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Afghanistan to send over 100 athletes to Asian Games 2023

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The Asian Games 2023 is finally happening with the opening ceremony scheduled to take place on September 23 in Hangzhou, China.

The games will run through to October 8 and will include a total of 40 sports across 61 disciplines at 56 venues.

The games were originally scheduled to take place last year but were postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports of Afghanistan announced on Tuesday that the country’s athletes in athletics, boxing, Kurash, weightlifting and wrestling left Kabul on Tuesday for China.

It is believed other athletes will depart Kabul on Wednesday for the Asian Games in Hangzhou.

Host-nation China will start the games as the most successful nation, having won 3,187 medals in the history of the Asian Games, which includes 1,473 gold medals.

Meanwhile, the Asian Games Village for Hangzhou 2023 was officially opened on Saturday as teams started arriving.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that 17 Afghan female athletes, who are living in exile, including a women’s volleyball team, will participate. However, the Islamic Emirate rejected the reports at the time, and said that all athletes from Afghanistan being sent to Hangzhou are male.

The IEA has imposed strict restrictions on women and girls over the past two years, including a ban on females taking part in sport.

In a recent statement issued by Afghanistan’s General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports, 17 sports teams, including wushu, soccer, volleyball and cricket, will participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Afghanistan has been invited to send a total of 17 teams, comprising 103 athletes and 23 coaches, to Hangzhou.

In an exciting turn of events, cricket will return to the upcoming Asian Games, eight years after its last inclusion in 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. The tournament will include 14 men’s teams, including a team from Afghanistan.

Scheduled to be played in the T20 format, the men’s event will be played between September 27 and October 8. Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field is the host stadium for all the matches.

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh have already reached the quarter-finals based on their ICC T20I Rankings as of June 1, 2023, while Afghanistan, an ICC Full Member, will participate only in the men’s event. A win against Mongolia will seal a top-eight spot for the squad.

After cricket’s inception in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China, the sport was played in the 2014 continental event in Incheon, South Korea. The 2018 games in Jakarta, Indonesia, the previous edition of the Asian Games, did not feature cricket.

At Incheon, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh won medals in the men’s event.

The cricket teams participating at the Asian Games 2023 are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Mongolia, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Maldives, Hong Kong, Thailand, Bahrain.

Sadly, Afghanistan’s football team has withdrawn from the games due to a funding crisis.

According to the latest figures produced by HAGOC, the number of athletes expected is 12,417 – over 1,000 more than the previous record of 11,300 at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018.

Sport

Afghanistan, Uzbekistan set for friendly cricket clash in Khost

The match will be played during a cricket league, and is part of the Cricket Development Support Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the ACB and the Cricket Federation of Uzbekistan in December last year.

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The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced that it will host Uzbekistan’s national cricket team for a one-off T20 international on July 10 at the Rahmat Wali Masroori Cricket Ground in Khost province.

According to the ACB, the match will be played during a cricket league, and is part of the Cricket Development Support Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the ACB and the Cricket Federation of Uzbekistan in December last year.

The friendly match is scheduled to begin at 9:00 AM, with an Afghan XI taking on the visiting Uzbek side. The game will be broadcast live across Afghanistan and internationally through various linear and digital platforms.

Quoted by the ACB, Chief Executive Officer Naseeb Khan said the board remains committed to supporting emerging cricket nations such as Uzbekistan and is ready to extend similar assistance to other countries seeking to develop the sport.

He noted that the ACB has already organized capacity-building programs and training workshops for members of the Cricket Federation of Uzbekistan, while several Uzbek fast bowlers also participated in the ACB’s specialized Fast Bowling Camp last year.

Khan added that Uzbekistan has consistently maintained a friendly policy toward Afghanistan and that the two countries have strengthened cooperation in healthcare, politics, and trade in recent years. He said closer collaboration in cricket development would further deepen relations between the two neighboring nations.

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Serbian Dejan Dedovic appointed head coach of Afghanistan national futsal team

Dedovic will lead Afghanistan’s preparations for upcoming regional and international competitions, overseeing the team’s technical development and training programs.

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The Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) has appointed Serbian coach Dejan Dedovic as the new head coach of the national futsal team on a two-year contract.

The agreement was signed during a ceremony attended by AFF officials, futsal committee members, technical staff, and sports journalists.

Dedovic will lead Afghanistan’s preparations for upcoming regional and international competitions, overseeing the team’s technical development and training programs.

The federation also announced several additions to the national team’s coaching staff. Iran’s Javad Asghari Moqaddam has been appointed technical director, while Morteza Mansour Samaei will serve as goalkeeping coach. Spain’s Uriel Masana has joined as assistant coach, Iran’s Sadeq Amani as fitness coach, and Brazil’s Joao Lira as team analyst.

In addition, the AFF renewed the contract of Mohammad Nasir Sedaqat as manager of the national futsal team.

The federation said it expects the newly assembled coaching staff to contribute to the continued development of Afghan futsal and strengthen the team’s competitiveness at the regional and international levels.

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India clinch ODI series against Afghanistan

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The India national cricket team defeated Afghanistan in the third and final One Day International (ODI), sealing the series with a 9-wicket victory and lifting the series trophy.

Afghanistan won the toss in the final match and opted to bat first.

Batting first, Afghanistan were bowled out for 218 in 44.2 overs, setting India a target of 219 runs.

Hashmatullah Shahidi played a superb innings, scoring 102 runs off 131 deliveries, anchoring the Afghan batting effort.

In reply, India made light work of the chase, reaching 219 for the loss of just one wicket in 28.4 overs, completing a dominant run chase.

India had already taken an unassailable lead in the series by winning the first ODI by 7 wickets and the second by 170 runs, before sealing a comprehensive 3–0 series sweep in the final match.

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