Category: 6. Sports

Saint Lucia Kings held on to beat St Kitts and Nevis Patriots by three runs in a last-ball thriller in the Caribbean Premier League.

Jyd Goolie hit a six from the final ball of the 19th over to leave 13 required by the Patriots off the last six balls.

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David Wiese’s first delivery was hit for another six by Navin Bidaisee to swing the game in the Patriots’ favour with seven needed from five.

Wiese followed up with a wide, but then only conceded two singles from the next four deliveries to leave four required from the last ball.

Former Namibia all-rounder Wiese missed his yorker but Bidaisee (50 off 36) picked out Tim David on the long-off boundary to leave the Patriots short in their chase of 201.

They were struggling at 61-4 but Bidaisee and captain Jason Holder (63 off 29) shared 67 to put them back in contention.

Kings had earlier posted 200-8 with Roston Chase making 61 off 38, Johnston Charles 52 off 28 and David 46 off 23.

The win takes Kings top of the table, after their first game was washed out, while Patriots are fifth with one win from four games.

In November last year, Argentina triumphed in the inaugural IIHF Women’s 3×3 Series in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But as captain Iara Haiek acknowledges, the South American country has a long way to go with just 351 registered female players. The 23-year-old from Buenos Aires has strong male role models. Her father Jorge is the president of the national federation, and he and her brother Owen serve on the national team coaching staff. But coming to Czechia was an important chance to connect with more insightful, impactful women in our sport.

“We’re starting to build the team and starting to have a really good foundation,” said Haiek. “We’ve been kind of making a community of women and girls play ice hockey, and we’re starting to get recognized as ice hockey players. I think what we need is more ice, because we don’t really have ice hockey rinks to play in [there are just two indoor rinks Argentina-wide]. So I guess that’s our next step. We’re doing everything that we can with the little ice that we have.”

Similarly, Dosa Alkindi, the captain of the women’s national team of Oman, knows about stepping up to fight for hockey dreams in the face of adversity. The Middle Eastern nation of 5.2 million first participated in the IIHF’s World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend in 2021, which was a challenging time for the international hockey community and the world due to the pandemic. Today, with just 39 registered female players in Oman, strong leadership is needed to nurture new talent.

“I started to skate when I was 12 years old, and then we were fighting to get a girls’ hockey team,” recalled Alkindi. “It was so hard. After seven years – we finally started up before [the] Covid [pandemic], and then Covid started and everything shut down. So after Covid, in 2021 we started our club, and we were established [properly] in 2023.”

Looking to the future, it will take a combination of great player leadership, great coaching, and greatly enhanced access to training, facilities, and other resources for these countries to reach the next level. Players always appreciate homegrown talent – 18-year-old New Zealand prospect Sophie Sam, for instance, cites fellow Kiwi defender Rebecca Lilly, 26, as a “real inspiration.”

Down the road, we may discover that a future peer of Knight, Marie-Philip Poulin, or Jenni Hiirikoski was on hand for this year’s Player Leadership Seminar. Fingers crossed!

The details of the Pakistan cricket team’s training camp ahead of the upcoming tri-series and the 2025 Asia Cup have been confirmed, with the squad set to touch down in Dubai today to kick off their pre‑tournament preparations.

According to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the national squad will arrive in Dubai in four separate groups and will gather at the ICC Academy, where training officially begins on August 21. The camp will run until August 27, before the players shift focus to the tri-series leading into the Asia Cup.

Pakistan’s first assignment will be the Tri‑Nation Series featuring Afghanistan and the UAE, from August 29 to September 7. All matches will be played under lights at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, with Pakistan opening their campaign against Afghanistan at 8:00 p.m. (PST) to mimic Asia Cup conditions as close as possible.

Each side will play the others twice, with the top two progressing to the final on September 7.

The Asia Cup follows immediately, starting September 9, with Afghanistan taking on Hong Kong in the curtain‑raiser. Pakistan have been drawn in Group A alongside India, the UAE, and Oman—setting the stage for a blockbuster clash with their arch‑rivals on September 14.

Pakistan’s group fixtures also include Oman on September 12 and hosts UAE on September 17.

With a demanding schedule ahead, all eyes will be on how the Men in Green shape up in Dubai as they look to fine‑tune combinations before the Asia Cup showdown against Asia’s powerhouses.

India has become the latest team to announce its squad for the 2025 Asia Cup, but the BCCI’s press conference took an unusual turn on Tuesday when a question about the marquee fixture against Pakistan was shut down during the presser.

The session, attended by chief selector Ajit Agarkar and captain Suryakumar Yadav, was proceeding smoothly until a journalist raised a query about India’s preparations for the September 14 clash against Pakistan in Dubai. Before Agarkar or Suryakumar could respond, the BCCI media manager stepped in to cut it off, insisting that only questions related to team selection would be entertained.

The move sparked chatter across cricketing circles, particularly with anticipation already sky-high for what would be the teams’ first meeting since the brief Pakistan–India war earlier this year. It would also be the first sporting event between the two after numerous boycotts from each side across multiple disciplines.

While both cricket boards appear set to put aside their differences for the upcoming Asia Cup, there is still no clarity on whether the games will actually go ahead. Pakistan and India have been placed in the same group, meaning they could realistically face each other three times over the span of three weeks.

The world champions will open their Asia Cup campaign against the UAE on September 10, before the high‑voltage clash with Pakistan on September 14, wrapping up the group stage against Oman on September 19. With the possibility of further meetings later in the tournament, the cricketing world’s eyes will remain firmly fixed on every minute detail coming out of each camp this September.

India’s Asia Cup Squad:

Japanese teen sprint sensation Shimizu Sorato wants it all. We’ll soon find out if he’s ready.

“I hope I’ll be picked for the relay at the (World Athletics Championships) which is my immediate goal so I am preparing for it,” Shimizu told reporters on Tuesday (19 August) after open practice at Seiryo High School in his native Ishikawa Prefecture.

“I’m 16 now and next year when I’m 17 I hope to run a sub-10. After that, three years down the road when I’m 19, 20, I want to compete at the Los Angeles Olympics.

“I want to run a 9 while I’m still in high school so for now, that’s what I’m working towards.”

The 16-year-old Shimizu took the athletics community by storm last month, when he set a new under-18 world record in the 100m with a 10-flat and shot to stardom overnight.

While track fans would love nothing more than to see Shimizu run in the 100m at the world championships in Tokyo next month, that is unlikely to happen with Kiryu Yoshihide, Mori Yuhi and Abdul Hakim Sani Brown having all but sewn up the three spots.

With Japan’s fifth fastest time ever and his upside, Shimizu could conceivably make the 4x100m relay team.

He did not make the 100m final in June at the Japan Athletics Championships, which served as the trials for worlds, and it would be a lot on the slender shoulders of a 1.64m teenager to compete in an incredibly high-profile event like the 4x100m.

Yet one thing is certain: Shimizu is generating the type of excitement the country hasn’t seen in the sport in quite sometime.

“People found out about me. I’m aware there are more people watching me now. I feel the support in that regard,” he said.

“It’s nice to have people rooting for you. I really don’t feel much pressure.”

Oman, originally part of the eight-team field, have also withdrawn from the Asia Cup. Kazakhstan will fill their spot.

Hosts India have been drawn in Pool A alongside Japan, the People’s Republic of China and Kazakhstan. The Harmanpreet Singh-led home side will begin its campaign against China on August 29.

Pool B, meanwhile, features defending champions the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Chinese Taipei.

Bangladesh and Kazakhstan were selected as the replacement teams on the basis of their finishes at the AHF Cup earlier this year in Jakarta.

Bangladesh had finished third in the competition after a narrow 5-4 semi-final defeat to eventual winners Oman on April 25, while Kazakhstan were fourth.

The AHF Cup was a qualifying tournament for the Asia Cup and the two finalists – Oman and Chinese Taipei – had secured direct qualification for the Rajgir meet initially.

ART Grand Prix’s Ritomo Miyata gives us the inside line on how he likes to drive his Formula 2 machine and the details behind his driving style.

From the lessons he learned growing up racing in Japan, to the understanding of his career in F2 and the car he drives now, it has all added up to get him to where he is today.

“My driving style is always trying to do as late a braking phase as possible. Especially after the racing driver coach I had in Japan once said to me that ‘Every corner flat out is impossible,’ so you have to try and make each braking point as late as possible to maximise where you can.

“When I stepped up to Formula 4 from go karting, it was a big difference. Karting, the way I drove it anyway, had front brakes. Formula cars have four brake discs, they’re heavier and bigger. Tyre warm up is also important.

READ MORE: Building up the weekend and traits from karting: How I Race with Gabriele Minì

“It was difficult when I first stepped up, when I was younger, to understand how to drive the bigger cars. In Japan, you have to be 18 years old to get a car driving licence. So, when you’re racing younger, it’s difficult to understand how to drive a big car.

“Coming over to Europe, there’s a lot of new details to learn. Firstly, the tyres. The F2 car also has downforce produced a bit differently, the wing shapes. But the driving feels quite different from what I’ve had before.

“The F2 calendar follows the F1 calendar, which is good for a driver because you’re able to experience these tracks. In Japan, you have Suzuka only. So we know Suzuka, but the rest of the tracks we don’t know. So it’s good to know and learn these tracks that F1 visit as well.

“Then you have the same tyre supplier as in F1 too. So you get to know and learn the Pirelli tyre characteristics, warm up and everything you need to. In F2 you can learn a lot.

“In terms of a balance, when I work with a new team they always ask if I prefer oversteer or understeer. Maybe I prefer a little bit more understeer, more towards neutral. But if I had to choose, I’d go with understeer.

“I don’t like sliding the rear and losing the tyre. Especially in F2, the rear tyres are important because a good rear tyre is needed for traction. My driving style can rotate the car even if it’s understeering but oversteer is a bit more difficult.

“I try to be as smooth as possible. I don’t want to have an aggressive style because even in Qualifying in Bahrain for example, we need to manage the tyres in order to push. If you do too much, you’ll overheat the tyre.

READ MORE: Leonardo Fornaroli: My Ultimate Driver

“Some drivers can be quite aggressive, they use the oversteer balance and use the steering angle to rotate the car, it’s hard on the front tyres. I prefer to have as little steering as possible.

“I’d say the most important thing I’ve learned was actually the first time I drove a car, and that was to just enjoy it. When I drove in go-karting, or first time in F4, F2, whatever it was, you’ll always have a first time. So you have to enjoy it.

“I got a TPC F1 test in January. It was a big opportunity, and I was very nervous because it’s an F1 car and I had a lot of people working with me. But I didn’t want to forget to enjoy it, because if you enjoy it, you’re more comfortable and more focused.

“Everyone understands that if it’s your first time, you could make mistakes, so it’s normal and you can just relax a bit more and enjoy the experience.”

Pakistan legend Wasim Akram said that the ‘game must go on’ whether India or Pakistan play each other in the Asia Cup or not. India and Pakistan are clubbed in Group A alongside the UAE and Oman. The teams are set to face each other on September 14 at the Dubai International Stadium.

The match is facing heavy backlash in India as fans have called for the complete end of all cricket ties with Pakistan following the Pahalgam attack. Recently, the India Champions refused to play the Pakistan Champions in the World Championship of Legends (WCL), and there is uncertainty over the Asia Cup clash between the two arch-rivals.

“Asia Cup schedule is out, there is backlash. But we in Pakistan are calm. We will be fine whether we play or don’t play. The game must go on,” Akram said on the Stick With Cricket Podcast.

“I hope to see a Test series between India and Pakistan in my lifetime,” he said.

“Politics apart, I am not a politician. They are patriotic about their country; we are patriotic about ours. Let’s not go below the belt. Talk about the triumphs of your country; the same goes for Pakistan, and the same goes for India. “It is easier said than done.”

The Asia Cup will begin on September 9, with the final on September 29. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong are the four teams in Group B. The two top teams from each group will qualify for the Super 4s, which will be played in an a round-robin format, and the top two teams in the points table will play the final.