side fell to their sixth consecutive defeat to stay rooted to the bottom of the table. The match was the first since the publication of a letter on Friday signed by the country’s 20 top-flight clubs saying ‘basta’ (that’s enough) to racism in Italian stadiums.

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Shinwari to represent Qalandars in HBL PSL 2020

LAHORE: Left-arm fast bowler Usman Shinwari has become the first player to be transferred for the HBL Pakistan Super League 2020 as he moves from Karachi Kings to Lahore Qalandars.Usman was one of the players who had agreed to drop one category through the relegation request process for the event whose all 34 matches will be played in Pakistan in February/March.As per the event regulations, when a team sends in a relegation request for their local player to drop down one category, it is shared with the other teams based on the player’s consent. The other five teams can then either match the player’s original category or allow him to relegate on his existing team’s roster.Based on the teams’ expression of interests, the player’s existing team is then given time to either retain the player in his original category or release him to the team willing to match the player’s registered category.In this instance, Lahore Qalandars matched Usman Shinwari’s relegation request resulting in his transfer to the Qalandars for HBL PSL 2020.Five other players who have successfully relegated as a result of this relegation request process are: Imam-ul-Haq (Peshawar Zalmi, diamond to gold), Junaid Khan (Multan Sultans, diamond to gold), Salman Butt (Lahore Qalandars, gold to silver), Shan Masood (Multan Sultans, gold to silver) and Umar Amin (Peshawar Zalmi, gold to silver).Usman missed the inaugural 2016 event but represented Karachi Kings in the subsequent editions.The transfer/retention window opened on 4 November and closes on 1 December with each team allowed to retain up to eight players from last season.

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Seven in race for Malik Hamid Ali Noon Cup

LAHORE: A special race termed for two years old fillies, mares and ponies will be the focus of 14th day winter meeting 2019-20 of Lahore Race Club which also features seven Tuman Khan Plate races on Sunday, December 1 here.This Malik Hamid Ali Noon Memorial Cup for 2 years aged horses has a field of seven who will go for a miles run. In this cup race no particular mare or fillies identified as the favourite but out of these seven Countess Mara is believed better than all. As the day ignites at 1200 noon the cup race is expected to start at around 2.55 pm.Out of the eight races of the day, last two are of class VI and are of 1200 metres distance while the remaining are of class VII with different divisions and would cover a distance 1000 metres.The first race favourite for win is Tell Me, place Royal Runner and fluke Artghal while the lineup is completed by Encounter Specialist, Golden Stamp, Nice Moon, Good Action, Hip Man, Turab Prince, Poma Love, Chamak, Golden Beauty, Kashrniri Fighter and Goloo Prince.The second race favourite for win is Only Jutt, place Chan Punjabi and fluke Faizy Choice while the lineup is completed by Salam-e-Pakistan, Lala Rukh, Helena, King Queen, KFK Princess, Ask Me, Bet of The Day, Sheba, Madiha, lnsaf-e-Bhakkar and Push The Limits.The third race favourite for win is Big Foot, place Rashk-e-Qamar and fluke Wahab Choice while the lineup is completed by Red Boy, One Four Seven, Khan Jee, Safdar Princess, Gotti, Lalazaar, Narowali Princess, Neeli The Great, Natalia, Lucky Time and Silken Black.The fourth race favourite for win is Salam-e-Lahore, place Wind Talker and fluke Wahab Choice while the lineup is completed by Pehlwan, Khadim, Four Chaar Hai, Qamar Choice, Neeli De Malika and Cameo.The fifth race favourite for win is Aya Sultan, place Madhuri Dixit and fluke Jharra while the lineup is completed by Miss World, Salam-e-Dera, Dazzling, Follow My Lead, Well Done Pakistan, Amazing Runner, Miss Mohni Road and Sunny Choice.The sixth Malik Hamid Ali Noon Memorial Cup race favourite for win is Countess Mara with Dahab being on fluke while the line up in this termed race for 2 years old is completed by Forever One, Haiku, Rapunzel Beauty, Innocent One and Amazing Lips.The seventh race favourite for win is License To Kill, place Gondal Prince and fluke Raat Ki Rani while the lineup is completed by AI Akbar, Hidden Princess, Goldee, JF Thunder.The eighth race favourite for win is Costa Rica, place Me Raqsam and fluke Princess Anabia while the lineup is completed by Governor, Legacy, Sara Jamoot, Tiger Jet, Remember Me, Sublime and Jabbar Prince.

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Wasim slams Pak team’s performance in 2nd Test

LAHORE: Pakistan fast bowling legend Wasim Akram blasted the team’s efforts on the field during the ongoing second Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval on Saturday.Akram’s comments came after a misfield from Shaheen Afridi led to Pakistan conceding a four on a day when David Warner sent the records tumbling with a triple century. “Shaheen Shah was in la la land at fine leg,” Akram said. “Yasir Shah and Shan Masood were probably yawning. That’s the problem with Pakistan cricket. They should be on the ball.“Nobody was backing up and you as a fielder, it doesn’t matter how inexperienced you are, you set yourself, new batsman in, they just came out, I’ll probably start five-ten yards inside the boundary line not on the boundary.” Warner was unbeaten on 335 off 418 balls as Australia declared at 589 for 3. He shared stands of 361 for the second wicket with Marnus Labuschagne (162), a 121-run stand with Steve Smith (36) for the third wicket and an unbeaten 99-run stand with Matthew Wade for the fourth wicket. With the triple hundred, Warner’s score is now the highest individual score at the ground as he surpassed Don Bradman’s 299. He also went past Don Bradman’s score of 334, which was also the highest score of former Australia skipper Mark Taylor. The highest individual score for an Australia lies with opener Matthew Hayden with 380. He hit that against Zimbabwe in 2003 in Perth.

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Pak players to feature in Jump Rope Skipping C’ship in Thailand

LAHORE: Seven-member Pakistani contingent will take part in Mini Thailand Open Jump Rope Skipping Championship at Bangkok, Thailand.President, Pakistan Rope Skipping Federation, Dr. Afshan Malik is leading the contingent as Chef de Mission.Four players are representing the country namely Iqra Naseem, M Zaryab Ali, Huzaifa Jamil, M Niaz. Adnan Malik has been appointed as Manager and Raja Nasir Mehmood will act as coach.Dr. Afshan Malik told that about 1000 men and women jumpers from Thailand and Asia including South Korea, Pakistan, Hong Kong and Singapore will take part in the various category events in the Championship including singles Boys U-15, Professional Male, Girls U-15, Pro female, Male Open, Pro Open, Female Open, Pro Female Open, Doubles Men, Doubles Women, U-15 Doubles boys.

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