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Showing posts from September, 2023

Asian Games Cricket : Another chance for Nepal to prove themselves

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  From  Kandy, Sri Lanka to Hangzhou,  China,the men’s national cricket team of Nepal’s globe- trotting continues. Nepal flew into China to participate in the 19th Asian Games cricket championship very soon.   The  competition will be played in the Twenty20  international format.Cricket  makes a comeback after 8 years since it was dropped in the 2018 Asian Games held in Indonesia. It may be recalled that cricket  was included in the 2010 Asian Games in China for both men and women for  the first time.  The men’s competition is a 14-team affair. Likewise,the  women’s tournament will be contested by nine teams. Since the women’s national team did not meet the criteria,the National Sports Council decided not to send them to the Asian Games. With the presence of cricket’s heavyweights India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka , Bangladesh and Afghanistan,the competition is expected to be intense and highly competitive. Nine unseeded teams have been divided  into  three groups of three teams each.The  gro

Nepal needs to put on a fighting performance against against Vietnam

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    Football,the most watched and followed sport in the Asian Games, got underway  in Hangzhou,China Tuesday. A total of twenty one teams  are in the men’s competition. Initially the draw was made with 23 teams but the withdrawal of Syria and Afghanistan reduced the event to 21.  The championship features under-23 national teams.Asian  powerhouses in the likes of South Korea, Japan,Iran,Saudi Arabia and Qatar  are expected to dominate the tournament. Definitely we cannot rule out surprises and upsets. Host and two times champions China, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Indonesia are teams to watch. With five titles  defending champions South Korea has been the most  dominant side.Once again they are  one of the strong contenders. Iran has the second best record finishing  on top on three occasions. Undoubtedly  they are  front runners alongside Japan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the ultimate honor. After two successive Asian Games appearances in the 2014 in South Korea  and  2018 in Indonesia, N

Football continues to grow globally

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Football, the most popular sport in the world, continues to grow  year on year at an astounding pace. Nobody disputes the fact that the appeal and popularity of football is unprecedented,overwhelming,mind boggling and unrivaled.  The interest in football around the world has never been greater.No wonder,it's fandom which is around 4 billion makes it the biggest sport in the world . The love,passion, emotion,enthusiasm and craze for football in fans run deep, and  it  is ingrained in their everyday life and culture. For many, football  is  more than just a sport and pastime.They see it as a kind of  universal religion,binding people of different races, cultures, faiths and backgrounds . Furthermore, football has become a global  phenomenon and transformed into a multi-billion dollar industry.The socio-economic impact of football is humongous. The recently concluded Women’s World Cup football tournament held in Australia and New Zealand raked in  an impressive over  $570 million(the

Nepal’s Asia Cup journey ends

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Predictably,overwhelming favorites India made short work of Nepal in the 2023 Asia Cup-50 over one day international played in Sri Lanka Monday. The highly rated and experienced Indian outfit registered a comfortable 10- wicket victory against minnows Nepal in a rain shortened match.The win secured  them  a spot in the Super Four. Intermittent rain almost ruined the match before India began their run chase.  When rain  finally ceased some play was possible much to the relief and delight of cricket afficinadoes.   Given the circumstances, the overs were reduced  and India had to score 145 runs in 23 overs to win, which they did with relative ease. In a display of  confident, solid and aggressive batting openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill virtually ran away with the match,handing a comprehensive victory to their team in 20.1 overs. Both Sharma and Gill  remained undefeated on 74 and 67 respectively. They were on top of the bowlers from the word go.  They tore apart the bowling attack