Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal won the Tasmanian Open squash tournament in Australia, defeating Switzerland’s David Barnett by 3-1 in the final.
The score of Nasir Iqbal’s victory in the final was 11-8, 12-10, 6-11 and 11-5. This is Nasir’s third title in Australia in the last few days.
Nasir has also recently won the Bendigo and Shepperton Open in Australia.
Indian cricket team all-rounder Hardik Pandya and his wife Natasha Stankovic have confirmed that they are divorcing.
The cricketer, worth more than 90 crore (INR), might take a significant hit to his net wealth. Indian media has claimed that Natasha might demand 70 percent of his properties, around 64 crores, a significant chunk of the cricketer’s assets.
Before the divorce, she also shared an Instagram story in which she wrote, “Someone is coming down the road very soon,” but she did not clearly state what she was talking about in her story.
The all-rounder has said in the past that he is not the sole owner of all his property and assets; his mother is also a partner. However, it is not yet clear how much he will pay his ex-wife.
eSports is getting increasingly popular worldwide, allowing young people to earn massive incomes by playing tournaments, growing their presence on social media, and attracting sponsors.
China, the United States, and Korea are the top countries in the world with the highest eSports revenue. Here are the top five eSports earners worldwide.
1-Johan Sundstein
Johan Sundstein, an eSports player from Denmark, started his career in 2012 with Heroes of Newerth, but later, he switched to Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) 2. He began as a support player with his team and quickly developed the skills necessary to become the in-game Leader (IGL) of the team Fnatic.
He was active from 2012 to 2022 and earned $7,167,802 (2 billion PKR) during his career.
2-Jesse Vainikka
Jesse, who is from Finland, began his eSports career in 2012. He made his name from Heroes of Newerth and played for numerous teams. He did compulsory military service in the Finnish Navy. After this service, he started playing Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) 2.
During his eSports career, he played for ten teams, including Evil Geniuses. Pakistan’s top earner, Shumail Hasan, has also played for the same team.
Jesse made $6,484,511 (1.8 billion PKR) during his career.
3-Anathan Pham
Anathan Pham is an Australian eSports player who started his career playing DOTA in Australia but later moved from Melbourne to Shanghai in December 2015 to continue his professional career. He joined CDEC’s in-house league, where he competed against high-rated Chinese eSports players.
He started his professional career as a substitute at Invictus Gaming in March 2016. His most notable performance was defeating Newbee in the NEA 2016 grand finals.
He made $6,026,305 (1.7 billion PKR) during 2016-2022.
4-Sébastien Debs
Sébastien Debs is professional DOTA 2 French player started with Team Shakira in 2011. His team caught everyone’s attention after placing 4th in Dreamhack Winter 2011, and shortly after, he was picked up by Western Wolves. After only three months with Western Wolves, he left the organization and joined a rehash of mTw led by Troels.
He played for 22 teams and made $5,942,567 (1.65 billion PKR during his career).
5-Topias Taavitsainen
Topias Taavitsainen, a DOTA player from Finland, started playing at the age of 8. He started playing professionally in 2017 with brief stints at SFTe-sports and 5 Anchors No Captain. He represented his country at WESG 2017.
His high leaderboard ranking subsequently attracted attention. In June 2018, he was announced as the new midlaner for OG before The International 2018 regional qualifiers.
He is still active and has made $5,767,770 (1.6 billion PKR) till now.
Pakistan Football League player Muhammad Fazal has signed a contract with Serbian top league Super Liga club IMT Belgrade.
He debuted for Pakistan in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) qualifier against Saudi Arabia.
Danish, a Pakistani footballer, has also represented Denmark’s under-19 team.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to not issue No Objection Letters (NOC) to Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi for the Global T20 League.
The board decided this after consulting with the selection committee due to the national team’s unusual engagements.
According to the statement issued by PCB, “After taking into consideration Pakistan’s busy and packed cricket calendar from August 2024 to March 2025, which includes nine International Cricket Council (ICC) World Test Championship matches and next year’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025, and following consultations with the three players as well as the national selection committee, it has been decided to decline their requests.”
“The three are all-format cricketers, and their services are expected to be required in the upcoming eight months, during which Pakistan will play nine Tests, 14 ODIS, and nine T20Is. As such, and in line with the PCB’s workload management policy, it is in the best interest of Pakistan Cricket and the players that they skip the upcoming event in Canada so that they are in their best mental and physical shape for the season, which commences with the two-Test series against Bangladesh.”
Earlier, the PCB had also declined permission to Naseem Shah for The Hundred.
In the meantime, the PCB has approved NOCS for Asif Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Amir, and Mohammad Nawaz. The four players are predominantly white-ball cricketers, while Iftikhar and Nawaz are centrally contracted players.
Women’s T20 Asia Cup will start today in Sri Lanka. The opening match of the event will be between UAE and Nepal while in the second match, the teams of Pakistan and India will face each other.
Under the auspices of the Asian Cricket Council, the opening match of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup will be played in the city of Dambulla, Sri Lanka, in which the women’s teams of Nepal and UAE will try their claws, the second match will be between traditional rivals Pakistan and India.
The Asia Cup trophy was unveiled yesterday. During the photo session, the players also performed a wonderful dance. The Green Shirts also took part in a practice session in Dambulla. The players excelled in batting, bowling and fielding.
Group A includes teams from Pakistan, India, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates, while Group B includes Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and hosts Sri Lanka. The top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals, and the final of the Asia Cup will be played on July 28.
France has banned women’s hijabs at the Paris Olympics for its athletes, leading to a strong condemnation by the human rights organization Amnesty International.
“The ban on French female athletes wearing the hijab at the Olympic Games violated international human rights law and also exposed the weakness of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).”
France was the first country to enact laws against the fundamental rights of female athletes internationally. The denial of the religious rights of female athletes at the Olympics shows the hypocrisy of the French authorities.
Anna Bliss, an international researcher on women’s rights in Europe, said, “Banning the hijab would have a devastating effect on Muslim women and girls at all levels of French sports. Banning French athletes from competing in the Olympic and Paralympic Games with the hijab also makes a mockery of claims that Paris 2024 is the first gender-equal Olympics.”
The French Senate passed a law banning the hijab in sporting events, under which religious signs or symbols are prohibited in competitions organized by sports federations.
The England cricket team has set a unique world record in the second Test match of the series against the West Indies.
On Thursday, West Indies won the toss and invited England to bat first.
Zach Crawley was then dismissed for zero as the inning started, but Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope batted aggressively and took the team’s score to 50 runs in just 4.2 overs (26 balls).
This is the fastest fifty scored by any team in the 147-years-old history of Test cricket. England completed 50 runs in 4.3 overs against South Africa in 1994.
The England team scored 416 runs at the end of the first day in the second Test against the West Indies.
Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya and his wife, Serbian model and actress Nataša Stanković, announced their separation with mutual consent.
Pandya and Stankovic released an official joint statement on social media: “After four years of being together, Natasa and I have decided to mutually part ways. We tried our best together and gave it our all, and we believe this is in the best interest of both of us. This was a tough decision for us, given the joy, mutual respect, and companionship we enjoyed together as we grew a family. We are blessed with Agastya, who will continue to be at the center of our lives, and we will co-parent with him to ensure that we give him everything we can for his happiness.”
Requesting his fans, he wrote, “We sincerely request your support and understanding to give us privacy during this difficult and sensitive time.”
News of the separation came out a few months ago, and Hardik Pandya formally announced it today through a social media message.
Hardik Pandya married his long-time love on 31 May 2020 in a court in Mumbai.
The T20 World Cup 2024, held in America and West Indies, has cost the International Cricket Council (ICC) millions of dollars.
According to Express, the ICC has suffered a loss of $167 million (more than PKR 46 billion 50 crore) due to poor management and efforts to promote cricket in America.
Members of the ICC will ask questions in the board meeting on financial and operational matters scheduled in Sri Lanka this month. Important decisions are expected.
The council has constituted an independent committee which will submit its report.
Reports say that the managing company requested $20 million from the ICC in addition to the approved budget.