Indian Champions have pulled out of their World Championship of Legends (WCL) semifinal clash against Pakistan Champions, owing to tense political relations between both nations.
This ends India's journey in the six-team tournament at fourth place, with a win, a no-result and three losses. The semifinal was originally scheduled for Thursday, but now, the Pakistan Champions will advance to the finals, facing off against either the Australia Champions or the South Africa Champions, who are playing the second semifinal.
"At WCL, We have always believed in the power of sport το inspire and bring about positive change in the world.
However, public sentiment must always be respected -after all, everything we do is for our audience.
We respect the India Champions' decision to withdraw from the semi-finals, and we equally respect the Pakistan Champions' readiness to compete. Taking all factors into consideration, the match between the India Champions and the Pakistan Champions has been called off. As a result, Pakistan Champions will advance to the final," said the official statement of WCL.
Notably, the Indian Champions side, consisting of stars like Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan etc, had earlier also refused to play their group stage match against Pakistan Champions on July 20.
Sporting relations between both the nations have once again deteriorated due to a terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir earlier in April this year, which was followed by an ' Operation Sindoor' by Indian Armed Forces in retailiation to the attack.
This ends India's journey in the six-team tournament at fourth place, with a win, a no-result and three losses. The semifinal was originally scheduled for Thursday, but now, the Pakistan Champions will advance to the finals, facing off against either the Australia Champions or the South Africa Champions, who are playing the second semifinal.
"At WCL, We have always believed in the power of sport το inspire and bring about positive change in the world.
However, public sentiment must always be respected -after all, everything we do is for our audience.
We respect the India Champions' decision to withdraw from the semi-finals, and we equally respect the Pakistan Champions' readiness to compete. Taking all factors into consideration, the match between the India Champions and the Pakistan Champions has been called off. As a result, Pakistan Champions will advance to the final," said the official statement of WCL.
Notably, the Indian Champions side, consisting of stars like Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Uthappa, Yusuf Pathan etc, had earlier also refused to play their group stage match against Pakistan Champions on July 20.
Sporting relations between both the nations have once again deteriorated due to a terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir earlier in April this year, which was followed by an ' Operation Sindoor' by Indian Armed Forces in retailiation to the attack.
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