Category: Sports

On Sunday, the Women’s Soccer Team from Afghanistan played their first match in Australia since its evacuation from Taliban occupied country last year.

The team played a 0-0 draw in its opening game in Vitoria’s Senior Women’s Competition. The team was helped by Victory in relocating to Melbourne and training the players under Victory’s banner. Instead of wearing their traditional navy blue shirt with a white ‘V’, players will don a kit that pays tribute to their homeland, a red home shirt and a white away shirt with the Afghan flag on the back.

According to the players, the jersey will not have family names on the back to protect loved ones still living in Afghanistan who may be in danger from the Taliban. The shirts will have their first names or nicknames instead.

The Afghan Women’s team was originally formed in 2007 and played its first international match against Nepal in 2010 and won its first match 2-0 against Qatar in 2012.

It has only been a few months since 30 women and coaches were rescued in an evacuation operation by the Australian government as the Taliban resumed control of Afghanistan after 20 years, again putting women’s sports at risk.

The second-seeded Russian Player Andrey Rublev defeated Novak Djokovic by mounting another comeback and preventing him from claiming his first title in 2022. Rublev dug deep by stopping Djokovic with 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-0 and winning the Serbia Open for his third title of the season.

During their third set, 24-year-old Rublev looked fitter and won in 2 hours, 24 minutes. Djokovic, who is 10 years older than Rublev, appeared to be affected by his efforts to level the match in the second set tiebreaker.

Having defeated Jiri Lehecka, Taro Daniel and Fabio Fognini on his way to the final, Rublev has now equalled Rafael Nadal’s record of three tour-level titles this year, following his victories in Marseille and Dubai in February.

In his first clay-court match since losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Championships in February, the 20-time Grand Slam champion- Noval lost a surprising match to Fokina last week at the Monte Carlo Masters. This was his first tournament of the year after being barred from playing at the Australian Open. Due to his unvaccinated status, he was unable to play at the Australian Open, as well as in the United States last month.

Victoria will host the 2026 Commonwealth Games with the Australian state’s regional centres organising the majority of events in a break from the traditional single host city model. The Games will be staged in March 2026 across multiple cities and regional hubs including Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat and Gippsland, each with its own athletes’ village. The opening ceremony will take place at the iconic 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground. The announcement follows an exclusive dialogue period between the CGF, Commonwealth Games Australia (CGAus) and Victoria. An initial 16 sports, including Twenty20 cricket, have been put forward for the Games, with further sports to be added later this year. An initial 16 sports, including Twenty20 cricket, have been put forward for the Games, with further sports to be added later this year. Australia has staged the Commonwealth Games on five occasions, with Victoria playing host to the Melbourne 2006 Games; widely considered one of the most successful editions of the event in history. The country has also staged the Games in Sydney in 1938, Perth in 1962, Brisbane in 1982 and most recently Gold Coast in 2018. Victoria has also hosted the Commonwealth Youth Games in Bendigo in 2004.

In the wake of the Qatar World Cup, Fifa is on course to reap record revenues of US$7 billion, its president Gianni Infantino said on Thursday as experts predicted a long-term boom for the sport.

In 2021, Fifa reported revenue of $766 million – up from a pandemic hit of $266 million in 2020 – and already had more than half of its target income contracted. The organization’s finances cycle every four years between World Cups.

During the World Cup year, Fifa receives most of its income. Despite the controversy over awarding this year’s World Cup to Qatar — which has been criticized for its labour practices — revenues have soared since the last World Cup in Russia.

In spite of past scandals and the Coronavirus pandemic, governing body revenues have grown from television, sponsors, and marketing. As described in the federation’s accounts, “television broadcasting rights are expected to surpass all previous records by the time of the World Cup final on December 18.”

As Infantino told the annual congress of the sport’s world governing body, Fifa’s finances were “great” and that the organization would exceed its target of making $6.4 billion over the next four years by $600 million.

The Canadian football team changed history by qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. It literally took the entire world to help the nation as 22 players out of 25 are immigrants or are born to parents who moved to Canada.

The country got selected for the second time in the World Cup in spite of being ranked outside the top 100 of the FIFA rankings. Despite the near-freezing weather conditions, the entire country of Canada rallied behind the team that thrashed Jamaica 4-0 at home on March 27th, demonstrating why this team is so dear to the Canadians.

These men come from different backgrounds, different countries, and have different religious beliefs. Over the last 4 years, they have worked together to achieve glory as of the Canadian Men’s Soccer team, leading the country to their 2nd World Cup appearance.

When France won the World Cup in 2018, Didier Deschamps’ team was acclaimed as the team that championed the cause of immigrants, with 15 players from Africa in the squad.

Immigration has long been a major aspect of Canadian foreign policy, as the country’s economy is strongly reliant on people seeking new possibilities. But it isn’t simply government legislation that is causing this massive shift in mindset.

On Friday, the Indian football team clinched the SAFF U-18 Women’s Championship title at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. The win was owed to a superior goal difference.

Indian lost to Bangladesh with 0-1 but managed to emerge as the champion of SAFF U-18 with a goal difference of +11 in comparison to +3 of Bangladesh. By scoring five goals in the tournament, Lynda Kom emerged as a valuable player for the Indian team with the highest goal scorer of the tournament.

In the last league game, Bangladesh edged India by a solitary goal. While in the fifth minute, Shubhangi found space in the opposition box and took a shot that went directly to Bangladesh goalkeeper Rupna. After Nitu placed the ball past Rupna in the 40th minute, the ball bounced off the post and straight into the arms of Bangladesh’s goalkeeper.

At the interval, Thomas Dennerby substituted Poonam for Shubhangi post which India captain Shilky Devi attempted a long-range shot, but an Rupna blocked it.

Following that, Martina and Sunita were replaced by Naketa and Amisha, respectively. Priyanka scored a goal from outside the box in the 74th minute as Bangladesh launched a last-ditch attack.

On Sunday, badminton ace shuttler PV Sindhu clinched her second singles title in 2022 by winning a straight game over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the summit clash of the Swiss Open Super 300 badminton tournament.

Double Olympic medalist, played her second successive final taking 49 minutes to get the better of the fourth-seeded Thai 21-16 21-8 at the St. Jakobhshalle.

In the first set, Sindhi rode her attack to open up a 3-0 lead, but Busanan kept fighting back and produced some quality shots to draw the match at 7-7. After the change of sides, Bhusan struggled with her length, giving up a 0-5 lead early on in the second game as she troubled the Thai with acute angle shots.

Sindhu lost only once out of 17 matches against Busanan at the Hong Kong Open 2019.

After losing to Rio Olympics gold medalist Carolin Marin of Spain in the final of the last edition, Sindhu finally lifted the trophy. She was extremely happy as she also claimed the World Championship gold in 2019.

Earlier this year in January, Sindhu won the Syed Modi international Super 300 in Lucknow.

The Ice Hockey team of Ladakh Women’s Ice Hockey Foundation represented India at the Union Women Ice Hockey Tournament in Dubai on March 20 and won the Silver medal. The team has been qualified for the finals.

The team made it to the international tournament for the first time. Even in the face of challenges, the players showed their mettle.

The players said, “The team approached Saspol Constituency Councillor Smanla Dorje Nurboo on March 10 for arranging Rs. 10.56 lacs for the travel and visa expenses of 20 athletes”.

As a result of his close friend’s help and a funding campaign, the councillor was able to sponsor the team for the Dubai tournament.

Councillor RK Mathur learned about the matter, and he asked the team to support the cause with discretionary funds.

Ladakh girls proved that determination can help achieve dreams.

Councillor Smanla expressed gratitude to Lieutenant Governor RK Mathur for his support, and he also thanked Krishna Allavaru, joint secretary, All India Congress Committee, Srinivas BV, president, Indian Youth Congress, and Harsimran Kaur Bajwa, secretary PYC Ladakh, for their timely intervention and support.

Indian men’s hockey team beat Argentina by 4-3 in a dramatic second match of its FIH Pro League tie. Following two powerful penalty corner strikes from Jugraj Singh, Mandeep Singh scored the game-winning goal in the last minute and avenge its first leg shot-out defeat here.

In the 20th and 52nd minutes, Jugraj scored meanwhile Hardik Singh scored in the 17th minute from the penalty corner. Varun Kumar’s drag-flick was saved by the Argentine goalkeeper, but the ball fell to Hardik who smashed the ball home to give India the lead.

After being stick-checked by an Argentina player, captain Amit Rohida won another PC. In the second quarter, Argentina was awarded a penalty stroke, but the decision was reversed after India appealed. India scored two goals in three minutes at Kalinga Stadium in the second quarter after a sluggish first quarter.

Argentina’s scorers were Della Torre Nicolas (40th), Domene Tomas (51st) and Ferreiro Martin (56th).

With the win, India remained at the second spot with 16 points from eight matches in the league. Netherland stood at the number one position meanwhile Argentina stood at fourth position with 11 points from 6 matches.

Indian claims a whopping 39 medals at Asian Youth & Junior Boxing Championships in Amman, Jordan. India contingent concluded its campaign with 15 gold, 10 silver, and 14 bronze; in which Vishwanath Suresh (48kgs) and Vansahj (63.5kg) clinched the gold medals in the men’s youth competition.

On Monday night, Vishwanath won with a thumping 5-0 win over Kyrgyzstan’s Ergeshov Bekzat and Vanshaj secured the second gold by registering a 4-1 win over Uzbekistan Javokhir Ummataliev.

The junior team finished the event by winning 21 medals- eight gold, seven silver, and six bronze. Whereas the youth boxers secured seven gold, three silver, and eight bronze medals.

Indian youth team secured third place in the medals table with 18 medals- Raman (51kg), Anand Yadav (54kg) and Deepak (75kg) won bronze medals with semi-final finishes in the men’s section.

Nivedita Karki (48kgs), Tamanna (50kgs), Shaheen Gill (60kgs), Ravina (63kgs), and Muskan (75 kgs) won the gold medals in the Indian women youth team.  In the last edition held in Dubai, India’s medal count was the same, but its gold medal tally was higher by one than last year’s. 352 boxers featured in the tournament from across 21 countries including, India, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Iran, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.