Afghan athletes Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli arrived at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Village on Saturday after being evacuated from their homeland.
Khudadadi and Rasou had initially been unable to leave Afghanistan after the Taliban took control, but the pair managed to board a plane last weekend.
They spent the week at the National Institute of Sport Expertise and Performance in Paris prior to flying to the Japanese capital on Friday.
Khudadadi will become the first female athlete to represent Afghanistan at the Paralympics since the Athens 2004 Games when she competes in the K44 -49kg weight category in taekwondo next Thursday.
Rasouli was due to participate in the men's 100 metres T47 on Saturday, but will instead take his place in the heats of the 400m T47 athletics event next Friday.
International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said: "Twelve days ago we were informed that the Afghan Paralympic Team could not travel to Tokyo, a move that broke the hearts of all involved in the Paralympic Movement and left both athletes devastated.
"That announcement kickstarted a major global operation that led to their safe evacuation from Afghanistan, their recuperation by France, and now their safe arrival in Tokyo.
"We always knew there was a remote chance both athletes could participate at Tokyo 2020 which is why the Afghan flag was paraded at Tuesday's Opening Ceremony. Like all the athletes here at Tokyo 2020, we never gave up hope and to now have Zakia and Hossain in the Paralympic Village alongside 4,403 other Paralympians shows the remarkable power of sport to bring people together in peace.
"Our number one priority has and always will be the health and well-being of both athletes. Over the last 12 days, Zakia and Hossain have continued to express their absolute desire to come and compete at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.
"Thanks to the outstanding efforts of several Governments, the Centre for Sport and Human Rights, Human Rights for All, the French Paralympic Committee, the British Paralympic Association, World Taekwondo, Zakia and Hossain are now in Tokyo to fulfil their dreams, sending out a strong message of hope to many others around the world.
"We will continue to work closely with Zakia, Hossain and the team’s Chef de Mission to ensure they receive all the care and support they need both during and after the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games."
Defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders got their 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign up and running with a six-wicket victory over the Barbados Royals.
The Royals won the toss and opted to bat first but the decision didn’t go their way as an excellent Trinbago bowling display, led by Isuru Udana’s 5 for 21, restricted them to 122 all out.
In reply Trinbago initially made hard work of the chase before the experienced duo of Kieron Pollard and Denesh Ramdin saw them home with ease.
The Royals had got off to a steady start reaching 37 runs at the end of the PowerPlay for the sole loss of Johnson Charles.
However, they could not build on the foundation as Udana’s double strike removed Jason Holder and Glenn Phillips in quick succession.
A counter-attacking 30 runs from Azam Khan briefly threatened to help Barbados set an imposing target but Udana’s re-entry into the attack led to the dismissal of both Khan and Thisara Perera to complete the first five-wicket haul of the 2021 Hero CPL.
The remaining Royals wickets fell like dominoes to leave them on 122 all out.
Trinbago stuttered in their chase of the target losing three wickets in the PowerPlay as Mohammed Amir started his spell with laser-like accuracy and Oshane Thomas followed that up by getting Tim Seifert to top-edge a rising delivery to deep square leg.
At 38 for 4 the Knight Riders were in a perilous situation, but captain Pollard took on the responsibility to take the drama out of the chase with a brilliantly constructed 58 runs from 30 balls.
Along with the experienced Denesh Ramdin, the pair put on an 87-run partnership from 57 balls to see Trinbago home comfortably.
Neil Fachie and wife Lora claimed cycling golds within just over a quarter of an hour for Team GB at the Tokyo Paralympics.
Neil and pilot Matt Rotherham posted a world-record time of 58.038 seconds – smashing their previous record time – as they beat team-mates James Ball and Lewis Stewart to gold in the B 1,000m time trial.
Lora followed suit shortly afterwards; her and Corrine Hall set their own world record on the way to go retaining the B 3,000 pursuit title.
"There are days that are good in the relationship and there are days like today which we'll never forget," Neil told BBC Breakfast.
"We knew this day would be our big one. Finally, we've managed to both do it together, and to both break the world record as well is beyond our dreams.
"We hoped this would happen, but for it to actually come together is mind-blowing."
Substitute Miguel Berry scored twice in a 78-second span to give Columbus Crew a stunning 3-2 win over Cincinnati in MLS on Friday.
Columbus had lost six in a row and appeared on the verge of another defeat, trailing 2-1 at home after Isaac Atanga's 74th-minute goal gave Cincinnati the lead.
Berry had come on for Shaun Wright-Phillips a minute earlier, and he soon became the hero of the hour for the Crew.
The 23-year-old put home a rebound from a Pedro Santos shot in the 81st minute, then watched another rebound from an Alex Matan effort bounce off his chest and into the net less than two minutes later.
Columbus earned their first win since July 24 while Cincinnati saw their winless run extended to 11 (4L, 7D).
Montreal rolled to a 3-1 defeat of Toronto as the visitors were forced to play with 10 men for nearly the entire game.
Noble Okello picked up a straight red card after five minutes, condemning the visitors to a fourth straight defeat.
Samuel Piette, Joaquin Torres and Romell Quioto scored for Montreal, the latter two goals proving the difference after Ifunanyachi Achara had equalised for Toronto in the 58th minute.
Inter Miami earned a 0-0 draw at Orlando City thanks in part to Nick Marsman's first-half save of a Tesho Akindele penalty kick.
It was just the second clean sheet of the season for Phil Neville's side, while Orlando City are now unbeaten in six matches (2W, 4D).
Humble Lion became the first team to be eliminated from playoff contention in the Jamaica Premier League after they crashed 2-1 to Dunbeholden FC in the second of three games at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence earlier today.
In-form striker Oquassa Chong scored in the 74th minute to steer Harbour View to a 1-0 win over Molynes United in their Jamaica Premier League match at the UWI-JFF Captain Horace Burrell Centre earlier today.
Records tumbled at Warner Park as the Jamaica Tallawahs destroyed the Saint Lucia Kings by 120 runs, the biggest win in Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) history.
The Cricket West Indies (CWI) Rising Stars Selection Panel today announced an 18-member West Indies U19 squad for the upcoming tour of England.
Ackeem Auguste hit his second century in a row as he continued his dominance in the Cricket West Indies Rising Stars U19 High-Performance camp. The tall left-hander made 127 on Thursday at the Coolidge Cricket Ground to follow up his 104 last Saturday at the same venue.
He joined Rivaldo Clarke as the other batsman to make two centuries in the ongoing preparations for the upcoming tour of England.
Auguste found the middle of the bat from the start of his innings as his side made 312 off 46.3 overs after they decided to bat first on another very good batting surface. He sustained a blow to the helmet but recovered to hit 19 glorious fours and three sixes off just 91 balls. After reaching triple figures he motored along with his last 27 runs coming off just 10 deliveries. He shared a solid partnership of 79 with Clarke who made 40 off 37 balls, and another of 107 with left-hander Anderson Mahase, who scored 37 off 38 balls, with six boundaries and two sixes – which took the score from 165-5 to 272-6.
In the second half, the strongly-built Giovonte Depeiza struck some massive shots as he cleared the boundary with ease. The skipper smashed four towering sixes and four fours in a run-a-ball 83 before he was out off the third ball of the final over. His team made 263-8 off their 50 overs. Depeiza and opener Shaq Parris saved the innings after they slipped to 68-4 in the 20th over. They added 78 in 13 overs for the fifth wicket before Parris was unfortunately run out for 58 off 94 balls, which included five boundaries, which came mainly from fluent drives through the off-side.
Later, wicket-keeper Carlon Bowen-Tuckett made 45 from 32 balls with a flurry of powerful hits into the on-side but he fell bowled attempting another maximum. He became the third wicket for off-spinner Onaje Amaory, who was again the best bowler with 3-35 off his 10 overs. He was well supported by six-foot-six-inch new ball bowler Johann Layne, who 3-63 off his 10 overs.
The West Indies Rising Stars U19s High-Performance Camp is a key part of CWI’s investment in developing and preparing the players for the ICC U19 World Cup to be hosted by Cricket West Indies from January 4 to February 3, 2022. The West Indies Rising Stars U19 tour of England will feature six Youth One-Day Internationals at The County Ground, Beckenham and The Polo Farm, Canterbury from Saturday, September 4 to Friday, September 17.
St Kitts & Nevis Patriots got their 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) campaign off to a winning start with a comprehensive 21 run win over the Barbados Royals.
Barbados Royals won the toss and put the Patriots in to bat but despite a flurry of early wickets, a fantastic 115 run partnership between DJ Bravo and Sherfane Rutherford ensured the Patriots set the highest total of the tournament so far with 175-5.
In reply, the Patriots were never under threat as they produced an excellent bowling display to keep the shackles on the Royals throughout.
The Royals took full advantage of their decision to field first by removing both openers, Evin Lewis and Devon Thomas, in the first three overs before Oshane Thomas bowled Chris Gayle to leave the Patriots teetering at 38-3 at the end of the PowerPlay.
Bowling with real zip, Oshane Thomas was to strike once more removing Asif Ali in the eighth over as his hostile spell resulted in exemplary figures of 3-22 from his four overs.
Patriots captain Bravo entered at the fall of the fourth wicket and along with Rutherford, they consolidated the innings before exploding into life in the final seven overs.
Their 115-run partnership in 70 balls ensured the Patriots laid a platform for Fabian Allen to add late fireworks at the death to power the Patriots to a very imposing 175-5
Much like the Royals, the Patriots made early inroads with their bowling dismissing both openers inside the first three overs. Although they needed a calamitous run-out to get them on their way when Johnson Charles found himself at the same end as Glenn Phillips.
Through the middle overs, the Patriots put a stranglehold on the game forcing the run rate up and putting pressure on the Royals batsmen to play high-risk shots.
Jason Holder and Kyle Mayers fell without making a significant indent on the scorecard and although Shai Hope anchored the innings with a well-constructed 44 his dismissal with six overs to go left too much to do for the remaining batsmen.
Azam Khan showed a few signs of his potential with some late blows, but the Patriots closed out the Royals innings with minimum fuss.
Scores: St Kitts & Nevis Patriots 175-5 (Rutherford 53, Bravo 47*; Cottrell 2-39, Drakes 2-13) beat Barbados Royals 154-7 (Hope 44, Khan 28; Thomas 3-22, Amir 1-20) by 21 runs.
Guyana Amazon Warriors kicked off the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) with a nine-run win over defending champions Trinbago Knight Riders at Warner Park in St Kitts.
The Knight Riders won the toss and put the Amazon Warriors into bat and despite Shimron Hetmyer’s 50, they were able to restrict their opponents to 142-7. However, the Amazon Warriors were to produce an even better bowling performance taking wickets at regular intervals to get their campaign off to a winning start.
The Amazon Warriors began their innings well with Chandrapaul Hemraj striking two sixes but he was caught at short third man once Sunil Narine entered the attack.
The Amazon Warriors then sprung a surprise with the hard-hitting Odean Smith entering at number three to maximise the PowerPlay overs. Smith justified his promotion with 24 runs from 15 balls but once he fell the Amazon Warriors innings lost impetus leaving them struggling at the halfway stage on 57-3.
When Isuru Udana removed Shoaib Malik for a laboured two runs from 12 balls and Akeal Hosein got rid of Mohammed Hafeez shortly afterwards it looked as if Guyana had given themselves too much to do.
Captain Nicholas Pooran walked in at a surprising number seven with five overs remaining and tried to up the ante with Shimron Hetmyer but Pooran then fell to a stunning Darren Bravo in-out-in catch on the boundary.
Vice-captain Hetmyer had anchored the innings throughout the flurry of wickets and he cashed in at the death with some lusty blows to score the first 2021 Hero CPL 50 and ensure Guyana ended on a tricky total to chase.
Despite losing the wickets of Lendl Simmons and Colin Munro in the PowerPlay the Knight Riders were ahead of the game at the end of the 6 overs.
The turning point came with the introduction of Imran Tahir as he removed both Sunil Narine and Bravo in quick succession and the Amazon Warriors then continued to take wickets at regular intervals. Smith put the game in the balance when he forced Tim Seifert into a false shot to leave the Knight Riders on 78-5 after 12 overs and it was to go from bad to worse for the Knight Riders when Romario Shepherd got Kieron Pollard to nick behind to Pooran for two runs.
Late hitting from Dinesh Ramdin kept the Knight Riders in the game but when he fell to a smart catch from Malik all hope was lost.
Scores: S.Hetmyer 142-9, Odean Smith 24. Smith 2-10 beat Trinbago Knight Riders 133-9 (Ramdin 28, Siefert 24; Narine 2/17, Hosein 2/17) by 9 runs.
World Championship medalist Jura Levy was among four individuals to be inducted into the Oklahoma Baptist Hall of Fame on September 17, Oklahoma Baptist University Athletics Department on Monday.
Ricardo Pepi was the hero on Wednesday, converting the game-winning penalty as MLS All-Stars prevailed against Liga MX All-Stars in a shoot-out.
The annual showdown, typically pitting MLS' best against an elite European club, finished 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes in Los Angeles midweek.
But Dallas sensation Pepi settled the contest in the shoot-out after Orlando City star Nani had spurned an earlier opportunity to win it, miscuing his effort into the stands.
It was the 25th MLS All-Star Game and the first involving All-Stars from two different leagues, though it was the second time Liga MX had been involved after MLS All-Stars beat Chivas Guadalajara 3-1 in 2003.
Liga MX All-Stars opened the scoring via Jonathan Rodriguez, who controlled the ball off his chest before half-volleying into the bottom corner in the 20th minute.
Jesus Murillo restored parity for MLS All-Stars eight minutes into the second half when the Los Angeles FC centre-back's towering header beat Pumas goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera.
The 18-year-old Pepi then showed nerves of steel from the spot to lead the MLS team to their 10th victory in the All-Star game.
Jamaica sprint sensation, Elaine Thompson-Herah, insists breaking Florence Griffith-Joyner’s longstanding record isn’t a target but believes it remains very much within reach.
Thompson-Herah demanded the world sit up and take notice when she eclipsed another longstanding record held by the American at the Olympics a few weeks ago.
The Jamaican’s 10.61, winning time at the Games, run into a -0.6 wind erased Florence-Joyner’s 1988 Olympic record of 10.62. Just a few weeks later, however, and the athlete obliterated that mark, clocking 10.54 in another dominant showing against a quality field, this time in Eugene, Oregon at the Prefontaine Classic.
This time the wind speed recorded for the race was +0.9. Now, only Griffith-Joyner’s mark of 10.49 remains on the horizon and there is little doubt, for the first time in decades, it could be eclipsed.
"Going to Prefontaine there was no intention of breaking that record," Thompson-Herah said.
"It was a normal race day and I came out if with a PB after a tiring championship,” she added.
"10.5 is definitely in my reach but I wouldn't say it's a target right now.
"On a perfect day and perfect weather, if I get that, I would definitely challenge it.”
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