Pakistan face BD in Women’s World Cup Qualifier

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Bangladesh feature in a highly anticipated match on the opening day of the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier 2021 to be played across four venues in Harare from Nov 21 to Dec 5.

According to an ICC media release issued on Tuesday, the 10-team tournament gets off with a set of warm-up matches on Nov 19, after which the South Asian rivals will play at the Old Hararians Club on Nov 21.

There will be three other matches played concurrently on the same day West Indies vs Papua New Guinea (Sunrise Cricket Club), Thailand vs Zimbabwe (Harare Sports Club) and Ireland vs Netherlands (Takashinga Cricket Club).

The match between the 2016 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup champions West Indies and Sri Lanka will be another high-profile match during the preliminary league of the tournament which sees the West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands in Group A, and Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe and the US in Group B.

There is no knockout stage in the competition, with the preliminary league, consisting of five teams each in two groups, followed by a Super Six stage to decide the final positions at the end of 29 matches.

The Zimbabwe tournament is an important one on the calendar as it decides three qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from March 4 to April 3, joining five teams who have already qualified - Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand.

The three qualifiers as well as the next two teams will also ensure places in the next ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) along with the top five from last time, as the number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC goes up from eight to 10 teams.—APP

U-18 boys semis line-up complete at junior tennis

LAHORE: Sensational Abdullah Adnan, Shaeel Durab, Faizan Fayyaz and Mahatir Muhammad reached the boys U-18 semi-finals of the Nayza All-Pakistan Junior National Tennis Championship here at the Punjab Tennis Academy, Bagh-e-Jinnah on Tuesday. Abdullah showed fine form to outclass Mustansar Ali 6-1, 6-1.

Abdullah, who was strong with his fore and backhand shots, left Mustansar stranded on many occasions as he was clueless.

Mahatir faced little opposition from Muneeb Majeed as the former won their quarter-final 6-3, 6-3. Shaeel Durab overpowered Zaeem Ghafoor 6-1, 6-1, and Faizan Fayyaz overwhelmed Mohammad Ahtesham 6-3, 6-0 to reach the semi-finals.

In the U-16 boys pre-quarterfinals, Ashan Tariq beat Mustansar Ali Khan 6-1, 6-2, Ahtesham Humayun downed Abdullah Pirzada 6-4, 6-3, Abdur Rehman outplayed Arman Kamran 6-4, 6-2, Mahatir Mohammad routed Sohan Noor 6-0, 6-1 and Shaeel Durab crushed Hanzla Anwar 6-2, 6-0.

Meanwhile in the U-18 girls quarter-finals, Soha Ali blanked Tooba Babar 6-0, 6-0, Zahra Suleman got walkover against Zainab Imran and Zainab Ali got walkover against Rubab.—Sports Reporter

Sindh women win national volleyball opener

KARACHI: Hosts Sindh started their campaign at the National Women’s Volleyball Championship on a winning note on Tuesday when they defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa here at the KPT Sports Complex.

Sindh spikers demonstrated awesome form and made a short work of their opponents registering a 25-19, 25-8, 25-14 victory in their pool ‘A’ opener.In another match, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) outplayed Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) 25-5, 25-7, 25-6.

Three other matches were in progress at the time of filing this report. According to the organisers, Gilgit-Baltistan have opted out of the event.

Nine participating teams have been drawn into two pools and top two teams from the pools will advance into the semi-finals.

Pool ‘A’ contains Wapda, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan while pool ‘B’ comprises Army, HEC, AJK and Islamabad.

Results:

Sindh bt Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 3-0 (25-19, 25-8, 25-14) HEC bt AJK 3-0 (25-5, 25-7, 25-6).—Sports Reporter

Polo Cup starts

LAHORE: Two matches were decided on the opening day of the Guard Group Polo Cup 2021 here at the Lahore Polo Club (LPC) ground on Tuesday.

The first match was played under the American system among three teams including Country Polo Team, Airlink Eagles and Guard Group which was won by Country Polo Team.

They first defeated Airlink Eagles 3-1 and then edged Guard Group/Black 4½-4.

In the third match played under the American system, Airlink Eagles overcame Guard Group/Black 2½-2.

A hat-trick by Chaudhry Hayat Noon helped Zacky Farms crush Black Horse Paints 8½-3.

Shah Qubilai Alam and Nazar Dean Ali Khan banged in a brace each while Mustafa Aziz scored one.

From Black Horse Paints, Hamza Mawaz Khan converted two goals while Ahsan Javed Sher struck one.—Sports Reporter

Wins for Punjab, KP

LAHORE: Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkwa won their respective matches of the Inter-provincial U-16 Girls Hockey Championship here at the National Hockey Stadium on Tuesday.

Adeeba Ali’s brace enabled KP girls to trounce Sindh 2-0 in the opening match. She struck in the 31st and 44th minutes.

A superb six-goal effort from Sharika Sarwar inspired Punjab girls to bulldoze Balochistan 15-0. Mahak Rashid and Shanzay Murad scored three each while R. Perveen (two) and Maleeha Younas (one) also contributed.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2021