Author: shoaib.jatt

KARACHI: Mohammad Nawaz will not be available for today’s PAK vs NZ fourth ODI as he continues to recover from an index finger injury in his bowling hand, told sources. 

The left-arm spinner hurt himself while bowling in the third ODI on Wednesday as on-strike batter Daryll Mitchell struck forcefully which came back at Nawaz sharply and hit him on the tip of one of his finger on the left hand.

The incident happened in the 21st over after which Nawaz was taken off the field and could not bowl any further in the match.

No replacement for the injured all-rounder has been confirmed yet.

It must be noted here that Pakistan beat New Zealand in the third ODI at Karachi’s National Bank Cricket Arena to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series.

After the series triumph, Babar Azam-led Pakistan will take on the visitors in the fourth ODI at the same venue as the Green Shirts aim to become the No.1 ODI team for the very first time.

LAHORE: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Thursday appointed the renowned Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans as the consultant to their national team for the Junior Asia Cup 2023. 

According to PHF, Oltamans has been contracted for the Junior Asia Cup only which is scheduled to take place between May 23 and June 1 in Salalah, Oman.

The 68-year-old has previously coached Pakistan national hockey team twice in the past in 2003 and 2018.

Besides Oltmans, the coaching panel also includes Olympian Hanif Khan (manager), Adnan Zakir International, Olympian Mudassar Ali Khan, Asif Ahmed Khan International, Olympian Zeeshan Ashraf, Rana Zubair (drag flickers coach) and Mazhar Abbas International (goalkeepers coach).

It is pertinent to mention here a total of 10 teams, split into two pools, will be competing in the upcoming Junior Asia Cup.

Pool A comprises Pakistan, India, Japan, Thailand, and Chinese Taipei, while Pool B consists of Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

Pakistan play their opening match against Chinese Taipei on May 23 before facing Thailand on May 24, India on May 27 and Japan on May 29.

The tournament serves as the qualifying round for the Junior Hockey World Cup 2023 as the top three teams from Junior Asia Cup will qualify for the megaevent in Malaysia later this year.

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LAHORE: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on Saturday announced a 22-member squad for the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics Football Qualifiers, starting in Tajikistan next week. 

Goalkeeper-turned-midfielder Maria Khan, who replaced Hajra Khan as the national women’s team’s captain in August 2022, will continue to lead the side in the upcoming AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

The squad comprises six forwards, seven midfielders, six defenders and three goalkeepers.

According to the details, the national women’s team will hold a three-day training camp in Dubai before flying out to Tajikistan on April 3 for the first round of the Olympic Qualifiers.

Pakistan will play their first match of the tournament against the Philippines on April 5. They face Hong Kong on April 8 before ending their campaign on April 11 with an encounter against home side Tajikistan.

26 Asian teams will participate in the first round of the Olympic qualifiers. They are divided into five groups of four and two groups of three teams.

The seven group winners from the first round will join Asia’s five highest-ranked teams – North Korea, Japan, Australia, China and South Korea – in the second round of the Paris 2024 Olympic women’s football qualifiers to be held in October.

The three group winners and one best-placed runner-up from the second round will play for the two spots for Paris 2024 Olympics in the final round to be held in November-December 2023.

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KARACHI: Legendary Pakistan spinner and former head coach of the men’s national team Saqlain Mushtaq has been roped in by New Zealand Cricket (NZC) as the assistant coach’s role for their upcoming white-ball tour of Pakistan.

Saqlain’s first assignment with the Blackcaps will be the five-match each ODI and T20I series against Pakistan, scheduled from April 14 to May 7.

He served as the national men’s team’s head coach for about a 16-month period before his contract ended in February this year.

Notably, the legendary spinner did not get the contract extension as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) eyeing to appoint a new coaching staff led by former head coach Mickey Arthur.

Consequently, the chairman of the PCB Management Committee Najam Sethi has been in talks with the South Africa-based coach and the deal between the two parties has nearly been finalised.

It is worth mentioning that Arthur coached the national men’s side between 2016 and 2019. During his tenure, Pakistan won their last major ICC event – Champions Trophy 2017 – and also rose to the top spot in the T20I rankings.

The South African coach was then removed from the position following Pakistan’s fifth-place finish in the Cricket World Cup 2019.

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) finalized 32 disciplines and four exhibition sports including women’s cricket for the upcoming National Games, scheduled to take place in Quetta from May 15 to 23.

In a press release issued on Wednesday, POA revised the list of sports disciplines and exhibition sports for the 34th chapter of the National Games.

Earlier the body included 31 categories and three exhibition sports for the event.

The decision was taken after discussion and thorough consideration in the meeting of all stakeholders held on March 6 in Lahore.

The four exhibition sports now include Futsal (Men and Women), Throwball (Men and Women), Canoe and Kayak, along with women’s cricket. 

Details further suggest that a large number of male and female athletes will participate in the event for which POA requested provincial Olympic associations, Islamabad Olympic Association, services, departments and concerned sports federations to take appropriate action for the preparation, participation and conduct of the games in a befitting manner.

Disciplines: Archery (Men & Women), Athletics (Men & Women), Badminton (Men & Women), 4 Baseball (Men), Basketball (Men & Women), Bodybuilding (Men), Boxing (Men & Women), Cycling (Men & Women), Football (Men & Women), Golf (Men & Women), Gymnastics (Men), Handball (Men & Women), Hockey (Men & Women), Judo (Men & Women), Kabaddi (Men), Karate (Men & Women), Rugby (Men & Women), Rowing (Men & Women), Sailing (Men & Women), Shooting (Men & Women), Squash (Men & Women), Softball (Women), Swimming (Men & Women), Table Tennis (Men & Women), Taekwondo (Men & Women), Tug of War (Men), Tennis (Men & Women), Volleyball (Men & Women), Weightlifting (Men & Women), Wrestling (Men), Wushu (Men & Women), Fencing (Men & Women).

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ABBOTTABAD: Eminent Olympic champion and World Cup winner Lala Fazal-ur-Rehman, popularly known as Billa Lala, passed away here on Thursday. He was 84.

Fazal-ur-Rehman, who made his international debut for Pakistan in 1965 against Indonesia, went on to become a legend of the game as he enjoyed a prolific career, decorated with two gold medals and a silver.

Fazal represented Pakistan in two Olympics in 1968 and 1972 and had the honour of winning the gold medal for his nation in his first and a silver in his second global event.

Meanwhile, Fazal also partook in the inaugural Hockey World Cup in 1971 and won the second gold of his iconic career.

The funeral prayers of the legendary hockey player will be offered at Banda Phagwarian here on Friday.

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LAHORE: A robbery was reported at former cricketer Mohammad Hafeez’s house here late Sunday, ARY News Reported.

According to the details, the intruders stormed into the cricketer’s house from the rare entrance before breaking into the former cricketer’s room to steal foreign currency, worth millions of rupees.

Following the unfortunate incident, the uncle of Hafeez’s wife lodged First Information Report (FIR) at the Defence Police Station.

As per the FIR, the robbers looted foreign currency – 20,000 US Dollars, 4,000 Pounds, 3,000 Euros and 5,000 AED – alongside the cricketer’s wife’s jewellery.

Notably, Hafeez is currently in Rawalpindi as he is representing Quetta Gladiators in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) season eight, while his wife is also in the capital city.

Meanwhile, the police have started the investigation after taking the CCTV footage into the record.

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MALDIVES: President Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) retired Maj Gen Muhammad Akram Sahi and secretary general Muhammad Zafar have been elected for the top positions at the South Asian Athletics Federation (SAAF). 

According to the AFP press release issued on Friday, Akram Sahi was elected as chairman of SAAF whereas Zafar was elected as its general secretary during the elective general council meeting of the body, held on February 28 in Maldives.

“All the member federations of SAAF attended the meeting. The President and Secretary General of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) also attended the meeting,” it added.

Moreover, President AFP Sahi was also elected to represent SAAF as vice president of the AAA.

It may be noted here that the current regime of AFP, comprising Mr Sahi and Mr Zafar, was elected in September 2013.

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tent Pegging team continued their domination in the recently-concluded Tent Pegging World Cup qualifiers and booked their spot in the mega event, scheduled later this year.

Pakistan, who dominated the opening two days of the qualifiers, dominated the final day of the event as well as the national side claimed the first position and also booked their spot in the second mega event of the sport.

Meanwhile, besides Pakistan, Jordan also qualified for the Tent Pegging World Cup after finishing second in the six-team tournament.

According to the details, Jordan finished first in single players, while Pakistan claimed second and third spots.

The host nation, however, won the qualifiers with an overall 527 points in the three-day-long competition.

Following Pakistan’s world cup qualification, the President Equestrian Federation of Pakistan (ECP) Sultan Mohammad Ali congratulated the national contingent.

“The Pakistani players performed brilliantly throughout the event,” said President EFP Sultan Mohammad Ali.

“God willing, this time the World Cup will also be ours,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan was given the opportunity to host the Tent Pegging World Cup Qualifiers after India lost the hosting rights of the event last year for letting Indian players play for Nepal’s team illegally.

Six teams participated in the event which includes hosts Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, Belarus, Iran and Syria.

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KARACHI: Legendary Pakistan cricketer Javed Miandad has issued a clarification on his health condition from the hospital, saying he is feeling much better now and threre is nothing serious to worry about. 

Miandad, 65, who was taken to a local hospital in Karachi earlier today, said it was just a routine checkup for which he was admitted to the hospital and told his well wishers not to worry much about his health condition.

“The news about my detriorating health has spread all over the media” he said in a video message from the hospital bed.

“I want to assure my friend, relatives and fans that there is nothing to worry about. It is just a routine checkup.”

Batting legend Miandad was Pakistan cricket’s heartbeat from 1975-1996, during which he scored 16,213 international runs with 31 centuries in 357 matches. In a 402-match first-class career from 1973-74 to 1993-94, Miandad scored 28,663 runs at an average of over 53 with 80 centuries and 139 half-centuries.

Miandad played in the 1975 World Cup as an 18-year-old and then went to participate in five more World Cups, winning the 1992 event in Australia under Imran Khan. In 33 World Cup matches, Miandad scored 1,083 runs at an average of over 43.

Miandad scored a century (163) on Test debut in Lahore in the first Test against New Zealand in 1976 and then scored first of his six double-centuries (206) in the third Test in Karachi. In his 100^th Test in Lahore in 1989, Miandad scored 145 to become only the second batter (other being Gordon Greenidge) to score centuries in debut and 100^th Test.

Miandad scored over 1,000 Test runs against Australia (1,797 in 25 Tests), England (1,329 in 22 Tests), India (2,228 in 28 Tests) and New Zealand (1,919 in 18 Tests), while he scored over 1,000 ODI runs against Australia (1,019 in 35 matches), India (1,175 in 35 matches), Sri Lanka (1,141 in 35 matches) and West Indies (1,930 in 64 matches).

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