‘Champions Trophy to be held without opening ceremony’ – Sport

LAHORE: In an unpleasant development, it has arisen that there will not be an opening ceremony of the CPI champion trophy from Pakistan next month, mainly due to the late arrival of England and the Australian squadrons for the prestigious event.

In addition, it has been learned that warm -up matches will not be held in the Elite Eight Nations tournament.

A well -informed source has said Sunrise That according to the travel schedule, that all participating teams had transmitted to the International Cricket Council (ICC), England will arrive in Lahore on February 18, only one day before the first game of the event is held in Karachi, Among the defending champions of Pakistan and New Zealand.

The Australian squad, which is scheduled to play its first group stage game against England on February 22 at Lahore, will arrive in the provincial capital on February 19.

“Due to the late arrival of England and the Australian teams, the initial plan to celebrate the traditional opening ceremony with the participating teams and their captains have been canceled,” the source revealed.

“However, the PCB is considering a plan to organize some type of event alone to mark the opening of the great tournament,” added the source.

According to some recent media reports, the Indian team and its captain cannot travel to Pakistan to attend the opening ceremony, mainly due to tense political relations between the two neighboring countries.

The late arrival of the teams of England and Australia can also demonstrate a blessing disguised that the ICC gets rid of the controversy that surrounds the possibilities of Indian squad to skip the opening ceremony. Due to the firm position of the Indian government of not sending his Crickt team to Pakistan, the ICC has already adopted the hybrid model under which India will play all his games in Dubai, including the semifinal and the final, if they qualify.

“England’s team is currently touring India for a limited series that concludes on February 12, while the Australian squad, which is currently in Sri Lanka, will end the tour on February 14. Although both teams could reach Pakistan some some days before the start of the Champions Trophy A [also] Attending their opening ceremony, they preferred to rest their players after the long tours, ”said the source.

As Pakistan, South Africa and New Zealand will also appear in a brief series of hate in Lahore and Karachi from February 8 to 14, all of them will not play any heating either.

Although the Afghanistan squad will arrive in Lahore on February 12, they will not have any team to play a warming, since the other two participating teams, India and Bangladesh’s teams, will arrive in Dubai on February 15 to play their first game there On February 20. Most likely, India and Bangladesh will not play any warming either.

According to the schedule, New Zealand will arrive in Lahore on February 5 and South Africa on February 6 to compete in the Tri-Nation series.

The Champions Trophy will also arrive in Pakistan on January 31, after which it will take to the cities, where the trophy could not be sent on its previous visit to the country.

Gaddafi Stadium Reconstruction

Meanwhile, the reconstruction of the Gaddafi stadium has entered its final stages, according to the PCB.

“The chairs of all enclosures will be installed at the end of Thursday night,” said a PCB spokesman at a media conference held at LaHore on Wednesday.

“The Pavilion finish and the office building have also been completed and now the work to place new furniture there has also begun,” added the spokesman.

“In addition, all other tasks have been completed within the stadium.”

Posted in Dawn, January 30, 2025



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