Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin ⁠Khalifa Al Thani, the architect of Qatar’s remarkable transformation into an ultra-wealthy modern nation with global influence, has been laid to rest in Doha following his death at the age of 74.

Sheikh Hamad’s death was announced on Sunday morning, and his simple funeral ceremony was held after the daily evening prayer at sunset at the Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque in the capital.

Mourners wearing traditional Qatari dress stood with their hands clasped in front of them during a funeral prayer, facing the shrouded body of Sheikh Hamad.

Afterwards, close family members, including his son and successor as emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, carried his body out of the mosque. Sheikh Hamad was laid to rest at the Lusail Cemetery north of Doha.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi said the ceremony was “a humble event” and Sheikh Hamad was “buried in a simple grave”.

“The simplicity really is in keeping with Islamic tradition but also emblematic of how the father emir carried himself in his life,” Basravi said. “He did not concern himself with the trappings of wealth but was focused on the welfare of his own people.”

During Sheikh Hamad’s reign from 1995 to 2013, Qatar’s gross domestic product rose more than 24-fold, largely because of his focus on developing the country’s massive gas resources. By 2006, the small nation had become the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

[Aljazeera]

Yastika Bhatia followed India team-mate Kranti Gaud in etching her name onto the Lord’s Test honours boards with a maiden international century to guide India within touching distance of a massive victory over England in their historic match.

Sophie Ecclestone became the first Englishwoman named in the Lord’s Test bowling honours for her toil through 33.3 overs of India’s second innings to take 5 for 118, her fourth five-wicket haul in Tests. In all, Ecclestone bowled 55.2 overs for eight wickets, and her five-for came after Gaud won the race to be the first woman on the list with 5 for 37 on the second day.

Gaud continued her outstanding performance by ending the international careers of Tammy  Beaumont  and Heather Knight in a whimper, as England lurched to 59 for 5 in pursuit of 457. Amy Jones’ second half-century of the match offered enough resistance to ensure England take the match into a fourth and final day, but they do so still needing 327 runs with only four wickets in hand.

Beaumont, who announced two days before the match that this would be her last in an England shirt, fell for a first-ball duck to a beauty that nipped in, beat the inside edge and crashed into the top of off stump. Gaud curtailed her celebrations to join the India players in forming a guard of honour as Beaumont left the field.

Linda Noskova recovered from an attack of nerves that saw her squander five match points in the second set as she completed a 6-2 5-7 6-3 win over fellow Czech Karolina Muchova in a roller-coaster Wimbledon women’s singles final on Saturday.

The 21-year-old was in complete control as she won the opening set in 32 minutes and led 5-2 in the second in the first Grand Slam singles final between two women from the Czech Republic in the professional era.

But a battling Muchova saved three match points at 2-5, another in the next game when a faltering Noskova served a double fault, and then another at 4-5 as a previously one-sided contest belatedly burst into life on Centre Court.

Ninth seed Noskova lost five successive games as Muchova dragged the match into a decider.

Somehow Noskova banished the demons in her head as she regained control to forge 5-2 ahead in the third set.

The 29-year-old Muchova pulled one game back as the shadows crept across the court, but when Noskova was asked to serve for the match for a second time, she made no mistake to claim her first Grand Slam title.

After bringing up another two match points, well more than an hour after her first one, she banged down an unreturnable serve before collapsing to the court in relief as much as joy.

She is the third Czech player in four years to win the Wimbledon women’s title after Marketa Vondrousova in 2023 and Barbora Krejcikova in 2024.

“I have ⁠been enjoying these two weeks so much, through the sad tears and the happy tears, all the sweat and blood I put into ⁠this,” an emotional Noskova said on court after blowing a ⁠kiss to the sky in honour of her mum who died two years ago.

“It was all worth it, so I will definitely never forget this week, these two weeks.”

It was an emotional moment too for Muchova, who for the ‌second time in a Grand Slam final ended up beaten.

“It’s really tough to find any words,” 10th seed Muchova, who reached the French Open final three years ago but has had ‌to ‌battle with injuries, said. “To my ex-friend … I’m only kidding.

“This was your first Grand Slam final and the way you handled it and the way you played was really unbelievable.”