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Afghanistan’s Olympic hero appointed head coach of New Zealand’s taekwondo team

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Ruhollah Nikpai, who made history for his country after becoming a two-time Olympic medalist, has been appointed as the head coach of the New Zealand taekwondo team.

Nikpai, who hails from Maidan Wardak, is Afghanistan’s only Olympic medalist in any event when he won bronze in 2008 in Beijing. Four years later, he again won bronze in London.

In a post on his Facebook page Nikpai said: “I am genuinely honored to have been appointed as New Zealand taekwondo national team coach by the New Zealand taekwondo federation. I am committed to giving my skills and knowledge to lead our team to the new heights of excellence and all together to make history for New Zealand taekwondo. Thank you for entrusting me with this responsibility. I am truly excited to embark on this journey with you all.”

Taekwondo New Zealand (TNZ) meanwhile confirmed in a statement this week that it had “secured the services of double Olympic Taekwondo medallist Rohullah Nikpai, appointing him as the TNZ National High Performance Team Coach. Nikpai, who represented Afghanistan at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic games, securing bronze medals at both events, has decided to continue his coaching career in New Zealand.”

“This is an amazing opportunity for Taekwondo in New Zealand to have such a highly talented resource on our shores. Nikpai is recognised in Taekwondo circles around the world as one of its premier athletes and we are extremely fortunate to have him involved in our High Performance programme as National High Performance Team Coach”, said the federation’s president Jin Keun Oh.

Nikpai takes up the reins immediately and will work with the team to prepare for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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IPL 2025: Gujarat Titans beat Mumbai Indians by 36 runs

In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.

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Gujarat Titans have beaten Mumbai Indians by 36 runs at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing 197 runs Mumbai could only manage to get to 160/6. Prasidh Krishna was the pick of the bowlers with two wickets for the Titans.

Earlier Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sai Sudharsan chipped in with 41-ball 63 which helped Titans to put on a decent total on what seemed like a tricky surface.

In reply, Mumbai Indians could only score 160 for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs, with Suryakumar Yadav top-scoring with 48 off 28 balls. For Gujarat, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna claimed two wickets each.

With the result, Titans have registered their first win of the tournament while Mumbai after two games remain winless.     

In today’s fixtures, Delhi Capitals will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in Visakhapatnam at 3:30 PM, while Rajasthan Royals will take on Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati at 7:30 PM.

Ariana Television will again broadcast this match live and exclusively across Afghanistan. Fans can tune in from 2:30 PM Kabul time.

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De Kock fireworks see Kolkata thrash Rajasthan in IPL

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Spinners Moeen Ali and Varun Chakravarthy combined to help restrict Rajasthan to 151-9 after KKR elected to field first in Guwahati.

De Kock bossed the chase with his 61-ball innings laced with eight fours and six sixes as Kolkata achieved their target with 15 balls to spare.

De Kock, who has retired from Tests and one-day international cricket for South Africa and whose T20 international future remains uncertain, showed no signs of rustiness.

“To be fair, haven’t felt any challenges yet,” De Kock said.

“Have had three months off which felt nice. Had about a 10-day build-up to this season. Only my second game here, just taking it as I see it.”

Kolkata signed De Kock in November’s auction after he was released by Lucknow Super Giants.
He handed his team a quick start, hitting two fours but then lost opening partner Moeen, run out for five.

Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell after a brisk 18 but De Kock stood firm and along with impact substitute Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who made 22, steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 83.

De Kock finished with a six off Jofra Archer as Kolkata bounced back from their opening loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Rajasthan suffered their second straight loss.

Earlier, Kolkata fast bowler Vaibhav Arora dismissed Sanju Samson, bowled for 13, and Chakravarthy and Moeen soon took two wickets each.
Wicketkeeper Samson is Rajasthan’s regular captain but has been forced to play only as a batter in the first three matches due to an injury.

Chakravarthy, who starred in India’s recent Champions Trophy triumph, got stand-in-skipper Riyan Parag out caught behind for 25.

Former England all-rounder Moeen, in for the unwell Sunil Narine, stifled the opposition with his off-spin and was rewarded with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal for 29.

The 37-year-old and Chakravarthy both struck again as Rajasthan slipped to 82-5 in 11 overs.

Wickets kept tumbling for Rajasthan and despite wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel’s 33 and 16 from Archer, they settled for a below-par total.
“I think 170 was a reasonable score but we fell short by 20 runs,” said Parag. “The plan was to get Quinny out early but he didn’t so we shifted to containing them in the middle overs.”

Arora and fellow quick Harshit Rana also took two wickets each.

Kolkata, under Shreyas Iyer who is now Punjab Kings captain after a $3.17 million move in the auction, won their third IPL title last year.

The seventh match of the day will see Sunrisers Hyderabad play Lucknow Super Giants. The live broadcast of this match, on Ariana Television, will start at 6:15pm.

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AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers: Myanmar defeat Afghanistan 2-1

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Afghanistan’s national football team went down 2-1 to Myanmar in their first match of the third round of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.

The match was held on Tuesday at the stadium in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.

The only goal for Afghanistan was scored in the 14th minute by Omid Popalzay.

Afghanistan is in Group E along with Myanmar, Pakistan, and Syria.

The national team’s next match will be on June 10 against Syria. The venue is still to be decided.

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