West Indies players get all clear for NZ tour

BRIDGETOWN: The West Indies cricket squad is touring again, becoming the first Test team to embark on two tours during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The West Indies reopened international cricket after a global sports shutdown when they underwent quarantine in Britain before playing against England in July and August.

Now the Caribbean-based players have all tested negative to Covid-19 and are on the way to New Zealand for a tour involved two Tests and three Twenty20 Internationals.

“This is a very important tour for us as we build towards defending our ICC T20 World Cup title and also complete another series in the ICC World Test Championship,” Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief executive Johnny Grave said. “Fans all around the world have been missing their favourite sports, so we want to continue to play our part to bring joy and smiles to the faces of those who support and enjoy our cricket.”

The Caribbean-based players, coaches and staff departed from Barbados late on Tuesday for New Zealand, where they’ll complete quarantine in Christchurch ahead of the series.

“All these squad members have completed Covid-19 tests and were all given a clean bill of health to travel,” CWI said in a statement.

There are squads for the T20 and Test formats of the tour, and six reserve players who will travel with the squad to ensure replacements are available as injury cover.

The three T20s will be played on Nov 27, 29 and 30 and the Tests will staged in Auckland from Dec 3 and in Wellington from Dec 11.—AP

Technical officials for national hockey named

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Wednesday named technical officials for the 66th edition of the National Senior Hockey Championship to be played at the Mari Petroleum Hockey Stadium, Ayub Park, Rawalpindi from Nov 3 to 15.

According to PHF, Syed Muhammad Zahir Shah (Peshawar) has been named as the tournament director while Dr Ahsan Tanveer (Islamabad), Hassan Akhtar (Lahore) and Mohammad Yasin (Rawalpindi) are assistant tournament directors).

Other officials named for the event:

Tournament officers: Tariq Sheikh (NBP), Shahid Gill (Faisalabad), Mohammad Zahid (Rawalpindi), Mohammad Haroon (D.G. Khan), Javed Sadiq (MEPCO), Rao Zain (Bahawalnagar), Shahid Rabbani (Wapda), Haque Nawaz (Haripur), Syed Ali Abbas (Gujranwala), Malik Shafqat (Lahore), Hamza Tufail (Peshawar), Abdul Qayyum Dogar (Sheikhupura)

Umpires manager: Rashad Mahmood Butt (Lahore)

Assistant umpires managers: Jamil Butt (Rawalpindi), Mohsin Ali Khan (Karachi), Rana Muhammad Khalid (Faisalabad)

Umpires: Sohail Janjua (Pak PWD), Yasir Khurshid (Railways), Hafiz Atif Malik (Lahore), Haroon Rashid (Peshawar), Amir Hamza (PAF), Mazhar Waseem (Nankana), Waqas Butt (Wapda), Kamran Hussain (Attock), Mahmood Ali (PIA), Faisal Sayyam (Quetta), Abdul Mannan (Hyderabad), Ghulam Mohyuddin (T.T. Singh), Muhammad Irshad (Army), Syed Sibtain (NBP), Mubasshir Ali (SBP).—APP

Squads announced for baseball games

LAHORE: Pakistan Whites and Pakistan Greens squads were named on Wednesday for the world record setting exhibition baseball match being held at Skardu, located at an altitude of over 7,000 feet.

The match to be played on Oct 31, will set a new world record breaking the existing one held by Denver, Colorado).

Meanwhile, both the teams left here for Skardu on Wednesday. The second exhibition match will be held in Gilgit on Nov 3. The teams return to Lahore on Nov 5.

Pakistan Federation Baseball president Syed Fakhar Ali Shah said the federation was making every effort from its own resources to set a new world record and the players were upbeat for achieving this milestone.

“Though financially it was not easy to arrange funds [for the matches in Skardu and Gilgit] but in return the country will earn a good name in the world of baseball,” Fakhar said.

Squads:

Whites: Umair Imdad Bhatti (captain), Tariq Nadeem, Syed Ali Shah, Fazl-ur- Rehman, Arshad Khan, Syed Amin Afridi, Mohammad Abdullah, Alamgir Khan, Aziz-ur-Rehman, Usman Shaukat, Abu Bakar, Mohammad Asim, Shah Rukh

Greens: Faqir Hussain (captain), Syed Mohammad Shah, Mohammad Sameer Zawar, Mohammad Zakir, Asad Ali, Taimur Javed, Mohammad Waseem, Mohammad Haris, Wahid, Mohammad Waseem, Hassan Jamil, Nasir Iqbal, Syed Ahsan Amir Kazmi.—Sports Reporter

Saudi Arabia set for 2021 F1 GP debut

LONDON: Saudi Arabia is set to host a Formula One Grand Prix for the first time next year with a street race in Jeddah featuring on a record 23-round draft calendar presented to teams, F1 sources said on Wednesday.

A second US race in Miami appears on hold for at least another year, however.

A proposed new Brazilian Grand Prix track in Rio de Janeiro has yet to be built and faces mounting environmental concerns, meaning the calendar could ultimately drop to a still-record 22 races.

The new coronavirus pandemic adds uncertainty, although the sport’s ability to race this year has boosted the chances of a fuller calendar.

The 2020 season would have featured 22 races, with Vietnam due to debut and the Dutch Grand Prix returning for the first time in 34 years, but was reduced to 17 due to Covid-19.—Reuters

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2020