Pakistan cricket legend Wasim Akram on Tuesday said he was anxiously hoping for a “yes” result as fans wait to hear if a planned series between archrivals Pakistan and India is to go ahead.
A recent thaw in India-Pakistan relations, with the prime ministers of both nations holding a short meeting in Paris last week, followed by talks between their security advisers in Bangkok, has raised hopes of a revival of cricket ties, stalled since 2008.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan on Monday said the series’ fate is to be decided during a visit to Islamabad by Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sushma Swaraj this week.
Photo: AFP
“Of course, I am waiting for India’s ‘yes’ on the series and I am as keen as millions of fans across both the borders,” Wasim told reporters in Karachi.
The series, agreed between the two boards in a memorandum of understanding signed last year, ran into trouble amid strained relations over cross-border shelling in the disputed Kashmir region.
The PCB said it hopes the visit by Swaraj, who arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday, would clear the way for the series — three one-day and two Twenty20 internationals — to be played on neutral ground, in Sri Lanka, later this month.
“I think that politics and cricket should not be mixed, and if both countries do that, there will be no way cricket is stopped,” Wasim said.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but