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NATIONAL
Disciplined Sri Lankans dash
Pakistan’s Asia Cup hopes:
Pakistan’s quest of reaching the Asia Cup final suffered decisively as a lackluster batting display saw the hosts stumble to a 64-run defeat in the Super Four round tie.
Kumar Sangakkara’s near flawless 112 made mockery of shoaib Malik’s decision to field as the defending champions piled up 302-7. In reply, the hosts limped to 238-9 despite Misbah-ul-Haq waging a lone battle, but the cause was long lost before the Pakistan vice-captain cut loose to delay the inevitable. Misbah recorded his highest ODI score, unleashing four sixes and three fours on his way to 76 off 70 deliveries. But by then the verdict had been declared in favour of Sri Lanka. A win was imperative for Pakistan, but the end-result has now left them in need of a miracle to boost their chances of making to the final. If anyone could be blamed for their ill-planned run chase, it was Shoaib Malik. The skipper spent 32 overs at the crease without really forcing the pace, which led to the asking rate climbing towards the point of no return. Malik’s 79-ball 52 (three fours) was in sharp contrast to Younus Khan (47 off 70 balls, seven fours) and Misbah’s belated assault as Ajantha Mendis, a slow bowler with lots of tricks in his armoury confounded the batsmen to no end. The 23-year-old dismissed Mohammad Yousuf (missed a straight one while sweeping), Malik (stumped off a slow leg cutter), Mansoor Amjad deceived by a quicker one) and Misbah (heaving at a straight ball). Pakistan’s miserable night got off to the worst possible start when Chaminda Vaas forced Salman Butt to play the first delivery on to his stumps.
With each passing over, it progressively got worse. Shahid Afridi emulated Salman’s dubious feat when his conventional attempt to his Sanath Jayasuriya out of the ground against the spin landed safely in substitute Jehan Mubarak’s palms at long-off.
The difference between the teams was the disciplined bowling from the Sri Lankans, who didn’t concede any extras until the 33rd over when Jayasuriya bowled a wide.
PHF calls 33 for Olympics camp:
The selection committee of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has called 33 players for attending a camp to prepare for the Beijing Olympic games. The camp will commence here at the National Hockey Stadium from June 30. The following are the names of players attending the camp. Salman Akbar, Zeeshan Ashraf, Mohammad Ateeq, Abdul Haseem Khan, Syed Imran Warsi, Akhtar Ali, Adnan Maqsood, Fasi-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Imran, Shahid Saleem, Waqas Zafar, Azhar Iqbal, Mohammad Arshad, Shakeel Abbasi, Shabbir Khan, M Javed, Mudassar Abbas, Abbas Haider, Nasir Ahmed, Mohammad Irfan, Waqas Akbar, Shafqat Rasool, Ihsanullah, Mohammad Zubair, M Waqas Sharif, Rehan Butt, Nadeem Ahmed, Rana M Asif, Mohammad Saqlain. Steel Mills: Kamran Ahmed. Saeed Shah. Fareed Ahmed, Syed Adeel Hussain.
Procter defends Pakistan
security:
Former South African all-rounder Mike Procter said last week that he saw no reason why Pakistan cannot host the Champions Trophy in September, describing security measures as “fantastic”. “I see no reason why Pakistan should not host the Champions Trophy. I found Pakistan a safe place and have been here twice this year,” said Procter. “This is my personal opinion and I don’t know what the Australians have to say... (but) I was here in March and I am here in June and I found security arrangements to be fantastic,” said Procter. “The foreign umpires who have been with me during the Asia Cup also felt very safe and I would love to come to Pakistan for the future events whenever I get appointments.”
Railways claim two golds
in Judo:
Railways were off to an impressive start when they clinched two gold and a bronze medal on the opening day of the 19th National Judo Championship that has commenced at Abbottabad. As per details, the defending champions WAPDA claimed one gold and two silver medals while the last National Games champions Army started the event with one gold, a silver and two bronze medals. On the first day, competitions were held in four weight categories. In 50kg, Mushtaq Ahmad from Army claimed gold, Muhammad Sadiq from WAPDA got silver while Izhar Ahmad (Railways) and Mohammad Idrees from Punjab captured bronze medals. In 56kg, the gold medal went to Railways Gulzar Ahmad, Sharif Maseeh from WAPDA claimed silver medal while the bronze medals went to Mudassir Ali (Army) and Mohammad Fareed (Balochistan). In the minus 56kg, Ayatullah from WAPDA secured gold, followed by Mohammad Munawwar (Army) with silver and Mohammad Asghar (Police) and Niamatullah (Balochistan) with bronze medals. In the open category, Zahid Iqbal from Railways picked up a gold medal, Mohammad Yousuf from Punjab claimed silver while Naved Akbar (Army) and Mohammad Shahid (Sindh) grabbed bronze medals.
Majid Khan demands removal of PCB chief:
Cricket icon Majid Khan has demanded of the Patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) President Pervez Musharraf to remove Dr Nasim Ashraf for his financial irregularities in the Board and the manner in which he sacked former Test cricketer Saleem Altaf. Addressing a crowded press conference at his Zaman Park residence, Majid called upon the Patron to appoint such a person as chairman of the Board who knew and understood cricket and responded to a question that if he was asked to do the job he would accept the challenge. “The present Board had turned this institution as an employment exchange. When I was the chief executive of the PCB we had 20 to 30 employees but today this number has increased to 700 plus,” Majid said. He added that there was no discipline in the Board and personal likes and dislikes had made the players more powerful than the Board. “Inzamam-ul-Haq refused to play the Oval Test match but wasn’t sacked from the captaincy. Younis Khan refused to lead the team saying ‘I don’t want to become a dummy captain’ and declined to play in the match against Bangladesh early this year but escaped punishment. “The player who confessed before millions of people watching him throw a match was made captain of the team,” Majid recalled. The former captain of Pakistan cricket team said that non-technocrats were damaging the game of cricket. “We cricketers are deeply concerned about the financial indiscipline in the PCB and demand that the misuse of public money should be audited by the Public Accounts Committee of the government of Pakistan,” demanded Majid. Majid was highly critical of the treatment meted out to his former Test colleague Saleem Altaf and called upon Nasim Ashraf that if he had left a little bit of decency in him he should quit after the just decision of the Lahore High Court’s Judge Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi in restoring Saleem on his job.
Khalid Sr. VP, Bajwa Secretary
of PHF:
Mohammad Asif Bajwa will work as Secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) while another former Olympian Khalid Mahmood will take over as its Senior Vice President on July 1. These decisions were taken when these two men met the President of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, at the Balochistan House. The meeting was held to settle the issue of PHF Secretaryship after the Federal Ministry of Sports issued a notification earlier this month to replace incumbent Khalid Mahmood with Mohammad Asif Bajwa on this post. Jamali said in comments to reporters after the meeting that Bajwa will take over as PHF Secretary on July 1 while Khalid Mahmood will assume charge as Senior Vice President of PHF the same day. He said no more changes will take place in the PHF till the Olympics scheduled to be held at Beijing from August 8 to 24 this year.
