World Cup

The feat is astonishing for a war-ravaged nation that only took up the sport 15 years ago

The Afghanistan cricket team created history on Thursday, winning its first match in the World Cup after a nail-biting finish.

Chasing 210 for victory against Scotland in a group match, the Afghans were in danger of collapsing when 7 of 10 batsmen got out for just 97 runs, the BBC reported.

But player of the match Samiullah Shenwari pulled the team through with a classy individual effort, adding 96 runs of his own to inspire a monumental victory with just three balls left in the game.

The feat is remarkable considering the Afghan team’s history. Cricket only began in the war-torn nation 15 years ago, and many of the players grew up in the refugee camps in neighboring Pakistan after their families were displaced by the Soviet invasion of the 1970s.

While simply qualifying for their first World Cup was a huge achievement, the maiden victory at the tournament caps a fairytale run from the sport’s lowest tier in 2008 to its biggest stage less than a decade later.

The win will no doubt have sparked wild celebrations in Afghanistan, with the country’s president Ashraf Ghani praising the team in a tweet. It also had the global cricket fraternity showing its admiration.

FIFA task force recommends playing tournament in November and December to avoid overwhelming heat

A FIFA task force has recommended delaying the 2022 World Cup tournament in Qatar until winter, rather than risk exposing players and fans to a summer climate where temperatures can exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

FIFA vice-president Jim Boyce hailed the recommendation as a “common sense” solution, which the executive committee will likely adopt when the committee convenes in Zurich on March 19 and 20, BBC News reports.

Boyce also acknowledged concerns from football leagues that a winter game would disrupt other longstanding tournament schedules. The 2023 African Cup, for instance, would most likely be pushed back by a winter World Cup.

“It is eight years away and people should have enough time to make it work,” Boyce said.

Read more at BBC News.

He becomes the first player to do so in the sport's biggest tournament.

West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle decimated bowlers (and records) during his team’s encounter against Zimbabwe on Saturday, becoming the first player to score 200 runs in a World Cup innings.

Gayle reached his double-century, a rare feat in cricket, from just 138 balls, the BBC reported. He is only the fourth player ever to achieve the landmark, and the first to do so in the sport’s biggest tournament.

The 35-year-old batsman, who has earned a reputation as one of the sport’s fiercest hitters, smashed 16 sixes (the equivalent of home runs) in his 215-run innings. His 372-run partnership with teammate Marlon Samuels also broke the previous record for any partnership in this format of the game.

Here’s a video of the innings that shows just how devastating Gayle was.

The appalling toll comes despite Qatari claims of reform

The Guardian reports that Nepalese migrants building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar died at a rate of one in every two days during 2014.

The death toll excludes deaths among Indian, Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi workers. The Guardian believes that if these figures were included, the death toll would “almost certainly” be more than one a day.

Human rights organizations have accused Qatar on falling behind on the investigations and labor reforms they vowed to implement following a report by international law firm DLA Piper published in May.

“It’s Qatar’s responsibility to determine if deaths are related to living and working conditions, but Qatar flatly rejected a DLA Piper recommendation to launch an immediate investigation into these deaths last year,” said Nicholas McGeehan, the Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The Nepalese foreign employment board told the newspaper that 67 of its nationals had died of cardiac arrest and 8 of heart attacks, while 34 death were logged as workplace accidents.

Read more at the Guardian

"My role in this process is at an end," says Michael Garcia

FIFA’s independent ethics investigator Michael Garcia has resigned in protest over the handling of his report on the controversial bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup.

Garcia said FIFA’s 42-page summary of his 430-page report was “erroneous.” He quit after the world soccer governing body rejected his complaint, the BBC reports.

“It is the lack of leadership on these issues within FIFA that leads me to conclude that my role in this process is at an end,” he said.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said: “I am surprised by Mr Garcia’s decision. The work of the ethics committee will nonetheless continue.”

Garcia’s report probed alleged corruption in the designation of Russia and Qatar as World Cup hosts in 2018 and 2022. His resignation adds to the turmoil surrounding the organization.

“We wanted all transparency but this is a new failure for FIFA,” said Michel Platini, president of the governing body of European soccer, UEFA.

FIFA said in a statement that the acting chairman of the ethics committee would take Garcia’s place, pending the election of a successor.

[BBC]

Insiders allege a system of kickbacks helped countries secure bids to host the game

World Cup officials accepted valuable works of art from Russia as it was bidding to host the 2018 soccer tournament, according to a new report published Monday.

The dossier of findings, which was submitted by investigative reporters at a British newspaper to a UK Parliamentary committee, includes allegations that Russia’s successful bid to host the tournament in 2018 was bolstered by a handout of a Picasso painting to FIFA executive member Michel Platini. Belgian executive committee member Michel D’Hooghe also allegedly accepted a valuable painting.

Investigative reporters for British newspaper the Sunday Times gathered allegations by unnamed whistleblowers, including a British intelligence agent who reportedly spied on rival countries’ bids to host the World Cup tournament. The dossier also alleges that Russia and Qatar traded votes for their successful bids as part of a gas deal.

Platini dismissed the allegations as “total fabrications,” CNN reports, while D’Hooghe characterized the painting given to him as “absolutely ugly,” and insisted it had no bearing on his vote, which he said did not go in favor of Russia.

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee accepted the dossier as part of an ongoing investigation into the World Cup bidding process.