JEDDAH: A Saudi national women’s chess team and academy to develop talent in the game is in the works, according to a member of a Saudi sports body.
Al-Jawhara Al-Hasan, a member of the Saudi Mind Sport Committee, said that 15 women have been recruited to be the first professional coaches in chess in the Kingdom.
This first step will then be followed by the creation of a women’s chess team to represent Saudi Arabia. An academy to nurture budding talent will also be established.
A blitz chess event sponsored by the body recently attracted 27 female participants in Jeddah. The amateur tournament, which was running for a second time this year due to popular demand, did not involve professional coaches, but was instead aimed at developing the sport, Al-Hassan said.
Hala Hasan won the competition at Mira Hotel with Haia Jalal and Dalia Al-Sumairi coming in second and third places, respectively. The tournament was a five-round format with a 10-minute time control for each match.
Saudi women’s national chess team eyed
Saudi women’s national chess team eyed
Pakistan opt to bat first against England at T20 World Cup
- “It looks like a good pitch. We want to put up an above-par score and defend that,” Ali Agha said
- England have a lot of knowledge about the conditions in Pallekele
PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka: Pakistan won the toss against England and elected to bat first in the Twenty20 World Cup Super Eights game on Tuesday.
“It looks like a good pitch. We want to put up an above-par score and defend that,” Pakistan captain Salman Ali Agha said.
England started the second round with a resounding 51-run win over co-host Sri Lanka at the same venue last Sunday while Pakistan’s opening game against New Zealand was washed out in Colombo.
England have a lot of knowledge about the conditions in Pallekele, where they have won all four T20s over the last few weeks, including a 3-0 series win against Sri Lanka before the tournament.
Pakistan batters have been struggling in the tournament and, except for opener Sahibzada Farhan, the World Cup leading run-scorer with 220, no one else has scored more than 100 runs.
Pakistan left out allrounder Faheem Ashraf and brought back fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi while mystery spinner Usman Tariq was preferred over leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed.
England captain Harry Brook hoped the “fresh pitch” would play better for chasing.
England named the same XI for the fifth match in a row in the tournament, staying faithful to struggling opener Jos Buttler.
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Lineups:
Pakistan: Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha (captain), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Afridi, Salman Mirza, Usman Tariq.
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook (captain), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid.
