Afghanistan's National Cricket Team With Their Trophy

Afghanistan took on Hong Kong, and defeated them by 8 runs in the final match of the 2011 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Twenty20 Cup. This is the second time that Afghanistan has won this tournament. After winning the coin toss, Afghanistan chose to bat first. They scored 125 runs losing all wickets in 19.5 overs. Hong Kong was kept at 117 runs in 19.2 overs. The highest runs for the Afghan side came from Gulbodin Naib with 57 followed by Mohammad Nabi with 24. The man of the match honors went to star bowler Hamid Hassan. Afghan coach Dawlat Ahmadzai told reporters that “It’s a big day for Afghanistan, as we defended our title.” The match was played in Tribhuvan University, located in Nepal.

In other development news in the province, yesterday PAN reported that construction work on a new sports stadium in Gardez has been completed. The reported said that the project took one year to complete at a cost of $700,000. The stadium can hold 1500 spectators, and it will be used to hold various different sporting events, according to provincial Olympic committee head, Mohammad Amin Alamyar.

Also, in Khost province, the provincial governor recently laid the foundation stone of a new secondary school building that will be built. The building will be a one story building which will have 12 classrooms. It will meet the educational needs of hundreds of boys and girls who currently study in the open, under trees or in tents.

Also in Ghazni province, construction work has started on a new sports gymnasium. According to Afghan media reports, the gymnasium is being built over an acre of land. The construction is scheduled to be completed in 10 to 11 months, and once completed, the gymnasium will be able to accommodate 700 spectators. The project is expected to cost $264,000; funding for the project is being provided by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Counternarcotics.

Siyar Bahadurzada, Afghan Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter and Shooto Light Heavyweight World Champion, added another championship title to his list of achievements. On Saturday, at the United Glory – 2010-2011 World Series Finals in Moscow, Russia, he defeated John Depret in the second round (time: 4:16) via TKO (technical knockout ) to win the Welterweight Championship.

In order to make it to the finals, Bahadurzada had defeated two previous fighters. On October 16, 2010, he defeated Derrick Noble (TKO, first round) in the Quarterfinals, and then went up against and defeated John Alessio (TKO, first round) in the Semifinals. For winning the tournament, he was given $150,000. Overall, this is the 6th straight win for Bahadurzada. His record now stands at 20 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw.

After the fight, Bahadurzada, who is active on Facebook, posted the following message to his fans: “Thank you all very much for the prayers! We did it again! I am now also the Glory Welterweight World Champion!!!!”

10th Legion Championship Fighting "Symbol of Power" event poster featuring Abdul Mohamed

Afghan Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Abdul Mohamed scored yet another victory last night when he defeated British MMA fighter Andrew Fisher by unanimous decision for the Lightweight World Title (70kg). He received his victory in the 10th Legion Championship Fighting “Symbol of Power” event, which was held in Hull, United Kingdom.

This is the third straight victory for Abdul Mohamed. Before this fight, he had defeated Ian Jones on September 4, 2010 by submission in the first round, and before that, he had defeated Rasmus Bendtsen on February 21, 2010 by unanimous decision. He now has 19 wins, only 8 losses and 3 draws. Going into this fight, his opponent, Andrew Fisher, had a record of 5 wins and 3 losses.

Abdul Mohamed was born in Afghanistan’s north eastern province of Panjshir. He has been fighting professionally since 2003. He used to be the former Cage Rage World Lightweight Champion, and was the Cage Rage British Lightweight Champion until the Cage Rage organization went bankrupt. The folding of the organization left Mohamed as the last ever British Lightweight Champion.

Afghanistan's national football (soccer) team

Afghanistan played against Bhutan on Wednesday and today in the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) Challenge Cup 2012 pre-qualifying round. They easily defeated Bhutan 3-0 in the first game, and then in the second game, they shut them out once again with a score of 2-0.

In the first game, all 3 goals from Afghanistan were scored by Mohammad Sediq Walizada. He scored the first in the second minute, then one at the 35 minute mark, and then the final goal of the match in the 80th minute. In the second game, Nadeem Wahid scored the first goal in the 65th minute, and 5 minutes later, Israfeel Kohistani scored the second goal.

Both games were played at Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon, India.

Now that they have defeated Bhutan, Afghanistan will will join DPR North Korea, Sri Lanka and Nepal in Group D of the AFC Challenge Cup qualifying round, which is scheduled to be held from April 7-11 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Overall, there are four qualifying groups of the AFC Challenge Cup 2012: A, B, C and D. Group A consists of Myanmar, Bangladesh, Palestine, and Philippines. Group B consists of India, Pakistan, Chinese Taipei and Turkmenistan. Group C consists of Maldives, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Cambodia.

The Asian Football Confederation’s Challenge Cup is a football competition for emerging nations. All the participants of the competition are members of the Asian Football Confederation.

Last night at the second round of the United Glory – 2010-2011 World Series in Belgium, Afghan MMA fighter and Shooto Light Heavyweight World Champion, Siyar Bahadurzada defeated John “The Natural” Alessio by way of a knock out (KO) punch in the first round.  The fight only lasted 90 seconds.

“I’d like to thank each and everyone of you for praying for me, supporting me and for being my motivation!”, Bahadurzada posted on his Facebook account.

In the first round of the United Glory – 2010-2011 World Series, which was held in October of last year, Bahadurzada defeated Derrick Noble in the first round via a TKO (Technical Knock out).  Click here to see video.

With his win last night, Bahadurzada improves his record to 19 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw.

Photo shows ACC site - Afghanistan is handed the championship cup

Afghanistan defeated Nepal today by 61 runs in the final match of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under 19 Elite Cup tournament at Terdthai Cricket Ground, in Bangkok, Thailand to win the 2011 ACC U-19 Elite Cup.

The tournament began on February 1st and ended today. The teams that participated in the tournament were separated into 2 groups: Group A and Group B. Group A consisted of Hong Kong, Qatar, Malaysia, Singapore and Bahrain. Group B consisted of Afghanistan, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Thailand.

Afghanistan first went up against Thailand on February 1st and defeated them by 249 runs. For their second game, they played against Oman on February 3rd and defeated them by 9 wickets. Unfortunately, they lost their third game to Nepal by 6 wickets on February 4th, but they came back on February 6th to beat UAE by 6 wickets. This put them in a semi-final match against Hong Kong on February 8th, and they won that match by 7 wickets. They were able to avenge their only loss to Nepal in the final match.

In this special tournament, players only under the age of 19 were allowed to participate. The ACC U-19 Elite Cup tournament is part of the qualifying process for International Cricket Council’s U-19 World Cup 2012.

The Afghan U-19 team consists of Yunis Khan Ahmadzai, Aftab Alam, Amanullah Amin, Dawood Bahram, Noor-ul Haq, Nasir Jamal, Mohibullah Paak, Abdul Rashid, Rahmatullah Sahaq, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Sher Mohammad Sherzai (leader), Mohammad Yamin, Najibullah Zadran, and Afsar Khan Zazai.

Captain Nawroz Mangal receives the International Cricket Council (ICC) Intercontinental Cup trophy

Today, the Afghan national cricket team made Afghan sports fans extra proud of them, by defeating Scotland in the 3-day ICC Intercontinental Cup 2009-10 cricket final. Afghanistan 171 and 124 for 3 beat Scotland 212 and 82 by seven wickets. The match was held from December 2nd to the 4th in the Dubai Sports City stadium.

Starting from day one, the Scottish team was overwhelmed with outstanding bowling from Hamid Hassan and Shapoor Zadran. On day two, the Scots fought hard, but towards the end of the day, the momentum was clearly on the side of the Afghans. On day 3, the Scots were facing an uphill battle. Afghan batsmen Mohammad Shahzad and captain Nawroz Mangal ensured the victory for the Afghan team.

Afghan bowler Hamid Hassan, who ended as the top wicket-taker of the tournament was named the Man of the Match.

Bahadurzada raising his hands in victory

Today in Amsterdam at the United Glory Mixed Martial Arts and Kickboxing World Series, Afghan MMA fighter and Shooto Light Heavyweight World Champion, Siyar Bahadurzada defeated Derrick Noble in the first round via a TKO (Technical Knock out).  TKO stands for technical knock out and it is when the referee stops a fights after seeing that one fighter is so overwhelmed that he is no longer able to continue. Bahadurzada went to business right away, throwing strikes in quick order,overwhelming his opponent. With this win, Bahadurzada improves to 18 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw.

See video of fight below: