Trudeau acknowledges charges in Nijjar killing, calls for commitment to democracy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Think of cricket-playing nations and the likes of India, Australia and England might come to mind. Not so much Oman, a country nestled on the corner of the Arabian Peninsula with limited history when it comes to red or white-ball versions of the game.
But that could be about to change come Sunday as Oman, alongside the neighbouring United Arab Emirates, is set to host the T20 World Cup.
Originally scheduled to take place in India, it was decided earlier this year that the tournament would be moved amid the COVID-19 pandemic. So Oman, which only built its first grass cricket pitch 10 years ago, offered its services.
"It's purely a one in a million years opportunity," Pankaj Khimji, chairman of Oman Cricket, tells CNN Sport.
"Never has an associate country [on the International Cricket Council] hosted a World Cup. And not just that, has also played in one simultaneously. This is a big high for us in Oman."
It wasn't so long ago that the idea of hosting an international cricket tournament would have been unthinkable. There were a handful of brown pitches with concrete wickets in the center, one of which was later updated to astroturf.
Each year, stones and pebbles would be painstakingly removed from the outfield and sand placed on the surface. But that hardly made the prospect of diving for a catch any more appealing.
"You never dived," explains Khimji. "You could get second, third degree burns from having skin scraped off -- it was vicious earth."
Needless to say, playing conditions have been dramatically improved ahead of Oman's T20 World Cup opener against Papua New Guinea at the Al-Amerat Cricket Stadium, located 18 kilometres outside the capital of Muscat.
The stadium's seating -- previously comprising of 52 park benches shaded under trees -- has been upgraded to a 5,000-seat infrastructure; the venue's lighting system has been enhanced and a press box and media center have also been added -- all in the space of 90 days.
This year marks the seventh edition of the T20 World Cup: 45 matches which run from Oct. 17 to Nov. 14.
Oman will contest a preliminary group that includes Papua New Guinea, Scotland and Bangladesh, from which the top two teams qualify for the Super 12s -- the later stage of the tournament.
Backed by 4,000 home fans at each game, Khimji is confident that this Omani team -- "a good vintage" -- can qualify for the next round. He adds, though, that on-field success is just part of the aim.
"If I can put Oman in the minds of the cricketing audience globally and how beautiful it is, and then even if one in 50 start looking up on the internet and say: 'Hey, what's happening in Oman?' and start searching Oman, that itself will be a major accomplishment," he says.
According to Khimji, football, sailing and fishing -- which benefits from the country's extensive coastline -- are all popular in Oman.
The cricket team, meanwhile, is made up of part-time players who balance their sporting commitments with nine-to-five jobs.
"Every time they play a tournament, they have to secure permission from their so-called employers to relieve them to go on national team duty," says Khimji.
"Sometimes, it's a challenge. More often than not, these employers have been very, very supportive ... Some of them have retained their jobs, some of them have been put on a stipend every time they go out to play."
The pandemic has delayed the launch of a grassroots program in Oman, which would see cricket played for four hours each week in schools across the country.
Once this foundation is in place, the standout players would then have the chance to play professional or semi-professional cricket further down the line.
But for those who will represent Oman at this year's World Cup -- almost all of whom are expat players -- the rewards won't necessarily be financial.
"In 10 years' time, they'll be telling their children stories about how their father played cricket at the World Cup," says Khimji.
"I think that's what it's all about now. They're all playing for pride, passion, family, country, friends. I'm very proud of the bunch."
Before those stories can be told, an historic sporting moment awaits for Oman as the T20 World Cup is just the bowl of a ball and the swing of a bat away.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has acknowledged the charges laid Friday in relation to the murder of B.C. Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
Princess Anne paid tribute to veterans buried at a cemetery in British Columbia today, laying a wreath to honour the more than 2,500 military personnel and family members buried there.
Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in a photo finish, edging out Forever Young and Sierra Leone for the upset victory.
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.