Islamabad: Authorities in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are in the process of holding consultations on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Pakistan visit, informed sources claimed on Saturday.

The sources said that the final date for the Saudi prime minister’s visit has not been decided yet and that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar is also in touch with the Saudi authorities in this regard.

There were some media reports that the Saudi crown prince's much-anticipated visit to Pakistan has been deferred.

Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zehra Baloch on Friday clarified that details regarding the visit would be made public as soon as a schedule is worked out between Islamabad and Riyadh.

She was confident that the visit would happen soon and it would surely be very valuable as the people of Pakistan are anxiously waiting for the leader from the brotherly country.

Lahore (Monitoring Desk): After Japan thrashed Pakistan 4-1 in the penalty shootout to lift Azlan Shah Hockey Cup 2024 trophy on Saturday.  

The score was tied at 2-2 in the stipulated time. Japan came hard at Pakistan from the word go and took a 1-0 lead when Tanaka Seren scored a field goal in the 12th minute. Pakistan had 51 per cent possession of the ball in the first half but could not convert it.

However, they roared back with two field goals in less than 10 minutes to take a 2-1 lead in the third quarter.

Rome (AFP): Rafael Nadal was knocked out of the Rome Open in the second round on Saturday with a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Poland's Hubert Hurkacz.

Defeat to seventh seed Hurkacz casts doubt over whether clay-court icon Nadal will play at the upcoming French Open, where he has won a record 14 titles.

Nadal has said that he will only play at Roland Garros if he feels competitive after a raft of injury problems over the last two years which have left him languishing 305th in the world rankings.

And the manner of his elimination in his first ever encounter with 27-year-old Hurkacz was a step backwards after reaching the last 16 in Madrid.

Nadal held his own in the first two games in the first set, which took 26 minutes to complete, but then fell away as errors handed Hurkacz points.

The 37-year-old twice gave away breaks of serve with miscued drop shots in the first set which Hurkacz closed out in 49 minutes as he blew through five straight games.

And the match was as good as done when Hurkacz, who did not drop a single service game, broke Nadal in the third game of the second set to set up a famous victory.

That level of dominance over Nadal on clay, much less a court where he has won a record 10 titles, would have been unimaginable a few short years ago.

But Hurkacz will face Tomas Etcheverry in the third round after likely ending Nadal's love affair with Rome as the 22-time Grand Slam winner looks set to call time on his career at the end of the season.