Abdul Jabbar FaisalISLAMABAD: As many as 3 male and 2 female players will participate in the Wall Climbing fixture of the 19th Asian Games 2023, as the upcoming event was initially planned for the previous year 2022 in Hangzhou, China but had to be rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the same city.President, Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) Abu Zafar Sadiq told this reporter that all players would visit China on their own outlays. Abu Zar Faiz, Zaheer Ahmed, and Fazal Wadood will compete in different two disciplines of climbing. Iqra Jillani, and Eman Janat will also represent Pakistan in the regional mini-Olympics Games while Rehmatullah and Najeeb Khan will accompany the players as officials.   

Pacers ruin Afghan batting line-up, Haris Rauf snares 5 batters, Shaheen 2Sports Bulletin ReportHambantota (Sri Lanka): An aggressive bowling spell by right-arm pacer Haris Rauf (5 for 18) destroyed Afghan batters, who were chasing merely 202 runs in 50 overs to create new history, in the first One Day International fixture of a three-match tie here at Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Sri Lanka on Tuesday.Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and decided to bat first, as Green Shirts as Fakhar Zaman departed in the first over. Afghanistan bowlers kept it tight as Pakistan continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Iftikhar Ahmed's gritty innings and Shadab Khan's crucial contribution lifted Pakistan's total, guiding them to a competitive score of 201 all out in 47.1 overs.Imam-ul-Haq's composed knock of 61 runs anchored the innings, while Iftikhar Ahmed's 30 runs and Shadab Khan's enterprising 39 were pivotal in setting up a defendable target. The Afghan bowlers, led by Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi, showcased their prowess to ensure Pakistan didn't run away with a bigger total. Some late-order resilience exhibited by Naseem Shah helped Pakistan reach the 200-run mark.Afghanistan's chase faltered right from the beginning as they lost early wickets under the pressure of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah's fiery pace. Rahmanullah Gurbaz showed some resistance with 18 runs, but Afghanistan's middle-order struggled to find stability. Haris Rauf's five-wicket haul completely dismantled Afghanistan's batting lineup.Azmatullah Omarzai's valiant 16, despite retiring hurt, was the only silver lining for Afghanistan. Their innings concluded at a mere 59 runs in 19.2 overs, giving Pakistan an emphatic 142-run victory.Haris Rauf, with his outstanding figures of 5 wickets for 18 runs, was undoubtedly the star of the match, earning him the well-deserved Player of the Match award.The win puts Pakistan ahead in the three-match series, leading Afghanistan 1-0. Both teams will meet again for the second ODI at the same venue on 24 August.Scores in Brief:Pakistan: 201 all out in 47.1 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 61, Shadab Khan 39, Iftikhar Ahmed 30; Mujeeb Ur Rahman 3-33, Mohammad Nabi 2-34)Afghanistan: 59 all out in 19.2 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 18, Azmatullah Omarzai 16 not out; Haris Rauf 5-18, Shaheen Shah Afridi 2-9, Naseem Shah 1-12)Player of the Match: Haris Rauf (Pakistan)

Sports Bulletin ReportChuncheon (Korea): Pakistan's Hamza Saeed won the bronze medal in the ongoing World Taekwondo Octagon (Octagon) Diamond Games 2023 in Chuncheon, Korea. Ryong Woo Li of Korea won 2-0 against Hamza Saeed in the semi-final of the event. Earlier, Hamza Saeed defeated Mohammad Ashraf of Afghanistan by 2-1 in the quarterfinal.  Meanwhile, in World Taekwondo Beach Championship G-2, Pakistan's Aqdasullah Qadeer and Naila won bronze medals in the Poomsae Event. 

Sports Bulletin ReportBirmingham (UK): In a significant step towards fostering sports inclusion and expanding opportunities for visually impaired athletes, a momentous meeting took place between Syed Sultan Shah, President of World Blind Cricket Ltd, and Ilgar Rahimov, President of the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA). The meeting was centered on the exploration of a potential sports partnership and the inclusion of cricket in future IBSA games.Both leaders engaged in an enthusiastic discussion about the power of sports to break down the barriers and promote inclusivity. They expressed their shared commitment to creating an environment where visually impaired athletes can thrive on the global stage.Syed Sultan Shah, President of World Blind Cricket Ltd, sees this meeting as a promising step towards opening up new avenues for blind cricket. By collaborating with IBSA, we can further develop and promote the Blind Cricket."Ilgar Rahimov, President of IBSA was happy about the possibility of including blind cricket in future IBSA games and will discuss this matter in IBSA Board meeting. Our discussions with World Blind Cricket Ltd align with our vision of expanding the horizons of blind sports as large number of athletes participate and their passion make these sports an interesting one. Both organizations recognized the need to work closely and collaborative efforts will be made to develop the necessary frameworks to facilitate the integration of blind cricket into the broader spectrum of IBSA sports. The meeting concluded on a positive note, with both Syed Sultan Shah and Ilgar Rahimov expressing their eagerness to take the discussions forward. Brief intro about both Organizations: About World Blind Cricket Ltd: World Blind Cricket Ltd is a global governing body for Blind Cricket. Committed to promoting the sport at all levels, it aims to provide opportunities for visually impaired individuals to participate in cricket and showcase their talents on the international stage.About IBSA: The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) is a dynamic organization that oversees various sports for blind and partially sighted athletes. IBSA is dedicated to promoting and developing sports that empower visually impaired individuals, fostering inclusivity and equal opportunities. 

WAPDA overcome host team Mari Petroleum Company Limited 3-2 in finalAbdul Jabbar FaisalRAWALPINDI: Pakistan WAPDA overcame host team Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) 3-2 in the final of the 2nd Mari Petroleum Azdi Cup Hockey Tournament 2023 here at Lieutenant General Ashfaq Nadeem Hockey Stadium Ayub Park.Umar Bhatta, Tossiq Arshad, and Salman Razzak scored goal for WAPDA while Mohammad Sufyan Khan and Arbaaz Ahmed scored one goal each for Mari Petroleum. Yasir Khursheed International and Ameer Hamza performed the duties of umpiring while Asad Abbas and Irfan Tahir were reserve umpires. Technical Officials were Murtaza Bhatti, Asif Baig, Hamza Tufail, Gulfam Khokhar, Akhtar Ali and Rafiqur Rahman performed the responsibilities of judges well. At the end of the final match, the chief guest, Chairman Fuji Group of Companies, Waqar Ahmad Malik awarded the Pakistan WAPDA winning trophy along with prize money Rs 1.5 million. On this occasion, Secretary General Pakistan Hockey Federation Syed Haider Hussain, Syeda Shehla Raza, Tournament Director Olympian Nasir Ali, Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh, Olympian Naeem Akhtar, Olympian Saeed Khan, Olympian Rahim Khan, Olympian Danish Kaleem, Rana Shafiq International, Tournament Organizing Secretary Col. Mohammad Yamin, Assistant Tournament Director Major Tariq Wark, Assistant Tournament Director Raja Shuja Iqbal, Umpires Manager Zulfiqar Hussain, Assistant Umpires Manager Kamran Shah, Assistant Umpires Manager Mubarak Ali, and Assistant Media Coordinator Mohammad Hafeez were present.

Abdul Ghaffar KhanISLAMABAD: The scrutiny of the Islamabad Region’s clubs was conducted under the supervision of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Arbab Altaf here, as clubs participated in the process enthusiastically.According to the details, Zaka Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board last week, asked to re-scrutiny after the completion of the time according to the Pakistan Cricket Board 2014 rules. Scrutiny of zones has been completed. Pakistan Cricket Board Scrutiny Committee Chairman Babar Altaf supervised it in a very friendly atmosphere. Scrutiny under the supervision of the chairman Aabar Altaf declared clean and transparent by all club members of Islamabad regions and paid tribute to the PCB for providing full opportunities to all the club owners to present all the records of their clubs.

Federation makes a change in the selection Committee, Mohammad Shafiq to replace Shakil AbbasiAbdul Jabbar FaisalISLAMABAD: Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) invited 36 players from different departments for the training camp for the upcoming Asian Games 2023, which will be rolled into action from August 21 (Monday) here at Nasser Bunda Hockey Stadium, Pakistan Sports Complex under the supervision of Shahnaz Sheikh. The Asian Games will be held from September 23 to October 8 in Hangzhou, China. According to the media department of PHF, all players have been advised to report to the camp commandant and head coach, Olympian Shahnaz Shaikh, on August 21st before 4 pm. Also, PHF designated Rana Mohammad Shafiq, a former gold medalist in the World Hockey Cup, as a member of the National Hockey Selection Committee after the approval of President PHF, Brig (Retd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar. Rana Mohammad Shafiq, who clinched gold medals in the 1978 Asian Games and the 1978 World Cup, participated in 33 international matches. Rana Mohammad Shafiq has also served various roles within the national hockey teams, including manager, coach, selector, and camp commandant. Rana Mohammad Shafiq will replace Olympian Shakeel Abbasi.Also, PHF finalized the team management, as the president PHF Khalid Sajjad Khokhar nominated Olympian Shahnaz Shaikh (Head Coach/Camp Commandant), Olympian Dilawar Hussain, Olympian Shakeel Abbasi (coaches), and Amjad Ali (goalkeeper coach). Saeed Khan will be team manager while Brigadier Mohammad Yusuf Baig will be team doctor. Rana Nasrullah Khan's appointment has been as a physical trainer. Players included are as follows:Names of players: Akmal Hussain (WAPDA), Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan (MPCL), Waqar Ahmed (WAPDA), Ali Raza (Punjab), Abdullah Sheikh (Sindh), Mohammad Abdullah (MPCL), Arbaaz Ahmed (MPCL), Mohammad Sufyan Khan (KPK), Aqeel Ahmed (WAPDA), Mohammad Bilal Aslam (Customs), Osama Bashir (PAF), Mohammad Murtaza Yaqoob (WAPDA), Arbaaz Ayaz (Sindh), Ehtisham Aslam (MPCL), Mohammad Baqir (Punjab), Mohammad Nadeem Khan (KPK), Mohammad Imran (PAF), Syed Shahbaz Haider (Navy), Rana Abdul Waheed (WAPDA), Mohammad Imad (Customs), Mohammad Afraz (MPCL), Roman Khan (WAPDA), Arshad Liaquat (MPCL), Abdul Qayyum (Customs), Abdul Rahman (WAPDA), Waqar Ali (MPCL), Mohammad Arsalan (Punjab), Mohammad Umar Bhatta (WAPDA), Abdul Hanan Shahid (WAPDA), Mohammad Shahzeb Khan (Customs), Abdul Wahab (Sindh), Zakaria Hayat (Navy), Basharat Ali (Navy), Rana Waleed (Punjab), Hamza Fayyaz (Punjab), Abdul Rahman (PAF). 

Sports Bulletin ReportSeoul (South Korea): The first medals of the IFSC Climbing Youth World Championships being held in Seoul, South Korea, were handed out with Japan staking their claim for top nation early. At the Seoul Mountain Climbing & Culture Center, Japan secured seven medals – five in the Under 16 Lead category and two in the Under 18.  In the first finals of the 2023 competition, the Under 16 climbers took to the wall to start the medal rush for the Land of the Rising Sun, including a podium lockout in the men’s and a one-two in the women’s.The men’s final went to form with the top eight in semi-finals left unchanged in the final results. It meant Hamada Ryusei claimed gold with the only top of the final. Second to fifth position all fell reaching for that top hold that Hamada made.Nagamori Hareru and Toda Ryota of Japan, Jan Stipek of the Czech Republic and Luca Nundel of Germany all tied so countback to the semi-finals counted. It meant Nagamori got silver and Toda bronze with Stipek in fourth and Nundel fifth.On 34+, Oda was two moves ahead of teammate Mugishima Kohana who took silver, and ten ahead of Spain’s Geila Macia Martin who spoiled the Under 16 Japanese podium party.Macia Martin just edged out Austria’s Flora Oblasser by an attempt at hold 24. Ukraine’s Rafael Kazbekova was fifth ahead of Spain’s Julia Benach Zubero in sixth. Completing the final positions was Yamane Kaho of Japan in seventh and Analise Van Hoang of the USA in eighth. Moving onto the Under 18’s, it was third time lucky for France’s Meije Lerondel. Having twice taken Youth Worlds Lead silver in 2021 and 2022, the 2023 edition was finally time for her to stand on the top step of the women’s podium.Reaching hold 26+, Lerondel had an agonising wait for six more athletes to make their attempts at overhauling her. No one could.The closest to the newly crowned champion’s score was South Korea’s Kim Chaeyeong who was just a plus move behind, unable to use the noise of the crowd to gain that vital move. Kim still secured silver though ahead of Japan’s Mochizuki Moka who took bronze.Fourth place went to another Japanese climber, Yama Manami who was ahead of fifth placed Sarina Ghaffari from Iran and sixth placed Jennifer Eucharia Buckley from Spain. 

Sports Bulletin ReportISLAMABAD: Pakistan claimed one gold, one silver, and one bronze medal in the Asian Juniors Squash Championship 2023 that concluded at Dalian, China on Sunday. It is noteworthy to mention here that Pakistan had won three gold and one silver medal in 2018, and won a team event in 2022 in India after thrashing the hosts in the final.According to Pakistan Squash Federation (PSF), Nauman Khan and Ahmad Rayyan Khalil both Pakistani lads played of the final of Under-13 age category. Nauman Khan beat compatriot Ahmad Rayyan Khalil 3-2 in a five games nail-and-bite contest. The final score line was 9/11, 11/8, 6/11, 11/3, 11/9. Abdullah Nawaz won the bronze medal in the Asian Junior Individual Squash Championship Under-17 category competitions.President PSF, Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar congratulated the players and officials on their remarkable performances in the championship.

Sports Bulletin ReportLAHORE: The Ace Junior Golf League (AJGL) Monthly Medal Regional Match concluded here at the Gymkhana Golf Course with an astounding success, as this will be followed respectively in Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Sona Golf Club, Rahim Yar Khan, and the last one in Rumanza, Multan.Ace junior golf is an extension of Girls Golf Matches, which was the brainchild of its founding member Dr. Asma Afzal Shami, former chairperson ladies golf PGF and Patron and Chairperson BOD AJGL. She has designed the AJGL to be a golf league for both girls and boys, between the ages of 6-21 years that can eventually become a much-needed nursery at the grassroots level for discovering, nurturing and producing our future golf champions, at the national level. Munazza Shaheen Rules Official and President AJGL has setup the format of AJGL including complete web portal equipped with ranking, profiles, events coverage and players’ registration. Also social media usage will ensure the much presence of Pakistan in international golfing community. She helped with the necessary framework, adopted from accomplished golfing countries like USA, UK, Thailand, Malaysia and others, to have two basic principles. First principle; the golfers are divided into age categories, not skill level or handicap, the players know that they have to achieve a certain proficiency level as per their age and start in early years in order to compete in the world. Second Principle, they have to compete on gross and play strategically like green in regulation, two putts strategy, up and down to save pars and learn to keep their scores low rather than winning on net. The youngest junior golfers of age 6 to 10 in Birdie Category performed exceptionally well playing 9 holes. In the girls section, top 4 positions were attained by Noor Bano Chaudry gross 58, Syeda Noor Zara Shah (62), Sara Qasim (77) and Zayneb Akram (78). In boys, Shahzain Iftikhar (49), Issa Khan (59), Nael Haider (65) and Wali Akram (80) came first, second, third and fourth respectively. The eagle category of ages 10 to 14, in girls section, the top 4 positions were clinched by Nataliya Ch (96), Aleesa Almas Rashid (99), Nataliya Nadeem Khan (102) and Zoay Qureshi (103). In the boys section, Mikail Usman (77), Rehan Asif (82), Sher Ali Khan (82), Ibrahim Wajid (84) topped the charts. In the albatross category of ages 14 to 18, in girls’ section, the top 4 positions were taken by Laiba Ali Shah (93), Bushra Fatima (94), Aliha Amjad (102) and Ayezah Amin (133). In the boys section, Ahmed Ibrahim (73), Wajahat Anwer (91), Rohail Ibrahim (92), Hussain Ali Shah (96) were on the top 4 table positions. In the elite category of ages 18-21, in the boys section, the top four positions were taken by Mohammad Saim Tahir (73), Sam Latif (74), Adam Khan (78) and Mohammad Abdullah (85). The event concluded with a very impressive prizes distribution ceremony, which was conducted and by the enthusiastic juniors and organised in a professional manner by Ms Bela Azam, Lady Captain LGGC. Dr Asma Afzal Shami, reading out a special message that had been sent by Lt Gen (R) Hillal, Patron-in-Chief AJGL, said: “I would like to compliment Dr. Asma Shami for envisioning this unique concept which, I’m sure, will prove to be a game changer for the future development of golf in Pakistan. I would also like to eulogies the technical role played by Ms Munazza Shaheen in actualizing Dr Shami’s concept on ground. This unbeatable combination of Dr Shami’s relentless drive and ability to getting things done, and Munazza’s technical skills and unmatched knowledge of golfing rules, are more than a solid guarantee for the future success of AJGL.” Mian Misbah-ur-Rehman, the chief guest, said: “While the federation and its affiliated provincial associations, have long been trying to come up with a workable, a sustainable concept for creating a golfing talent hunting mechanism at the national level. Dr Asma Shami and Ms Munazza Shaheen have shown us the way. All praise and kudos to them and their dedicated team. “The golf league has gymkhanas’ wholehearted support. The club will go out of its way to provide all kinds of support and facilities to the organisers of AJGL. I am aware such an effort requires a lot of hard work. I am also aware of the financial restrain the league will face. I will try and help you to solicit funds for your noble cause,” he added. Shaukat Javed, Convener Gymkhana Golf Club said: “I am pleased to announce that the club will waiver off match fee and the green fee for the juniors to play matches. The organisers are most welcome to use any facility in the club they require. Gymkhana golf club is here to provide its full support to this bold initiative.”