In a concerning development for the Pakistan cricket team, Mohammad Rizwan's availability for the remaining matches of the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand is in doubt due to the wicket-keeper batsman's hamstring injury.

Rizwan, a key top-order player for the national side, suffered the injury during the third T20I against the Black Caps in Rawalpindi on Sunday wherein he whizzed past Virat Kohli and Babar Azam's records by scoring the fastest 3,000 runs in T20 International cricket while featuring in his 79th T20I innings.

The team management might reach any decision over the right-handed batter's availability today after reviewing his scans.

The development comes after Green Shirts' wicket-keeper batsman Azam Khan was ruled out of the NZ series after experiencing discomfort in his right calf during a practice session.

According to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the cricketer was advised to undertake a 10-day rest following radiology reports confirming a Grade One tear of his right calf muscle.

It must be noted that New Zealand made a stunning comeback in the five-match T20I series courtesy of Mark Chapman who led the visitors to victory in the third T20I match played on Sunday.

The series is now levelled at 1-1 with two remaining matches set to be played in Lahore on April 25 and 27.

Before that, the national side thrashed visitors in the second T20I to secure seven-wicket on April 20 after the Black Caps were bowled out for just 90 runs in 18.1 overs.

The first match of the series was washed out due to rain.

Ahead of a Karate Combat 45 clash between arch-rivals in Dubai on (Saturday), Pakistan captain Shahzaib Rindh slapped India’s skipper Rana Singh.

The video of the incident went viral on social media wherein Rindh can be seen slapping Rana while on stage during a press conference on Friday. 

"How was the slap bro?" Rindh said after the clash on stage.

It must be noted that Rindh created history in February earlier this year after he registered the fastest knockout at Karate Combat 44 in Mexico City. The 25-year-old stunned his opponent, Marco Cubas of Peru, with a knockout in 21 seconds during the first round.

The Karate Combat, the world’s premier full-contact karate league, event in Dubai will be hosted by former mixed martial artists Bas Rutten and George St Pierre, YouTuber Mike Majlak and renowned Indian actor Salman Khan.

The fight night will begin with Pit Submission series featuring Craig Jones vs Andre Muniz.

The co-main event will include the Bantamweight title fight between Luiz Rocha vs Myrza-Bek Tebuev.

Meanwhile, Luke Rockhold and Joe Schilling go head-to-head in the main event.

Main Event
Luke Rockhold vs Joe Schilling

Co-Main Event | Double Champ Fight

Luiz Rocha vs Myrza-Bek TeBuev

Karate vs Muay Thai

Eddie Farrell vs Raymond Daniels

Vitalii Dubina vs Edgar Skrivers

Yodkaikaew “Y2K” Fairtex vs Saidyokub Kakhramonv

India vs Pakistan
Rana Singh vs Shahzaib Rindh

Himanshu Kaushik vs Uloomi Karim

Pawan Gupta vs Rizwan Ali

Prelims
Adam Noi vs Ali Motamed

Huang Shuai Lu vs Ali Zainfar

Pit Submission Series - Grappling:

Craig Jones vs Rinat Fakhretdinov

Kaynan Duarte vs Pouya Rahmani

Zayed Alkatheeri vs Osamah Almarwai

The Paris 2024 Olympic torch was lit on Tuesday in a traditional manner during an impressing ceremony for the games slated to begin from July 26 this year.

The role of high priestess was played by Greek actress Mary Mina, who lit the torch using a backup flame instead of a parabolic mirror that is normally used, due to cloudy skies, for the start of a relay in Greece and France.

It will end with the lighting of the Olympic flame in Paris at the opening ceremony.

The French capital has bagged the rights to host the summer Olympics for a third time after 1900 and 1924.

"In these difficult times we are living through, with wars and conflicts on the rise, people are fed up with all the hate, the aggression and negative news they are facing day in and day out," International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said in his speech.

"We are longing for something which brings us together, something that is unifying, something that gives us hope. The Olympic flame that we are lighting today is the symbol of this hope."

The torch of the first runner of the relay, Greece's Olympic rowing champion Stefanos Ntouskos, was then lit by Mina.

Ntouskos then handed the flame, after a short run, to France's three-time Olympic medallist in swimming and head of Paris' Olympic torch relay, Laure Manaudou, as the representative of the host city.

The flame will be officially handed over to Paris Games organisers in Athens' Panathenaic stadium, venue of the first modern Games in 1896, on April 26 after an 11-day relay across Greece.

It will then depart the next day for France on board a three-masted ship, the ‘Belem’ where it will arrive on May 8 in Marseille, with up to 150,000 people expected to attend the ceremony in the southern city's Old Port.

Marseille, founded by the Greek settlers of Phocaea around 600BC, will host the sailing competitions.

The French torch relay will continue for 68 days and will conclude in Paris with the lighting of the Olympic flame on July 26.

GENEVA: Friba Rezayee, the first woman to represent Afghanistan at the Olympics, has been appalled by the treatment of women since the resurgence of the Taliban and is now campaigning for the country to be kept out of the Paris Games.

Rezayee, a judoka who competed at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, has called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Afghanistan due to the Taliban’s human rights record. She has argued that under such a ban, Afghan women should still be allowed to participate as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

“Given tons and tons of evidence about the Taliban, about their brutal treatment of women and children, they are very dangerous,” Rezayee, who now lives in Vancouver, told Reuters. “If the IOC allows them to enter the Olympics at the heart of Europe, in Paris in 2024, it’s very dangerous for the people.”

Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban administration, declined to comment.

Judoka feels whatever she did to support women’s rights has been undone by International Olympic Committee

The Taliban — who say they respect women’s rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law and local customs — have closed girls’ high schools and placed travel restrictions on women without a male guardian and restricted access to parks and gyms.

Asked to comment on Rezayee’s call, the IOC referred to a statement made last month by James Macleod, its Director of National Olympic Committee Relations and Olympic Solidarity.

Macleod said at the time that the IOC was in dialogue with Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) and sport authorities “with the aim to reverse the current restrictions on access to sport for women and young girls in Afghanistan.” He said that although the IOC acknowledged different views on whether Afghanistan’s NOC should be suspended, it “doesn’t believe that isolation of the Afghan sporting community at this time is the right approach.”

Separately, the IOC said that athletes needed a refugee status confirmed by the United Nations refugee agency to be eligible for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

‘Stronger than men with guns’

Rezayee was 18 when she stepped onto the mat in Athens in a historic moment for her country. She was convinced her pioneering role would help advance women’s rights. “I actually believed that we would only progress from here,” she said.

“When I returned from Athens, I stayed in Afghanistan and I wanted to stay in Afghanistan. I continued my training because I saw the important changes it was making in every single girl’s life.” But her hopes of seeing her countrywomen gain more rights were crushed when the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

“It feels like whatever I did to support women’s rights and gender equality back in 2004, it has been all undone by the IOC and by the Taliban and people who tolerate the Taliban,” Rezayee said.

In February, a UN expert described the Taliban’s disrespect for the rights of women and girls as “unparalleled in the world,” and said their takeover had “exacerbated a high prevalence of gender-based violence against women and girls.”

The IOC suspended Afghanistan’s NOC in 1999.

LAHORE: Signs suggest that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi is hesitant to release payments owed to Mohammad Hafeez for his stint as former team director of the national side, as well as payments due to domestic cricketers who participated in various tournaments last year. This hesitation appears to stem from the fact that all these activities were conducted under the supervision of Mohsin’s predecessor Zaka Ashraf.

Sources disclosed to Dawn that neither Hafeez has received any payments from the PCB for his brief tenure as team director, which began on Nov 16, 2023, and concluded on Feb 16, 2024, nor have the domestic cricketers received their dues.

Hafeez was appointed as team director by the Zaka after Mickey Arthur was removed from the post due to the team’s poor performances in the Asia Cup and the World Cup last year.

Zaka, serving as chairman of the PCB’s interim Management Comm­ittee, also recommended Hafeez’s appointment to then caretaker Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq for approval as team director for four years. However, Zaka’s recommendation did not receive approval before his resignation from his post.

During Hafeez’s tenure as team director, the Pakistan’s performance on tours to Australia and New Zealand was disappointing. They suffered defeats in all three Test matches against Australia and faced a 4-1 defeat in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand.

Zaka resigned just before the conclusion of the tour of New Zealand due to a lack of full decision-making authority. Unfortunately, Zaka’s departure has left Hafeez awaiting his overdue salaries and other entitlements.

Sources indicate that the paperwork for Hafeez’s payment has been prepared and awaits approval from the relevant authorities. However, there may be a discrepancy between the PCB and Hafeez regarding the duration of payment. Hafeez began his role on Nov 15, 2023, and concluded his last assignment with the New Zealand tour on Jan 21, 2024.

The transition from Zaka’s tenure to Mohsin’s leadership saw Hafeez being informed on Feb. 6 that his services were no longer required. In response, Hafeez expressed his disappointment via a post on X, stating, “I accepted the new role as team director with great enthusiasm to bring about positive reforms. Unfortunately, my designated tenure, offered by the PCB for 4 years, was cut short by 2 months due to the change in chairmanship.”

Furthermore, the PCB has yet to settle the match fees owed to players who participated in the last National T20 Cup, National U-19, and National U-16 cricket tournaments last year.

Interestingly, payments for participants in the Ramadan Cup, held in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad during the holy month of Ramazan, were promptly cleared by the PCB.

This prioritisation of the Ramadan Cup payments over those owed for the aforementioned tournaments has sparked concern among both regional cricket associations and players, according to sources. Additionally, prize money from domestic tournaments held during Zaka’s tenure also remain outstanding.

The New Zealand cricket team arrived in Islamabad in the early hours of Sunday morning ahead of their T20I series against Pakistan set to commence on April 18.

The hosts, led by Michael Bracewell, will go up against the Men in Green in a five-match series of which three will be played in Rawalpindi, while the rest of the two games will be played in Lahore with the series culminating on April 27.

A day earlier, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the match officials for the forthcoming series. The panel led by Andy Pycroft, a member of the Emirates International Cricket Council (ICC) elite panel of match referees, includes Aleem Dar, Asif Yaqoob, Faisal Afridi and Rashid Riaz.

On April 9, the board announced the much-awaited Babar-Azam-led 17-member squad for the T20I series with pacer Mohammad Amir and all-rounder Imad Wasim making a comeback into the national side

The series will also likely see Usman Khan and Muhammad Irfan Khan making their debut for the Green Shirts owing to their impressive performances in the recently concluded ninth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL 9).

Match fixtures
18 April – 1st T20I, Rawalpindi

20 April – 2nd T20I, Rawalpindi

21 April – 3rd T20I, Rawalpindi

25 April – 4th T20I, Lahore

27 April – 5th T20I, Lahore

Squads for T20 2024
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Irfan Niazi, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Khan, Zaman Khan, Usama Mir.

New Zealand: Michael Bracewell (c), Tom Blundell, Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, Zack Fowlkes, Jimmy Neesham, Will O'Rourke, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi.