分类： sports

Karachi’s gritty Lyari neighborhood, a once gang-violence-plagued community where sports have long woven through the fabric of daily life, is now home to a quiet, powerful revolution: young Pakistani girls trading domestic expectations for boxing gloves and determination.

Thirteen-year-old aspiring boxer Hoorain Zahra is at the forefront of this movement. Sweat beading on her forehead, she drills through punch combinations during sparring sessions at a local Lyari gym, her gaze fixed on following in the footsteps of her role model, 21-year-old trailblazer Aliya Soomro. Last year, Soomro made national headlines when she claimed victory at an international boxing match in Bangkok — a historic win for a Pakistani woman, where deep-rooted patriarchal and cultural norms still relegate women to the home, barring them from public athletic spaces like gyms and sports clubs.

The nation’s female boxers reclaimed public attention in late July, when 22-year-old Fatima Zahra made history as Pakistan’s first female Commonwealth Games boxing medalist, taking home bronze in the 60kg category in Glasgow. For girls like Hoorain, who grew up in Lyari’s sports-obsessed community, Fatima and Soomro’s wins are more than just athletic achievements — they are proof that women can thrive in a sport that society insists is not for them.

For these young athletes, even stepping through the gym door is an act of defiance. Hoorain, adjusting her black hijab between drills, told AFP that widespread societal belief holds girls should never leave the home unchaperoned, framed by false claims that women are unsafe in public spaces. “But it is not possible to live without going outside, you have to go out,” she says. Around her, fellow fighters prepare for their session, layering modest athletic wear that keeps them covered while they train. The gym itself is unassuming: a cramped, worn room in a run-down Lyari building, where whirring overhead fans offer only intermittent relief from sweltering summer heat when power becomes available in the late afternoon.

The man behind this decade-long movement to open boxing to girls is 56-year-old coach Ustad Younis Qambrani, who opened his gym doors to female fighters more than 10 years ago, starting with his own two daughters as his first trainees. “I believed women’s boxing was very important for girls,” Qambrani explained. “The girls who train with us go outside with great confidence. They show great courage and are not afraid of anything.”

The fighters’ struggle to claim space for their sport mirrors Lyari’s own turbulent modern history. For decades, the neighborhood was labeled one of Pakistan’s most dangerous, flooded with weapons and drugs after it became a key transport hub during the Soviet-Afghan War. A 2013 paramilitary crackdown rooted out gang violence, but the political vacuum that followed was filled by conservative religious parties that won power in 2018. Those parties tightened restrictions on girls’ public activities, even banning bicycle riding for young women in some local areas.

Even amid growing conservative pressure, Lyari’s sporting culture has refused to die. The neighborhood has long been famous for producing elite Pakistani athletes, including a new generation of unshakable female boxers. Crucially, many local families have stood behind their daughters’ athletic ambitions: both Hoorain and Soomro count on full support from their parents to pursue their boxing dreams.

Soomro, who is building on her 2023 Bangkok win toward future international competitions, says girls deserve the exact same access to sports as boys. “Our society regards girls as very weak. People think girls are weak and cannot do anything,” she said from a nearby mixed-gender boxing arena. “But I believe girls can do everything, sometimes even more than men.”

The 2024-25 Premier League campaign has kicked off with a historic milestone for Japanese football: a record 10 Japanese players have been registered to compete in England’s top flight, marking the highest number of Japanese athletes to feature in the league in a single season. With the summer transfer window still open, more Japanese talent could make the move to English clubs before it closes, signaling a growing appetite for Japanese players among Premier League sides.

Among this season’s high-profile arrivals is 24-year-old goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, who recently completed a transfer from Italy’s Parma to Aston Villa. If Suzuki makes his competitive debut, he will become the first Japanese goalkeeper to ever play in the Premier League. Other notable incoming transfers include former Arsenal defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, who moved to Crystal Palace, midfielder Hidemasa Morita, who joined Hull City, and forward Daizen Maeda, who made the switch from Scottish side Celtic to newly promoted Ipswich Town. These new arrivals join a well-established cohort of Japanese stars already plying their trade in the league, such as Brighton’s dynamic winger Kaoru Mitoma, Liverpool’s tough-tackling midfielder Wataru Endo and Crystal Palace playmaker Daichi Kamada, plus Ao Tanaka of Leeds, Kota Takai of Tottenham Hotspur and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto of Coventry.

Football agents and analysts point to multiple factors driving this surge in Japanese talent in the Premier League. Joel Pannick, a FIFA-registered agent with CAA Base who represents around 60 Japanese players, told AFP that English clubs have steadily grown more confident that signing Japanese players is a low-risk, high-reward investment. “There aren’t many examples of clubs signing Japanese players and having issues with their adaptation, with their personality, with their integration into the squad, with discipline,” Pannick explained. “The risk element that teams previously feared, this fear of the unknown, has gone because with each example of a successful Japanese player it gives more confidence.”

The current generation of Japanese players also arrives better prepared for life in English football than their predecessors, thanks in large part to a cultural shift led by veteran defender Maya Yoshida. Yoshida, who spent nearly eight years playing for Southampton in the Premier League, served as Japan’s national team captain ahead of the 2022 Qatar World Cup and mandated that all players sitting at his lunch table communicate only in English. That emphasis on language acquisition has created a more globally minded cohort of players: nearly every current Japanese national team player who competed at the 2022 World Cup speaks conversational English, removing one of the biggest barriers to adaptation for overseas players. Suzuki, for his part, already speaks fluent English, a skill that is expected to smooth his transition to Aston Villa.

Veteran Japanese football journalist Yoshiyuki Osumi believes Suzuki’s potential breakthrough as a Premier League goalkeeper could have a transformative impact on Japanese football. “He is 10 or 20 years ahead of his time for a Japanese goalkeeper,” Osumi said. “If he can play in the Premier League as a goalkeeper, I think that would have a big impact on Japanese football.”

This moment comes more than two decades after the first Japanese player signed for a Premier League club, when Junichi Inamoto joined Arsenal in 2001. Inamoto left for Fulham a year later without ever making a league appearance, but a string of successful Japanese players have since paved the way for the current boom. Shinji Kagawa, Shinji Okazaki, Takumi Minamino and Wataru Endo have all won Premier League titles during their time in England, proving that Japanese players can compete at the highest level of the English game.

Two broader shifts have also opened the door for more Japanese players in the Premier League. Post-Brexit changes to UK work permit rules have forced English clubs to expand their scouting networks beyond Europe, creating new opportunities for top talent from Asia and other regions. Additionally, the overall quality of Japanese players has improved dramatically in recent decades, while the evolution of the Premier League itself has aligned with the strengths of Japanese footballers. “The Premier League has become more tactical, and there are more teams that play as a coordinated unit,” Osumi noted. “That kind of football is something Japanese players find very easy to adapt to.”

Most Japanese players now cut their teeth in other European leagues – such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Portugal – or England’s second-tier Championship before moving up to the Premier League, a path that allows them to adapt to European football gradually. Currently, eight more Japanese players compete in the Championship, suggesting the pipeline of Japanese talent into the Premier League will only grow stronger in coming seasons.

One of Australian Football League’s most decorated modern players, Collingwood Magpies champion Scott Pendlebury, remains undecided on whether he will hang up his boots at the end of the current season or extend his legendary playing career, according to Magpies head coach Craig McRae. The uncertain future of the league’s all-time games record holder comes as a recent hamstring injury rules him out of the club’s high-stakes wildcard final clash against the Western Bulldogs this Friday, which will be played in front of a capacity crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Pendlebury, a veteran midfielder who cemented his place in AFL folklore earlier this year when he broke the league’s all-time games record, delivered one of the most iconic Anzac Day match performances in the competition’s history just months ago. He left the field in a hamstring injury against the Brisbane Lions just over a week ago, in what many fans are already speculating could be his final appearance in the black and white stripes.

When asked to share an update on Pendlebury’s thinking around his future, McRae told reporters the 400-game veteran is still weighing up his options, with the outcome of his decision currently too close to call. “It’s probably 50-50, to be honest, I could see opportunities for him to play on and retire,” McRae said. “I’m sure he’s weighing up those things.”

Rumors have circulated in recent weeks that if Collingwood chooses not to retain Pendlebury on its senior playing list for the 2025 season, the veteran could move to a rival club to extend his playing career one last time. McRae declined to comment on that speculation, noting that all future plans are currently Pendlebury’s to evaluate alongside his management team.

“These are decisions he’s obviously weighing up with him and his management,” McRae said. “It is a big story because he is a remarkable player for such a long time, but we will give him respect and the time that he’s asked for.”

McRae emphasized that the club has maintained consistent open communication with Pendlebury throughout the season, and has deliberately stepped back to let the club’s greatest ever player make a decision on his own timeline. He added that the pair held a direct conversation about the future over the weekend, pushing back on narratives that the club was pushing Pendlebury toward an immediate call.

“Yeah multiple times, I spoke to him Saturday about that. I heard some narrative about Pendles letting the player dictate their own decisions for the future,” McRae said. “Having these conversations with Pendles for the last five years around what’s best for him and best for us gives me great comfort that he’ll do what is best for the footy club.”

McRae said he has full confidence that Pendlebury will only choose to continue his playing career if he is confident he can still perform at the elite level that has defined his 18-year career. “He won’t go on and play, in my eyes, unless he can perform at a certain level – so that gives you great confidence, ‘Hey, over to you mate, you make those decisions when you think they’re appropriate’,” he said.

While Collingwood is leading the conversation around Pendlebury’s future, McRae noted the final call is not entirely in the midfielder’s hands, but the club is committed to centering Pendlebury’s input in the process. “(The decision) not entirely in his hands but led by conversations with him. We’re an open dialogue around that – I am giving him space as requested and he will make that decision at the end of the year and we’ll let him have that,” McRae added. For Pendlebury to take the field again this season, Collingwood will need to advance deep into the 2024 finals series, a path that starts without their games record holder this Friday night.

Leading global golf equipment manufacturer Callaway Golf has issued a formal public apology after a widely criticized promotional co-branded advertisement depicting violence against a female golfer sparked massive public backlash, consumer anger, and widespread calls for a industry-wide boycott of the company’s products. The controversial spot, which was created in partnership with popular golf digital media brand Good Good Golf, was initially posted to social media platforms last week before being quickly pulled from all channels in response to growing public outrage.

The problematic ad featured Garrett Clark, co-founder of Good Good Golf, physically shoving Alexis Miestowski, a professional competitor on the Epson Tour, to the ground when she reached for Clark’s newly launched co-branded driver. After forcing Miestowski down, Clark delivered the ad’s tagline: “Do not touch my new driver.” The scene’s blatant depiction of physical aggression against a woman for promotional purposes immediately drew condemnation from golf fans, industry leaders, and gender equality advocates across social media.

In an official statement released Tuesday, Callaway Chief Executive Chip Brewer acknowledged the company’s full responsibility for approving the inappropriate content before publication, noting that the internal approval process that greenlit the ad was a critical failure that would be thoroughly investigated. “While the video was produced by Good Good, it was approved by Callaway prior to posting. That approval should never have happened. Mistakes were made and we are taking the matter very seriously,” Brewer said. He added, “The content was inappropriate and does not reflect our values. To be clear: we are unequivocally against discrimination, domestic violence or threatening behavior of any kind… I assure you we will learn from this and do better.” The company has launched a full internal review to identify gaps in its content approval workflow to prevent similar missteps in the future.

Good Good Golf, a digital media firm that has built a massive following on YouTube by targeting younger audiences to grow participation in golf, had already issued its own apology ahead of Callaway’s statement. “We posted a video to our channels that ultimately depicted actions that are not aligned with our values as a brand,” the company said in its statement. “We have since taken that content down. And sincerely apologize. Good Good has always stood for making the game of golf more inclusive to all, and we will continue to ensure that is our mission moving forward.”

The controversy carries significant reputational risk for Good Good, which is set to make a major milestone in the sport as title sponsor of the PGA Tour’s first-ever Good Good Championship, scheduled to take place this November in Austin, Texas. PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp publicly addressed the scandal Tuesday, confirming that the tour shares the public’s concern over the ad’s content and Good Good’s initial response. “I think what we saw was concerning, is clearly not aligned with PGA TOUR values. We take it very seriously,” Rolapp said. “I think their initial response was disappointing. It was a bit defensive and late. But I think the responses are getting better. I think we’ve seen some things this morning, we’ve had some conversations with them, so we’ll continue to monitor and work with them going forward. But no, we were disappointed with what we saw.”