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Under Modi govt orders, India skip Pakistan handshake after Asia Cup win, drawing boos

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Under Modi govt orders, India skip Pakistan handshake after Asia Cup win, drawing boos


Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson speaks to the media at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on September 11, 2025. — AFP

DUBAI: India’s seven-wicket win over Pakistan in the Asia Cup clash at Dubai Stadium on Sunday was eclipsed by off-field drama after Indian players skipped the customary post-match handshake.

India thumped Pakistan by seven wickets in a Group A Asia Cup clash in Dubai, which ended on a bitter note as Indian players headed into their dressing room without a customary handshake.

Instead of greeting their opponents, Suryakumar and teammate Shivam Dube exchanged fist bumps after hitting the winning runs, congratulated each other, and then headed straight to the dressing room.

Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha and head coach Mike Hesson later approached the Indian camp, but no players came out.

Coach Mike Hesson called it “a disappointing way for the match to end.”

“We were ready to shake hands at the end, but the opposition had already gone to the dressing room,” he said.

Pakistan, in protest, refused to attend the post-match ceremony as tensions flared in a match which was the first between the bitter rivals since May´s military action.

The cross-border clashes were sparked after an attack in Pahalgam in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in April, which killed 26 people, with India blaming Pakistan.

A mix-up with Pakistan’s anthem before the start had already made the atmosphere tense.

The coach also shed light on Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha’s absence from the customary post-match presentation, linking it to the incident.

“I think it was just a flow-on effect. We were keen to engage and shake hands at the end of the match, that didn’t happen, and that was pretty much the end of it,” he explained.

“The team manager Naveed Cheema lodged a protest with match referee Andy Pycroft after the match,” said Pakistan’s team management in a statement after the match.

“The behaviour of Indian players was against the spirit of sportsmanship,” it added. “That is why skipper Agha was not sent to the post-match ceremony.”

India’s victorious captain Suryakumar Yadav defended his team’s decision not to shake hands with the defeated Pakistan players on Sunday, saying that it was taken in alignment with their government and cricket board.

New Delhi resisted the calls to boycott the match and cleared the team to play Pakistan only in multi-national events.

“We are aligned with the government and Board of Control for Cricket in India,” said Suryakumar after scoring 47 not out as India chased down a modest Pakistan target of 128 in 15.5 overs.

The handshake issue had also come up earlier when Suryakumar Yadav and Salman Ali Agha did not shake hands at the toss.

India, with two wins from two, are nearly through to the next Super Fours stage of the tournament with their final group match against Oman on Friday.

Pakistan play the UAE next on Wednesday and despite the defeat to India, are expected to make the next stage.


Additional input from AFP.





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Iran’s soccer team honors victims of elementary school airstrike

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Iran’s soccer team honors victims of elementary school airstrike


ANTALYA, Turkey — Players held small backpacks as Iran‘s national soccer team used a match against Nigeria on Friday to honor the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school.

More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, when a Feb. 28 strike, likely launched by the U.S., hit the school in southern Iran.

Iran bans sports teams’ travel to ‘hostile’ nations

Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The U.S. military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.

During the national anthem Friday, the Iranian team honored the memory of the slain children by placing small pink and purple school backpacks in front of them.

Video of the ceremony also showed the players wearing black armbands in remembrance of those killed since the war began.

The match was played in Antalya, southern Turkey.

Nigeria won 2-1 in a game that was a World Cup tuneup for Iran, ahead of the tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The Islamic Republic’s team is scheduled to play three group-stage matches in June in the U.S. The Iranian ambassador in Mexico City has said the country asked FIFA to move those three games to Mexico after U.S. President Donald Trump discouraged the team from attending, citing safety concerns.

Iranian government and soccer officials have said they do not want to boycott the World Cup but that it is not possible for the national team to go to the U.S. because of military attacks on Iran by Israel and U.S.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has dampened Iran’s attempts to move its matches, saying global soccer’s governing body wants the tournament “to go ahead as scheduled.”

Separately on Friday, Iran’s judiciary threatened to seize the property of soccer player Sardar Azmoun, two semiofficial news agencies said. The announcement follows threats from Iran’s hard-liner judicial chief that authorities planned to seize the assets of celebrities viewed as critical of the government.



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Tiger Woods arrested at crash scene on suspicion of DUI, sheriff says

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Tiger Woods arrested at crash scene on suspicion of DUI, sheriff says


Tiger Woods showed signs of impairment and was arrested Friday at the scene of a car crash in which he struck another vehicle and rolled his Land Rover, authorities said.

Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Woods and the person in the other vehicle were not injured. Woods was able to crawl out of the passenger side of his Land Rover.

The crash occurred just after 2 p.m. not far from where Woods lives on Jupiter Island. Budensiek said Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-land road. He swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck, but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer. Woods’ vehicle then rolled onto its driver’s side.

Budensiek said investigators at the scene found Woods to be showing signs of impairment. He did a breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but he refused to take a urine test. Authorities charged him with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, Budensiek said. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information.

Woods, 50, had spent the past several months recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and another back surgery in October. The 15-time major champion competed for the first time in more than a year during Tuesday’s TGL finals, where his Jupiter Links GC team lost to the Los Angeles Golf Club.

He had been weighing whether to return to the PGA Tour at the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, the first major of the season, which begins April 9.

Woods last competed on the PGA Tour in July 2024 when he missed the cut at the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. He last played four rounds in a PGA Tour event at the 2024 Masters.

In February 2021, Woods suffered significant leg injuries in a one-car crash outside of Los Angeles, in which his SUV rolled several times and left him trapped in the car. He later had surgery to deal with “open fractures” to his lower right leg, had a rod placed in a tibia and had screws and pins inserted in his foot and ankle during emergency surgery. Woods was hospitalized for three weeks following the surgery.

At the 2021 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Woods said, “I’m lucky to be alive and also have a limb.” He said it was 50-50 as to whether part of his right leg could have been amputated.

He had at least one more surgery related to injuries from the crash in April 2023.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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FIFA clears Fulham’s Diop, Ajax’s Bounida to play for Morocco

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FIFA clears Fulham’s Diop, Ajax’s Bounida to play for Morocco


Morocco got FIFA permission to select Fulham defender Issa Diop and Ajax midfielder Rayane Bounida among seven players recruited this month by the 2022 World Cup semifinalist ahead of the next edition in North America, and 16 in total since last March.

The 29-year-old Diop was a France youth and under-21 international and Bounida is among six players aged 20 or under changing eligibility this month to represent Morocco after playing youth games for Belgium or the Netherlands.

All have direct family ties to Morocco that allow them within FIFA rules to change national eligibility, typically when players have not played a senior competitive game for the first country they represented.

Diop and Bounida are in new coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s squad for World Cup warmup games against Ecuador on Friday in Madrid, and Paraguay on Tuesday in Lens, France.

At the 2026 World Cup Morocco is in a group with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti playing games, respectively, near New York, Boston and in Atlanta.

Morocco gets direct entry to the 2030 tournament as a co-host with Spain and Portugal, plus single games to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The Morocco federation, under the leadership of Fouzi Lekjaa, an increasingly influential figure in soccer politics, has actively recruited players from a diaspora in Europe.

The squad which made World Cup history in Qatar as the first semifinalist from Africa included stars such as Hakim Ziyech and Sofyan Amrabat who had been Netherlands youth internationals.

The eligibility changes FIFA approved in March include Bounida and Genk midfielder Saif Eddien Lazar who had represented Belgium.

Players switching to Morocco from the Netherlands were Benjamin Khaderi and Sami Bouhoudane, both aged 18 from PSV Eindhoven, 20-year-old Utrecht defender Oualid Agougil and 18-year-old Ayoud Ouarghi from Feyenoord.

FIFA also approved nine more players changing eligibility from March to December last year, from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway.



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