Pakistan's hopes to enter the super four stage of the Asia Hockey Cup 2022 and qualify for the 2023 Hockey World Cup suffered a big blow as the Men in Green conceded a 2-3 defeat at the hands of Japan in a closely-fought Pool A match at Jakarta's GBK Sports Complex Hockey Stadium on Thursday.

Japan, who on Tuesday stunned defending champions India 5-2, scored two goals in the first quarter to put Pakistan under pressure.

Pakistan made a strong comeback in the second quarter when in the 23rd minute, Ijaz Ahmed scored a scintillating field goal. But four minutes later Japan scored the third goal. Pakistan found another breakthrough in the 30th minute, thanks to a well-converted penalty corner by Mubashir Ali.

Both teams, however, failed to score any more goals in the last minutes of the game.

Pakistan, who scored a last-minute goal to draw 1-1 against India in their tournament opener, registered a thumping 13-0 win against hosts Indonesia on Tuesday.

Yet, the visitors finished at number three as India claimed the second spot on the points table after thrashing Indonesia 16-0 in their last pool game. That means Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia have sealed the FIH World Cup 2023 berths.

India has qualified as hosts while Pakistan are out of the race. The Asia Cup served as a World Cup qualifier.

SOURCE: APP

Islamabad: The Islamabad police Thursday booked senior PTI leaders including chairman Imran Khan in a case for the riots that ocurred in the federal capital during the “Azadi March” on Wednesday.

Police also registered cases against PTI leaders Asad Umar, Imran Ismail, Raja Khurram Nawaz, Ali Amin Gandapur, and Ali Nawaz Awan.

The police registered two separate cases at the Kohsar Police Station for "rioting and arson".

The first FIR was registered at the complaint of a sub-inspector (SI) named Asif Raza, while the second one was filed on behalf of SI Ghulam Sarwar. 

The cases have been registered against 150 people out of which 39 have been arrested. They also mention the burning of the metro bus stations at Islamabad's Jinnah Avenue, damaging a government vehicle at the Express Chowk, and breaking the glass windows of Geo News and Jang office. 

Islamabad: The federal government Thursday announced hike in per litre price of petrol and diesel by Rs30 each.

The announcement came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) emphasised abolishing the subsidies on the commodities.

Government has decided to increase the prices of Petrol, High Speed Diesel, Kerosene Oil and Light Diesel Oil by Rs 30 per litre from Friday May 27, 2022. New prices will go into effect at midnight. The new price of petrol will be Rs 179.86 & diesel will be Rs 174.15 per litre.

— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) May 26, 2022

Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail announed raise during a press conference.

In a tweet, the minister said: "Government has decided to increase the prices of Petrol, High Speed Diesel, Kerosene Oil and Light Diesel Oil by Rs 30 per litre from Friday May 27, 2022. New prices will go into effect at midnight. The new price of petrol will be Rs 179.86 & diesel will be Rs 174.15 per litre."

Petrol will now be available at Rs179.86, diesel Rs174.15, Kerosene oil Rs155.56 and Light diesel Rs148.31.

Ismail said the government had no other option but to raise the prices, adding that "we are still bearing a loss of Rs56 per litre on diesel" even under the new pricing.