Prolific BaBar named odi Player of year for second consecutive year

LAHORE staff report ina major accolade for Pakistan cricket, captain Babar Azam was named one-day player of the year by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday.

This marks the second consecutive year that Azam, 28, has received the award, which recognizes his exceptional performance and match-winning abilities.

The ICC noted that Azam amassed an impressive 679 runs from just nine ODIs in the past year, with an average of 84.87 and three centuries and five halfcenturies to his name.

Additionally, Azam maintained his position as the topranked batter on the ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings, a title he has held since July 2021.

The ICC also praised Azam for his leadership as Pakistan’s captain, leading his team to just one loss throughout the year, against Australia in Lahore.

Cricket statistician Mazher Arshad described Azam as “truly an ODI great,” and the ICC highlighted his score of 114 against Australia in Lahore as his most memorable performance of the year.

Gamers gear up! As PTCL Group brings biggest E-Sports gaming competition

Free registrations are open for all gaming enthusiasts under PTCL’s Group’s newly launched gaming platform ‘GameKey’ Islamabad – January 26, 2023: Pakistan’s largest telecommunications group – PTCL & Ufone 4G – is bringing aboard professional and aspiring gamers from across Pakistan to compete in a thrilling PUBG MOBILE tournament on its gaming platform, ‘GameKey’. PTCL Group launched GameKey – a one-window access platform to a curated selection of the most popular online games to provide a seamless and rewarding playing experience to all gamers.

Pakistan has recently witnessed a rising gaming culture with a marked upsurge in the number of professional gamers and gaming squads that compete in national and international tournaments, thereby successfully putting Pakistan on the global gaming landscape. PTCL’s GameKey aims to strengthen the country’s gaming landscape by nurturing new talent and promoting professional gamers.

‘GameKey Arena’ is driven by the same motivation to help explore new gaming talent while providing a state-of-the-art platform for established players to showcase their talent and mastery of the sport.

Registrations for GameKey Arena are open

‘things aren’t working’: milan’s title defence crumbling as napoli host rivals roma

MILAN afp till 30th January for professional and aspiring PUBG MOBILE players from across the country, regardless of their data network. The nationwide qualifiers will take place online from 1st to 8th February, while the Grand Finale is set to happen on 12th February in Lahore.

With 86 minutes gone of their last Serie A home match AC Milan’s title defence was very much alive, two goals to the good against Roma and set to maintain the five-point gap separating the champions and league leaders napoli. Less than three weeks later and their hopes of retaining the Scudetto are hanging by a thread after a sudden slump which has allowed napoli to charge 12 clear almost completely unopposed, and led to them being knocked out of the Italian Cup and losing the Super Cup to Inter Milan. Two quickfire goals from Roger Ibanez and Tammy Abraham snatched a shock draw for a dismal Roma that night at the San Siro, and since then Milan have looked a shadow of the team who last year snatched the title from neighbours Inter. The partying which exploded last Spring in celebration of Milan’s first league crown since 2011 felt like a distant memory on Tuesday night when Lazio demolished Stefano Pioli’s side 4-0 and moved a point behind them in third place. Pioli all-but conceded the title after a miserable display in Rome, admitting that “right now a lot of things aren’t working” as previously reliable performers either get injured or underwhelm on the field.

Director Paolo Maldini insisted on Tuesday that the season “doesn’t seem like a huge disaster” but the Milan icon has been criticised for flop summer signings including Belgium attacker Charles De Ketelaere and Sergino Dest, whose display on Tuesday at left-back in place of injured Theo Hernandez was calamitous.

On Sunday Milan host struggling Sassuolo — the team whose ground fans invaded en masse to witness a long-awaited title triumph in May — the perfect opportunity to set their season back on course.

But it would take a complete implosion for napoli to let slip a historic first title since 1990, after racking up an incredible 50 points at the halfway stage of the season.

3rd allama iqbal Polo tournament: sQ seagold, fG/din Polo score victories

LAHORE staff report

SQ Seagold and FG/Din Polo on Thursday registered thrilling victories in the 3rd Allama Iqbal Polo Tournament sponsored by Lahore Smart City (LSC) here at Pakistan Park Cavalry Ground on Thursday. The first match of the day proved a thrilling encounter, where SQ Seagold Polo Team defeating Bn Polo Team 6-5½. From the winning team, Raja Jalal Arsalan emerged as hero of the day as he pumped in three tremendous goals while Mir Huzaifa Ahmed banged in a brace and Omer Asjad Malhi struck one. Haider naseem thrashed in two goals while Babar naseem and Raja Samiullah converted one each for Bn Polo Team, which also had one-and-a-half goal handicap advantage.

Bn Polo started the match well by converting a 60-yard penalty to take 1-0 lead, which couldn’t last long and SQ Seagold Polo hammered an equalizer to level the score at 1-1. The second chukker was then dominated by SQ Seagold Polo, who thrashed in three back-to-back goals to gain a 4-1 lead. The third chukker was evenly poised as both the teams converted one goal each with SQ Seagold still enjoying 5-2 lead. The fourth and last chukker was dominated by Bn Polo as they slammed in two goals against one by SQ Seagold, which won the match by 6-5½ as Bn Polo had one-and-a-half goal handicap advantage.

FG/Din Polo Team defeated Inara Polo/Black Horse Paints by 7-6 in a nail-biting second match of the day.

Mian Abbas Mukhtar cracked a convincing quartet while Saqib Khan Khakwani hammered a hat-trick of goals for FG/Din Polo. nico Roberts, who replaced Hissam Ali Hyder, fired in four goals while Abdul Rehman Monnoo and Daniyal Shaikh scored one goal each for Inara Polo/Black Horse Paints.

Both the teams started well and scored one goal each to make it 1-1. Inara/Black Horse Paints played better polo in the second chukker and converted three goals against two by FG/Din Polo to take a slight 4-3 lead. FG/Din Polo then made their presence felt and banged in a brace against one by their opponents to equalize the score at 5-5. The fourth and decisive chukker saw FG/Din Polo converting two goals against one by Inara/Black Horse to win the thrilling encounter by a narrow margin of 7-6. Two matches will be played tomorrow (Friday) here at Jinnah Polo Fields at 2:30 PM and 3:30 PM respectively.