Second phase of clubs’ registration complete

LAHORE: While the second phase of the extremely slow working on registration of clubs across the country by the Pakistan Cricket Board was finally declared complete by the PCB on Monday, the main task of scrutinising the clubs will start early next year.

The registration work on clubs started on March 10 this year and that too after a considerable delay of 18 months after the new PCB constitution was implemented on Aug 19, 2019. Under the new constitution the affiliation of the cubs across the country was suspended with one stroke in August 2019.

“As the Pakistan Cricket Board continues its efforts to strengthen grassroots cricket, it has completed the second phase of club registration in which 3,822 clubs have registered the player data,” a PCB press release issued on Monday stated.

“As many as 844 clubs falling under the jurisdiction of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cricket Association have provided the player data – which is the most from any of the six CAs. They are followed by Central Punjab CA (788 clubs), Sindh CA (670 clubs), Southern Punjab CA (517 clubs), Balochistan (512 clubs) and Northern CA (491 clubs).

“Separately, 200 clubs will submit the requisite data when the club registration will resume early next year,” it added.

“Following the completion of this phase of the process, the PCB will shortly begin the club scrutiny to award them memberships in accordance with the applicable regulations.

The Frequently Asked Question document about the regulations through which Full, Associate and Affiliate memberships are awarded is available here,” it concluded.

Interestingly while the registration of clubs is still going on, some provincial cricket associations are holding inter-club games in their respective areas.—Sports Reporter

Pakistan Open taekwondo from 6th

ISLAMABAD: The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Pakistan Open International Taekwondo Championship (G-1) featuring 419 national and international starts in Islamabad from Nov 6.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) president retired Col Wasim Ahmed said out of 419 players 375 male and female players were locals, who had a great chance to improve their international ranking after showing good performance in this event.

A total of 125 international players and technical officials would be in Islamabad for the three-day event, he added.

“Besides Pakistan, Afghanistan, Albania, Nepal, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Oman, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Morocco, UAE, El-Salvador, Croatia, and WT Refuge Team will fight for 16 gold medals,” he added.

The President PTF appreciated sponsors of the effort and Pakistan Sports Board and Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) for their support for hosting this mega event in Islamabad, which will be held at Liaqat Gymnasium of Pakistan Sports Complex.

He said the PTF had also invited India for the event, but they did not respond while some other countries were unable to participate due to disturbed flight schedules amid Covid-19 pandemic.—Sports Reporter

Delort hits double as Nice sink Angers

ANGERS: Algerian Andy Delort netted a brace, including a stunning late volley, as Nice fought back from a goal down to secure a 2-1 away win over Angers in Ligue 1 on Sunday that lifted his side to second in the table.

The away side had started brightly as Delort struck the post with a glancing header, but they went behind in the 29th minute when Sofiane Boufal converted from the spot after being brought down in the box.

Delort equalised in the 57th minute, however, when his deflected chip from the edge of the area beat a stranded Paul Bernardoni. The game seemed to be headed for a draw until Delort unleashed a thunderous strike after Angers failed to clear a corner in the first minute of stoppage time.

Nice have 23 points — eight behind PSG — from 12 games. Angers are eighth on 17 points.

Olympique de Marseille ground out a 1-0 win at Clermont to leapfrog Lens into third place, one point behind Nice.

In pouring rain, Matteo Guendouzi released Cengiz Under down the right flank in the 25th, and the Turkey winger cut inside to curl into the far corner for the winning goal.

Monaco continued their inconsistent run with a 2-0 loss away to a Brest team that had not won a game all season.

Girondins Bordeaux picked up just their second win this term after coming from two goals down to beat Reims 3-2 thanks to Jimmy Briand’s 95th-minute penalty.

Strasbourg thumped Lorient 4-0 and Montpellier defeated Nantes 2-0, while Rennes’ three-match winning run came to an end following a 2-2 draw at Troyes.—Agencies

Youth Club ease into last four

KARACHI: Youth Club (Blues) breezed past Rabbani Club by half-a-dozen goals to cruise into the semi-finals of the Inter-Club Hockey Championship here at the KHA Sports Complex on Monday.

Haris Naseer stole the limelight with a hat-trick while Zain-ul-Abideen, Waseem Aslam and Ali Afridi scored one goal each in the match that fell short of expectations.

Youth Club (Orange) and Karachi Gladiators Club have already qualified for the last-four stage.

According to the organisers, Hanif Khan Club were declared 3-2 winners against National Club in the fourth quarter-final after the latter left the field following a dispute with three minutes of the play remaining.

Hanif Khan Club were leading 3-2 when umpire Hanifuddin signalled foul by Ishtiaq Mobeen who scored a goal that was allowed after consultation with the second umpire Asghar Ali following pressure of the players.

A mayhem ensued after the reversal of the decision with the consent of third umpire Farhan Raza.

Earlier, Mehmood Ali Khan, Imran Khan and Kashif Jawad netted one goal apiece for Hanif Khan Club while Ishtiaq and Arsalan Haider scored one each for National Club.

The semi-finals will be played on Wednesday under floodlights. Karachi Gladiators Club face Hanif Khan Club in the first semi-final while Youth Club (Blues) take on Youth Club (Orange) in the second last-four game.—Sports Reporter

All-Pakistan junior national tennis starts

LAHORE: Nine matches in different age categories were played on the first day of the Nayza All-Pakistan Junior National Tennis Championship here at the PLTA courts, Bagh-i-Jinnah on Monday.

Results (pre-quarterfinals):

Boys U-18: Mahatir Mohammad bt Kashan Tariq 6-4, 6-1; Muneeb Majeed bt Arman Kamran 6-1, 4-6, 7-1(1); Shaeel Durab bt Shahzaib Zahid 6-3, 6-2; Zaeem Ghafoor bt Muhammad Ali 6-2, 4-6, 6-3; Faizan Fayyaz bt M Talha Khan 6-0, 6-1.

Boys U-14: Asad Zaman bt Mohammad Sohan Noor 4-0, 4-0; Amir Mazari bt Eesa Bilal 4-0, 4-0; Mohammad Talha Khan bt Nade-e-Ali 4-0, 4-0; Ahtesham Humayun bt Nabeel Ali Qayyum 4-0, 4-0.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2021