Naseem And Sarah Honoured By The President

President Asif Ali Zardari invited the two winner sportswomen of South Asian Games to the Presidency and gave them cheques of one million rupees each. The President felicitated Naseem Hameed, South Asia’s fastest woman player and Sarah Nasir, the gold medal winner in Karate and said that he nation was proud of them for their tremendous achievement in 11th South Asian Games. Paying glowing tribute to the national flag hoisters at Dhaka, Zardari said the sportswomen’s glaring achievement would act as a model for other women and would boost the morale of other women of the country to excel in the field of sports. The President advised the government to devise a policy framework whereby distinguished sportswomen above a certain threshold were also sent abroad for training and coaching to further improve their skills for competing in international sporting events. He stressed for adopting the same policy for coaches as well. The President said other Pakistani winners of gold medals in South Asian Games and their respective coaches would also be appropriately rewarded.

Hockey: Pakistan And India Meet In The World Cup Opener

Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf is relishing the idea that his team’s potentially-explosive clash against old rivals India in their World Cup opener in New Delhi on February 28 will put the spotlight on hockey in this otherwise cricket-mad region. The seasoned defender, who is confident that his team can conquer India after beating the traditional rivals in their recent matches, said that the much-awaited encounter will live up to expectations of millions of fans on both sides of the border.
“Hockey is still very much a sport that is loved both in Pakistan and India,” said Zeeshan. “And it is quite a fortunate thing that we are having our first match in the World Cup against India. It is bound to attract fans in both countries and I’m confident that my team will come out with the best possible showing in it,” he added.
Zeeshan said that the presence of a world class player like Sohail Abbas – regarded as the world’s best drag flicker – will provide Pakistan the sort of firepower needed to do well in major events.
“We are high on confidence after having a considerable number of seniors in the side. Short corners will be a reason to celebrate as we have Sohail Abbas back with us. He is the best in the world when it comes to converting penalty corners and I’m sure that he would be an asset for us in New Delhi.”

PCB Warns Yousuf And Malik

Former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik have been warned by the Pakistan Cricket Board to stop giving statements against each other in the media. Both of them appeared separately before the PCB inquiry committee and once again traded allegations against each other.
“It was the same old story of Yousuf telling the committee members that Malik was a disruptive influence in the team promoting groupings, intrigue and spoiling the environment of the dressing room,” one source said. The source said that Yousuf had categorically told the committee that Malik played a negative role in the team and caused problems for all captains. Malik, who was removed as captain in early 2009 and replaced by Younis Khan, however, denied the allegations. Yousuf also claimed at the hearing that there was a pressure group in the team that performed when they wanted to and let down the captain when they wished. He said unless this culture was changed, Pakistan cricket could not move forward at all. He also blamed poor fielding and batting for the defeats in Australia.

‘Pakistan Is A Dangerous Side’ says Collingwood

Paul Collingwood, England's captain for the Twenty20 series against Pakistan, has warned against underestimating his team's opposition, despite their woeful tour of Australia during which they failed to secure a single win.
"I think Pakistan is a dangerous side, it's as simple as that," he said. "Whenever you come and play against Pakistan they're a difficult side to beat. I guess sometimes you're unsure of what you're going to come up against but we're really going to concentrate on what we have to do this week. We've got a lot of confidence at the moment but we don't want to just sit back and rely on the confidence, we've got to do some hard yards before the games.
"Pakistan is a very strong Twenty20 side and we're going to have to be right on our game to beat them. It might be a good time to play them, but you never quite know what you're going to get on the day so I think we've just got to concentrate on our own game and see what we get on the day."
"I'm excited because certainly with our batting line up we seem to be getting stronger and stronger with every one-day game we're playing and the confidence that we're building all the time. There are some important players among us already who can take the game away from the opposition. You need as many match-winners in your side as possible and I think we really are starting to get a lot of them."