Category: Sports

Two Pakistani footballers Naveed Akram and Mahmood Ali of Wapda FC have become the first footballers in over four decades to accept offers to play in foreign football leagues. Both Naveed and Mahmood have signed two-month loan contracts with Saraswoti Youth Club (SYC) of Nepal for the 2011 Nepal Martyr’s Memorial A-Division League campaign which is already underway.

The loan periods began mid-May and ends in mid-July 2011, which coincides with the final two months of the three month long Nepal A-Division League season, with the top eight teams out of eighteen will then play in the Nepal National League 2011.

Shahid Afridi has been slipped of the captaincy for Ireland tour, and Misbah ul Haq would be the Pakistan ODI new captain. Pakistan will play two ODIs with Ireland, first on May 28 and the second on May 30.

Pakistan’s ODI squad for Ireland include Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez,  Taufeeq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan and Hammad Azam.

At last Shahid Afridi selected for Pakistan-Ireland ODI Match that is starting from 28 May 2011 in Belfast. PCB has recently announced the 16 member squad of National cricket team. Misba ul Haq is playing as a Captain of a Pakistani team whereas the other team members are Younus Khan, Tofeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafique, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Tanveer Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Salman and Hmad Azam.

But if we look back to the past week, Shahid Afridi had to see a tough time after returning from West Indies. Due to his comments against the team management and interference of Waqar Yonus in the team selection, PCB decided to remove Shahid from captaincy as well as elimination from Ireland tour. In some media footages, Shahid Afridi clearly expressed his anger for Waqar Yonus and his decisions regarding team selections and he even said that everyone should mind his own business rather getting in the way of other affairs. Before the last one day match with West Indies, the conflicts between Shahid Afridi and Waqar Yonus had reached up to such extent that Shahid refused to play the matches.

On returning from West Indies, Shahid’s statements against bowling Coach Waqar Yonus lead PCB think over his selection on Ireland series. The honor of captaincy was taken from Shahid and given to Misba ul Haq and not only this but his presence in the team for next tour also became doubtful. In another conversation with Shahid Afridi he said “I had no intentions to target any individual or violating the code of conducts and my statements were the general comments on the team performance and management”.  Well we ask Shahid that if his general comments let PCB think over his presence in the team then he should avoid giving such remarks.

Conflicts, clashes and disagreements are always part of teams but they should resolve in such a way that they have no impact on performance. We wish Pakistani team a good time in Ireland tour and return with pride and pleasure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWMCGRw81sE

 

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) is trying to revive international hockey in the country and in this regard, the PHF officials met with presidents of various federations of the world and Malaysian team is expected to visit Pakistan this year.

PHF Secretary Asif Bajwa revealed on Thursday during the talk with media men at the National Hockey Stadium after his return from Malaysia after attending the Asian Hockey Federation meeting held to finalise the 2012 hockey calendar.

He said that Malaysian team is expected to visit Pakistan this year for this purpose a three-member Malaysian team will visit to monitor security situation in Pakistan.

Bajwa further said that according to 2012 Asian Hockey Calendar, Pakistan will host Asian Club Hockey Championship and Indoor Asia Hockey Cup in Lahore and Islamabad respectively in 2012.

All-rounder Sohail Tanvir will lead Pakistan’s A team against Afghanistan. Afghanistan is set to become the first international team to tour Pakistan since March 2009. The Afghan side will play three one-day matches against Pakistan A. Sohail Tanvir was named in the Pakistan team for last year’s tour of New Zealand but had to withdraw after suffering an injury.

Afghanistan, coached by former Pakistan captain and wicket-keeper Rashid Latif, have taken rapid strides at international level in the last two years. They won one-day status in 2009 and then qualified for the World Twenty20 before winning the International Cricket Council (ICC) Inter-Continental Cup. The first two matches of the Afghan tour will be played in Faisalabad (May 25) and Rawalpindi (May 27) and the final fixture will be played on May 29 in Abbottabad.

Pakistan Squad:

Sohail Tanvir (captain), Babar Azam, Shan Masood, Sharjeel Khan, Umer Amin, Naveed Yasin, Usman Salahuddin, Rameez Raja, Mansoor Amjad, Sarfraz Ahmed, Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Talha and Sadaf Hussain.

Pakistan’s runaway wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider has accused batsman Umar Akmal of harassment and mental torture. A well-informed source said that Zulqarnain has claimed that one of the reasons for his decision to run away from hotel without informing the management in Dubai was because he was under severe mental stress.

The source also said that Zulqarnain had listed incidents where Umar and some other players mentally harassed him from time to time, even in the dressing room and in net sessions.

Zulqarnain had fled the team hotel last November during the ODI series against South Africa in Dubai. He landed up in London and sought asylum, claiming he had been threatened by an unknown person in Dubai who wanted him to fix a match, in which Zulqarnain was the only keeper in the side.

The banned Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir are set to attend a fixing charges hearing at the Southwark Crown Court in London. While Asif left for London yesterday, Salman’s lawyer will appear in his place for the hearing on May 20 and Amir is yet to receive the UK visa.
The trio was banned from all cricketing activities by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for their role in a spot-fixing scandal during Pakistan’s tour to England last year. The verdict saw Amir being banned for five years, Asif for seven, of which two are suspended, while Salman was given a 10-year punishment, five of which are suspended.

Muhammad Asif, who flew to London yesterday, said he will prove his innocence in court. He further added that he had also appealed against the ICC verdict in the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) and is hopeful of his ban being overturned.

Pakistan tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq has catapulted him to number ten in the international doubles rankings. According to the latest world tennis rankings, Aisam has managed to reach the top ten on the back of a series of positive results on the international circuit. This is the first time that Aisam has entered the elite top-ten club.

Aisam is currently in London to prepare for the French Open to be held later this month. He was featured in the men’s doubles and mixed doubles finals of the US Open last year.

 

The 31st National Games opened amid color and pageantry on December 25 in the backdrop of country’s declining standard among all Olympic sports as well as cricket.  Over three thousand athletes from across the country including FATA, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, assisted by a good number of technical officials, assembled together to show true sportsmanship.

National Games reflect the overall standard of country’s sports. The performance of athletes during five days will be true indicator how seriously they have trained for the event. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) will make debut as new name in 31st National Games football Tournament 2010 when they will face National Champions Pakistan WAPDA today at 2 pm at Ground No.2, outside Jinnah Stadium, of Quaid-i-Azam Sports Complex, Islamabad.

 

Pakistani born British Boxer Amir Khan ensured there were no more losses for him at the end of a costly week by stopping Paul McCloskey on a cut in the sixth round on Saturday night.

The World Boxing Association (WBA) champion made a fourth successful world title defence by technical unanimous decision after a cut above McCloskey’s left eyebrow, caused by a clash of heads, prompted referee Luis Pabon to stop the fight in the sixth round in front of 18,000 supporters at the MEN Arena.

Khan began the week losing an estimated one million pounds after a TV dispute ended in UK broadcaster Sky TV refusing to screen his fight, but the Englishman stayed on course for bigger pay-days.

Khan shook McCloskey with a right in the fourth and increased his attacking bursts in a lively fifth round. McCloskey survived a furious assault from Khan in the sixth before a clash of heads opened up a gruesome two-inch cut stretching from the forehead to left eyebrow.

Referee Pabon called in the ringside doctor, who immediately called for the fight to be stopped, with the judges’ scorecards of 60-54 deciding the outcome by technical unanimous decision. The crowd booed as the scores of 60-54 from all three judges were read out and there were angry scenes in the ring.