Author: ali.hassan

LAHORE: A total of 30 athletes from Sindh secured gold across different categories in the recently-held All Pakistan Pioneer’s OApen Para Taekwondo Championship 2022.

According to the details, the Para-Taekwondo Championship was held at Wapda Sports Complex on December 17, featured differently-abled athletes, divided across two major categories P20 – mentally challenged athletes – and K40 – physically disabled athletes.

In the championship, Team Sindh, supervised by Master Mohammad Najam and led by coach Master Muhammad Siddiq shone at the championship and led the standings with as many as 30 gold medals.

In P20 Mughees Alam, Mustafa Jamali, Haseeb, Tabish, Ayesha, Yasir, Umar and some other players claimed the gold medals for Sindh, while Arslan, Muneer, Elizar and Sair Ahsan claimed a gold each in K40 category.

Saira, who claimed gold in the K40 category became the first special player from Sindh to soon represent Pakistan at the international level.

READ: PAK vs NZ: Free Tickets announced for Karachi Students

KARACHI: New Zealand Test squad will start training at the National Bank Cricket Arena tomorrow for the historic two-match series which will roll into action on December 26.

According to the details, the touring side, under the leadership of their newly-appointed captain Tim Southee is set for their first assignment and will commence the preparation tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Test squad will report at the local hotel here tomorrow. Whereas, some of the players already residing at the hotel will partake in the team’s optional training session tomorrow.

Later on Saturday and Sunday, the national team will then carry out robust training sessions to race up their preparations for the important Test series against the Blackcaps.

It is pertinent to mention that the two-match series between Pakistan and New Zealand is part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC).

The humiliating whitewash against England posed a major dent to Pakistan’s hopes of reaching the final of the Championship as the Green Shirts now hold the seventh position with 56 points, followed by New Zealand at eighth with 28 points.

READ: England squad leaves after concluding Pakistan tour 

KARACHI: England’s Men’s cricket team has left for their country from Jinnah International International Airport after the conclusion of the historic three-match Test series against Pakistan.

According to the details, the remaining squad members and officials of the English squad left for England on Thursday morning after concluding the historic Test series against Pakistan on a perfect note.

The remaining contingent will first travel to Dubai and then will depart for London.

Meanwhile, several members of the touring side had already returned back on Tuesday night.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan endured their first-ever clean sweep at home by Ben Stokes-led England after the touring side.

READ: New Zealand squad set foot in Pakistan for historic tour 

KARACHI: New Zealand squad on Thursday stepped foot in Pakistan to play a historic Test series in the country, which will roll into action from December 26 at National Bank Cricket Arena here.

A strong Blackcaps squad landed in the country early Thursday from Dubai, after departing from Auckland last night.

New Zealand will take on hosts Pakistan in two Tests in Karachi and Multan respectively under the leadership of their newly-appointed captain Tim Southee after Kane Williamson stepped down from the position earlier this month.

The Karachi Test, scheduled to commence on December 26, will mark the first Test between Pakistan and New Zealand on the former’s soil after 20 years, while the first here after 32 years.

It is pertinent to mention that New Zealand last toured Pakistan for a full-fledged tour back in 2002 when they played two Tests and three ODIs.

New Zealand Squad

Tim Southee (c), Michael Bracewell, Tom Blundell (wk), Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Tom Latham, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Neil Wagner, Kane Williamson, Will Young.

AUCKLAND: New Zealand’s Pakistan Test-bound players on Wednesday left for the country to play the historic Test series, which will roll into action on December 26 at the National Bank Cricket Arena, Karachi.

According to the details, the New Zealand Test squad departed from Auckland Airport and will travel to Dubai first and will then reach Karachi tomorrow at 11 AM tomorrow.

The touring side will play two Tests and a three-match ODI series from December 26 to January 14.

Karachi will host the first Test and ODI series, while Multan will host the second Test.

The Test Squad on the way to Pakistan from Auckland. The 1st Test starts on December 26. #PAKvNZ pic.twitter.com/WrrNihk5Ms

— BLACKCAPS (@BLACKCAPS) December 21, 2022

 

Veteran pacer Tim Southee will lead the touring side in the longest format after Kane Williamson stepped down from the position last week.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Blackcaps pulled out of their scheduled Pakistan tour minutes before the commencement of the first ODI in Rawalpindi on September 17, 2021, and opted to return home, citing security concerns.

The cancellation also resulted in England withdrawing from their tour to Pakistan, which was scheduled a month later than that of New Zealand.

Following this challenging phase for Pakistan Cricket, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja announced to address the New Zealand Cricket (NZC) at the International Cricket Council (ICC) and ask the NZC to pay the compensation.

Consequently, the NZC paid the compensation in May 2022 for abruptly pulling out of the tour at the eleventh hour which played a crucial role in restoring the working relationship between the two cricket boards.

READ: Sarfaraz Ahmed extends best wishes to Azhar Ali for ‘second innings’ 

KARACHI: Sindh Motorsports Association on Wednesday announced to donate a portion of the revenue from the upcoming Thar Jeep Rally 2023 to the flood victims in Pakistan.

The organizers of the famous off road jeep rally, while speaking at a press conference at Karachi Press Club (KPC), made a major announcement regarding taking part in supporting the flood affectees of the country by donating as much as half of the revenue to the flood relief fund.

“Sindh Motorsports has decided to spend the earnings of the race on flood victims,” announced General Secretary Sindh Motorsports Noman Khan.

“This race can help 50 million flood victims. Winners, runners-up and other racers will also donate 50 per cent of their prize money to flood victims,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention that the upcoming Thar Jeep Rally 2023 will take place from January 5 to 8 and will feature 80 racers. Whereas, women racers will also be participating in the rally.

READ: Babar Azam achieves career-best ranking in Tests 

KARACHI: England captain Ben Stokes has affirmed that his team will continue with their attacking style of playing Test cricket, saying if he can make people ‘stop saying that the Test is a dying format’, he will keep doing that.

After his side’s comprehensive win in the final Test that completed a 3-0 clean sweep for England against Pakistan, Stokes said it was always challenging to play in subcontinent conditions but what they had done was ‘pretty special’.

“I feel like as if everything we’ve tried has come off in the series,” he said in a post-match press conference on Tuesday.

He claimed that he had learned a lot from playing in such conditions, saying it was one of the best things for him on the tour.

Stokes, who has now led England to nine victories out of ten matches since he took over the reins of the Test side earlier this year, vowed to continue with their aggressive approach in red-ball format, often dubbed as ‘BazBall’.

” Sports is entertainment…People want to see the exciting stuff,” he said.

“What we can do is to concentrate on the way we want to play and if we can make it (Test cricket) grow and stop people saying it’s a dying format, we’ll keep doing that.”

“But I am not gonna say every nation around the world needs to change the way they play because I don’t think it’s not my place to say.”

Furthermore, England’s captain praised the 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed, who returned astounding figures of 5/48 in the second innings of his debut Test, for having a ‘cricket savvy brain’ and called him an ‘unfinished article’.

“We won’t be putting any more pressure on him and let him continue to get better and better,” he said about Rehan – the youngest player to make a Test debut for England.

“He is not a finished article but it’s a great sign for us going forward to have someone at such a young age, whom we can put a lot of time and effort into him” he maintained.

READ: Ollie Pope gifts his shoes to young Pakistani fan in Karachi Test

 

KARACHI: England’s wicket-keeper batter Ollie Pope surprised a young Pakistan by giving him a special gift on Tuesday in the final Test at National Bank Cricket Arena.

England sealed a sensational eight-wicket early on day four of the third Test and became the first team to clean-sweep Pakistan in a Test series at home.

Soon after the conclusion of the match, Pope went towards the stands where a few enthusiastic young Pakistani fans were waving at him. He responded to their affection by tossing his shoes towards one of the children.

Pope remained one of the leading run-getters for England in the Test series as he accumulated 238 runs with help of a century and two fifties.

Moreover, the English player also gifted signed cricket balls to Pakistani fans present in the stadium as a token of appreciation.

It is pertinent to mention here this was England’s first Test tour of Pakistan since 2005.

READ: World Cup winners Argentina return ahead of welcome home party

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja has suggested the fast bowlers of the country improve their fitness to the levels needed for red-ball cricket, saying, unlike other teams, Pakistan are bringing players from the T20 side to Test cricket

“We are asking our fast bowler to achieve the five-day fitness first,” he told reporters on Saturday during the opening day of the final Test between England and Pakistan.

“We are not only the team who are facing these concerns, the players all around the world are getting injured because of busy schedules,” he replied when asked about the growing number of injuries among the fast bowlers of the national team.

Speedsters Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah have been ruled out of the series due to injuries after playing the first Test in Rawalpindi. Meanwhile, star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi was not included in the Test squad since he was going through a rehabilitation program after pulling a knee strain in the final of the T20 World Cup.

Chairman PCB also expressed his displeasure over the fact that Pakistan was bringing fast bowlers to the Test side from the T20 team.

“Ideally we have to take players from five-day cricket to white ball, but what we are doing is taking them from One-days and T20s to the Test,” he said.

Moreover, Ramiz dispelled the impression that team management forced the veteran batter to take retirement on the pretext of bringing radical changes to the team’s approach,  saying if our strength is occupying crease then we should continue with our strength.

“We knew beforehand that England were coming with a different mindset after they selected Liam Livingstone, a T20 specialist in the squad,” he said.

He added Pakistan had a very limited pool of players in Test cricket and we had to work to increase that pool.

“Home series is your best shot to try new players,” he replied when asked why Pakistan went with a number of debutants during the ongoing Test series against England.

READ: ‘Greatest’ Messi ready for fitting World Cup farewell

MULTAN: Former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) superstars Kalisto and Sam Gradwell will wrestle here on December 17 and 18 for the Ring of Pakistan Heavyweight Championship.

According to the details, local wrestler Badshah Khan will be defending his heavyweight title in a Fatal-Four way match, which will feature Kalisto, Sam Gradwell and an Austrian wrestler.

Notably, Kalisto had been linked with the American sports entertainment firm WWE and won several prestigious titles including the United States Championship.

Whereas, Gradwell was linked with the WWE franchise NXT where he participated in United Kingdom Championship in 2018 and WWE’s The Bump a year later.

Meanwhile, besides them, several notable names in the wrestling industry will also feature in the wrestling event here at DHA Multan Sports Complex.

READ: Spanish great Busquets announces international retirement