Category: Sports

Pakistan Hockey Federation has announced a 20 member squad for Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup being held from 2nd of next month at Ipoh in Malaysia.

Muhammad Abdullah will lead Pakistan team at the tournament.

Pakistan will play their first match against Malaysia on the 4th of May.

Source: Radio Pakistan

The 4th T20 international of five-match series between Pakistan and New Zealand will be played in Lahore tomorrow.

The series is levelled by one-one.

Source: Radio Pakistan

In the third and last One-Day International in Karachi, West Indies women beat Pakistan women by 88 runs and won the series 3-0.

Chasing the victory target of 279 runs, Pakistan women scored 190 runs.

Hayley Matthews from West Indies was declared player of the match and player of the series as well.

Source: Radio Pakistan

EVO Japan, one of the biggest fighting game tournaments to date, is set to take place this weekend at the Ariake GYM-EX, Tokyo. Tekken 8 will be a major name at this event, but sadly, one of the best Tekken players in the world, Arslan Ash, will not be able to make it due to visa issues.

In a recently shared tweet on X (formerly Twitter), 4-time EVO champion Arslan Ash revealed that there will not be a single Pakistani player at the upcoming tournament. He will now have to wait another year to try and join again.

Regardless, he thanked his peers for helping him out with his visa application and now sets his sights on the EVO US tournament instead, which is set to take place in July this year.

Several other fighting game personalities including Justin Wong cheered for him in the comments, while most others including Pakistani fans shared their frustration with the visa system.

Content creator and FGC (fighting game community) commentator Nosherwan Khan clarified that the process to acquire a Japanese visa
is a lot more complicated now due to the embassy changing things around.

Frag Fest Spring 2024

Arslan’s latest win includes the Frag Fest Spring 2024 event in the US where he claimed victory in a LAN tournament for Tekken 8. The tournament took place in Pomona, California, United States.

The final match was between Dr.theJAKEMAN and Arslan Ash in which Arslan won a clean 3-0. Arslan played his usual Azucena in the grand finals, while Dr.theJAKEMAN stuck with his King. Even in the final match, Dr. the JAKEMAN only managed to take a single round against Arslan.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan’s karate sensation, Shahzaib Rind, lamented the lack of support from the government despite his remarkable achievements in the sport.

Rind brought glory to Pakistan following his emphatic victory in the Karate Combat League which was held in Dubai where he showcased exceptional skills and technique to win the tournament.

Balochistan Sports Department also welcomed him at the airport, upon his return from the tournament as an acknowledgement of his exceptional performance.

The Director General of Sports in Balochistan congratulated Shahzaib and pledged to support him in his future sporting endeavours which will also be extended to other athletes in the province.

Having triumphed over his Indian counterpart in the Karate Combat, Rind’s journey in karate reflects sheer determination and passion.

However, despite his accomplishments in the Karate Combat, he finds himself struggling due to the absence of substantial backing from governmental authorities.

He recently posted a video on X and voiced h
is concerns highlighting the challenges he faced as an athlete striving to excel without adequate support while reiterating that he had been training since Ramzan.

Shahzaib highlighted the significance of his triumph in the Karate Combat League while pointing out that this victory will open doors and avenues for youngsters in Pakistan who want to excel in the field of Karate.

The 25-year-old emphasized the need for financial assistance, training facilities, and coaching staff to further hone his skills and compete at the global level.

Referred to as ‘The King’ which is his in-ring name, the athlete also received praise from Bollywood actor Salman Khan who also graced the Karate Combat event with his presence and congratulated the Karate Combat champion.

Grievances of the athlete shed light on a broader issue within Pakistan’s sporting landscape, where talented athletes often find themselves overlooked and unsupported by the state.

His father echoed similar sentiments, expressing disappointment in the gov
ernment’s lack of support for athletes and insignificant competitions in the region that can nurture talent at the grassroots level.

Despite the hurdles, Rind remains determined to continue his journey in karate and make his nation proud.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Pakistan all-rounder Shadab Khan admits that the T20 combination of the Pakistan national team is not up to the mark following defeat in the third T20I match against New Zealand at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

Former Pakistan vice-captain Shadab Khan didn’t shy away from addressing the shortcomings within the team’s T20 setup. In a recent press conference, he expressed his views on the team’s composition, suggesting that there are areas that need refinement to achieve optimal performance before the T20I World Cup.

Shadab’s willingness to openly acknowledge the team’s deficiencies underscores that the Pakistan cricket team needs massive improvement before the mega-event in June.

As Pakistan gears up for upcoming T20 tournaments, including the highly anticipated ICC T20 World Cup, Shadab Khan’s remarks serve as a timely reminder for the team to reassess its strategies and address any lingering issues before the World Cup that will be held in the USA and the Caribbean conditions.

While acknowledging the
talent and potential within the team, Shadab said that young players should develop their skills to adapt to modern-day cricket emphasizing that they should be given a proper chance at the international stage and should not be made a scapegoat in case of defeat.

The leg-spinner appreciated that the PCB was giving youngsters a chance through its rotation policy but admitted that experienced players like Imad Wasim and Amir should also be given a chance as the national team needs their vast experience.

Shadab was the top-scorer for Pakistan in the third T20I against New Zealand where he delivered a quickfire 41 off 20 deliveries which featured four boundaries and two sixes.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The second edition of CM Punjab Pink Games will be held at various venues in Lahore from May 2 to May 5, the event will feature competitions in seven sports, including athletics, hockey, basketball, archery, tape ball cricket, badminton, and table tennis.

In this regard, a meeting was held which was led by DG Youth Affairs Punjab Pervez Iqbal to discuss how the preparations for the upcoming event will be conducted effectively.

The meeting was also attended by the Director of Sports Yasmeen Akhtar, Director Admin M Kaleem, and Deputy Directors Zahoor Ahmed and Ata ur Rehman.

Surprisingly, football and cricket have not been included in the competition which are essentially the two most popular sports in the country while tape-ball cricket was preferred over hard-ball cricket in this year’s CM Punjab games.

Tape-ball cricket has been a pivotal part of Pakistan’s street cricket and domestic structure, however, providing the women athletes a platform with exposure to hard-ball cricket could have been a better
option.

Women’s teams from all the major universities of Punjab and various divisions of the province are expected to take part in this year’s Pink Games.

DG Youth Affairs expressed his commitment to providing significant opportunities, especially to women athletes in the province under the visionary leadership of CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz.

He emphasized that the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) is determined to work on the ontogeny of young athletes so that they can develop and represent Pakistan in major international events.

Last year, CM Punjab Pink Games was held in the province under the stewardship of Sports Minister Punjab Wahab Riaz but the winners of various competitions did not receive any prize money and subsequently returned their medals as it had no significance for them.

Source: Pro Pakistani

The New Zealand tour to Pakistan is set to kick off in Gaddafi Stadium Lahore tomorrow where the last two matches of the 5-match T20I series will be held.

Pressure is mounting after the defeat in the third T20I series on Babar Azam’s men as the series is tied at 1-1 courtesy of Mark Chapman’s scintillating innings of 87 runs off 42 balls.

Speculations are still rife about the potential playing elevens of both teams but the stage is set for both sides to try and test their combinations ahead of the World Cup in June.

However, the final composition of Pakistan’s playing eleven remains a subject of intrigue, with regular wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan suffering an injury which has ruled him out of contention.

Pakistan’s main concern is the strike rate of the top-order considering that Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam did not capitalize on Saim Ayub’s quickfire knock in the last match.

Fakhar Zaman can replace Mohammad Rizwan and fill the one-down slot, a role in which the wicket-keeper batter has strug
gled recently, especially in this home-series against the Kiwis.

In the middle order, Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed are going to pick them for themselves while Pakistan can go with three seamers and three spinners with Imad Wasim making a return for Pakistan with Mohammad Amir, Shaheen Afridi, and Abbas Afridi in the XI.

Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed is another option in the ranks who can be useful in the conditions of Lahore while Usama Mir can also be used as a trump card in home conditions.

The Men in Green will face the Kiwis at 7 pm tonight at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Here is the expected playing XI:

Babar Azam (c)

Saim Ayub

Fakhar Zaman

Usman Khan (wk)

Iftikhar Ahmed

Shadab Khan

Imad Wasim

Shaheen Shah Afridi

Mohammad Amir

Abrar Ahmed

Abbas Afridi

Source: Pro Pakistani