Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world’s sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 212,742,631 people. In area, it is the 33rd-largest country, spanning 881,913 square kilometres. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650-mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China in the far northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the northwest, and also shares a maritime border with Oman.
Sony Ten is an Indian pay TV sports network owned by Sony Pictures Networks and Ten Sports. It broadcasts cricket, association football, golf, basketball, tennis, MMA and wrestling events. It was launched in 1 April 2002.
The ICC Champions Trophy was a one day international (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC), second in importance only to the Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004.
The Pakistan national Football team represents Pakistan association football in FIFA-authorised events and is controlled by the Pakistan Football Federation, the governing body for football in Pakistan. Pakistan's home ground is Punjab Stadium, Lahore. Pakistan became a member of FIFA in 1948 joining the Asian Football Confederation. Pakistan's national team debuted in 1950.
The Sharjah Cricket Stadium is in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It holds the record for the most number of ODIs hosted in a venue with 236 ODIs up to 19 February 2018. It was originally constructed in the early 1980s and has been much improved over the years. In 2010, at the behest of local cricketing patron Abdul Rahman Bukhatir, the Sharjah Cricket Stadium became the home ground for the Afghanistan cricket team for One Day International and First-Class matches. In 2016, Afghanistan changed their home ground to Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground in Noida, India. The Multan Sultans and the Quetta Gladiators used the Sharjah Cricket Stadium for most of their home games in the most recent PSL season.
Blair Robert Hopping is a field hockey player from New Zealand, who earned his first cap for the national team, nicknamed The Black Sticks, in 2000 against Pakistan. He competed for New Zealand at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Sport in Pakistan is a significant part of Pakistan culture. Cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan, while field hockey, polo, and squash are also popular. Traditional sports like kabaddi and other well-known games are also played. The Pakistan Sports Board was created in 1962 by the Ministry of Education as a corporate body for the purposes of promoting and developing uniform standards of competition in sports in Pakistan comparable to the standards prevailing internationally, and regulating and controlling sports in Pakistan on a national basis. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, now has control over the Pakistan Sports Board. The PSB controls all 39 sporting federations. The Pakistan Sports Board is supported by the Pakistan Sports Trust, which assists hard up players and associations so they can continue participating in sports.
Shahbaz Ahmad is a former field hockey player from Pakistan who is also known by his nickname as "Shahbaz Ahmed Senior". He is also known as the Maradona of hockey for his outstanding stick work.
The Pakistan national field hockey team is administered by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), the governing body for hockey in Pakistan. They have been a member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) since 1948 and founding member of the Asian Hockey Federation (ASHF) which formed in 1958. Pakistan is the most successful national field hockey team in the Hockey World Cup with four championships: 1971, 1978, 1982 and 1994. Pakistan also has the best overall performance in World Cup history in both proportional and absolute terms with 53 victories in 84 matches played, seven time draws, six appearances in the finals and only 24 losses. Pakistan national team has played in all FIH World Cup editions with only one absence in 2014. The green shirts is also one of the most successful national teams in the Asian Games with eight gold medals: 1958, 1962, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990 and 2010, the highest number of times a country has come first, and the only Asian team to have won the prestigious Champions Trophy with three championships: 1978, 1980 and 1994. Pakistan have won a total of 29 official international titles to professional and grassroots level selections, with three gold medals in the Olympic Games field hockey tournaments in Rome 1960, Mexico City 1968 and Los Angeles 1984.
The Pakistan women's national cricket team represents Pakistan in international women's cricket. One of eight teams competing in the ICC Women's Championship, the team is organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Pakistan first participated at the Olympic Games in 1948 in London, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Soviet Union.
Pakistan first participated at the Paralympic Games in 1992, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Paralympic Games since 1992. Pakistan has won two medals, a silver and a bronze medal in the Paralympic Games, both medals coming courtesy of Haider Ali in the Men's Long Jump event at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympics.
The Pakistan National Basketball Team is the basketball team representing Pakistan in international competitions, organised and run by the Pakistan Basketball Federation.
The Pakistan National Kabaddi Team represents Pakistan in international kabaddi. The Pakistan Kabaddi Federation manages the team.
Jalat Khan is a cricketer from Kachi District, Balochistan, Pakistan. He was part of the bronze-medal-winning team at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Bangladesh Games is the largest domestic multi-sport tournament in Bangladesh where athletes and sports teams from all the districts of Bangladesh participate. Initiated in 1978, the event went into a hiatus after being held for the 7th time in 2002 but was restored after almost 11 years in 2013.
The Pakistan national under-17 football team is the under-17 football (soccer) team of Pakistan. The team has participated in the AFC U-16 Championship once in 2002 and has also participated in the SAFF U-16 Championship in 2011 and 2013, but withdrew in 2015 and did not enter in 2017.
Pakistan competed at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, Indonesia, from 18 August to 2 September 2018. According to the secretary general of Pakistan Olympic Association, around 397 Pakistani athletes participated in the Games.
Muhammad Sarwar is a Pakistani former field hockey player who was active from 1995 to 2002, and played as a striker in 180 games over the course of his international career, scoring 44 goals. Sarwar played in the Premier Hockey League and represented Pakistan in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and again in the 2000 Summer Olympics, and in several Hockey World Cup tournaments. In 2002, he was on the bronze medal-winning team in the Commonwealth Games.
