Sports
Pakistan’s Malaika Noor wins historic silver at Asian Judo Championship
KARACHI: Pakistani judoka Malaika Noor has made history by winning a silver medal at the Amman Asian Open Judo Championship 2025 — becoming the first Pakistani woman to secure a medal in any Asian-level judo event.
Competing in the 52kg category, the 20-year-old judoka raised the bar with an excellent display of skill and determination throughout the tournament, including a dominant victory over Jordan’s Raneem Aljazazi in the semi-final.
She came close but could not make it in the final, after narrowly losing to her Saudi opponent and settling for second place.
The athlete has been one of Pakistan’s most promising judokas, courtesy of her consistent performances across various competitions. She also represented Pakistan at the World Junior Judo Championship in Dushanbe last year.
“The President of Pakistan Judo Federation, Col. Junaid Alam, along with the entire federation, extended heartfelt appreciation for her historic achievement,” the federation said in a statement.
Besides her, three Pakistani judokas, including Noor Khan and Muhammad Abbas Khalil, flared until the pre-quarter finals in their respective categories.
18-year-old Noor, who was representing Balochistan and Pakistan Navy in the 60kg, won his preliminary round fight against Jordan’s Mohammad Almashaqbeh but suffered defeat against Burundi’s Raoul Brillant Nganji in the next round.
Similarly, Abbas also had a flying start to the competition as he outclassed Jordan’s Khader Alwraikat in the preliminary round of the 73kg category, but was later defeated by Lebanon‘s Ghady Moussa in the pre-quarterfinal.
Furthermore, a rising 17-year-old judoka from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who was competing in his first international event, thumped Jordan’s Mohammad Almseden in his opening fight before losing to Bahrain’s R. Poltoratskii in the Last 16.
After wrapping up its inaugural season, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League is expanding from its original four teams to six. That expansion kicks off on Dec. 1, with an expansion draft for players already in the AUSL, followed by an allocation draft for new players.
The two new expansion teams — Cascade and Oklahoma City Spark — will pick from a pool of unprotected players from the other four teams. Each team will select five players to start. After that, there may be up to three additional rounds, and original teams can add a player to their protected lists before each round. Any unselected players will go back to their original teams.
The allocation draft will follow and will feature all six teams selecting players not currently on an AUSL roster.
The draft will be broadcast on ESPNU (7 p.m. ET) and on the AUSL streaming hub. Check out the picks and some highlights below.
Expansion draft picks
No. 1: Spark — Utility Maya Brady
the moment Maya Brady became the first EVER draft pick of the Oklahoma City Spark in AUSL history! 💙#BeTheSpark pic.twitter.com/WT89vK28xX
— Oklahoma City Spark | AUSL (@ausl_spark) December 2, 2025
No. 2: Cascade — Pitcher Sam Landry
Let’s make some history ✨ pic.twitter.com/ycVUaHBtRX
— Cascade | AUSL (@AUSL_Cascade) December 2, 2025
No. 3: Cascade — Pitcher Carley Hoover
No. 4: Spark — Utility Sydney McKinney
No. 5: Spark — Sydney Romero
No. 6: Cascade — OF Sierra Sacco
No. 7: Cascade — P Payton Gottshall
No. 8: Spark — 3B Jessi Warren
No. 9: Spark — P Alana Vawter
No. 10: Cascade — OF Korbe Otis
No. 11: Cascade — INF Tori Vidales
No. 12: Spark — Utility Bubba Nickles-Camarena
No. 13: Spark — INF Delanie Wisz
Allocation draft picks
Round 1
No. 1: Cascade — P Kelly Maxwell
No. 2: Spark — C Kinzie Hansen
No. 3: Talons — OF Jayda Coleman
No. 4: Bandits — P Kat Sandercock
No. 5: Blaze — INF Alyssa Brito
No. 6: Volts — P Ally Carda
Round 2
No. 7: Spark — P Maddie Penta
No. 8: Cascade — C Mia Davidson
No. 9: Talons — OF Jadelyn Allchin
No. 10: Bandits — INF Jocelyn Alo
IT’S HAPPENINGGGGGG 🤩
Jocelyn Alo is a Bandit 🤠 pic.twitter.com/z6jD7ZORQJ
— Bandits | Athletes Unlimited Softball League (@AUSL_Bandits) December 2, 2025
No. 11: Blaze — INF Jenna Laird
No. 12: Volts — P Alyssa Denham
Round 3
No. 13. Cascade — INF Sis Bates
No. 14. Spark — P Jailyn Ford
No. 15. Talons — INF Rachel Becker
No. 16. Bandits — OF Jessica Clements
No. 17. Blaze — P Jala Wright
No. 18. Volts — OF Rylie Boone
Round 4
No. 19. Spark — INF Billie Andrews
No. 20. Cascade — INF Paige Sinicki
No. 21. Talons — INF Maddie Moore
No. 22. Bandits — INF Sami Williams
No. 23. Blaze — Utility Valerie Cagle
No. 24. Volts — P Aliyah Binford
Round 5
No. 25. Cascade — Utility Ali Newland
No. 26. Spark — INF Sydney Sherrill
No. 27. Talons — OF Aliyah Andrews
No. 28. Bandits — P Emiley Kennedy
No. 29. Blaze — Pass
Round 6
No. 30. Spark — C Haley Lee
No. 31. Cascade — OF Kendra Falby
No. 32. Talons — Pass
No. 33. Bandits — Pass
Round 7
No. 34. Spark — Pass
No. 35. Cascade — Pass
Teams will fill their remaining roster spots at the AUSL College Draft this spring.
After benefiting from good fortune in 2024, Washington is among the NFL’s unluckiest teams in 2025, according to metrics compiled by an NFL data scientist.
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Kiffin wanted to stay at Mississippi through the College Football Playoff even after taking the job at LSU. That only made sense on television.
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Athletes Unlimited Softball League: Expansion and allocation draft
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