Posts Tagged ‘Karachi’
Written by admin on 23 January 2012
Karachi, Jan 23 (IANS) The first edition of Benazir Bhutto Twenty 20 Women’s Cricket Tournament organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) kicked off Sunday in the country’s eastern city of Lahore.
Totally six national teams — Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Federal Capital and Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) — are participating in the competition. Each team will play one match against the others to reach the final, which will be played Jan 24.
Pakistan’s federal minister for Information and Broadcasting, Firdous Ashiq Awan, inaugurated the tournament at Kinnaird College cricket ground in Lahore, Xinhua reported Monday.
Talking to the media after the inauguration ceremony, the minister said women’s cricket initiative would raise a soft image of Pakistan internationally and will help dispel a negative picture of the country regarding women rights.
Fauzia Gilani, First Lady of Pakistan, also watched one of the matches on the opening day.
All the matches will be televised live at the sports channel of the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV). Entry for spectators will be free.
Bushra Aitzaz, chief of the PCB women’s wing, told media that the cricket event would be held regularly.
“It will be an opportunity for our top players to show their talent and improve their techniques and skills by competing against the best in the country,” she said.
The winning team of the tournament will get $1,112 prize money while the runners-up will be given $555. Player of the tournament and player of the match will receive $277 and $110, respectively.
Tags: Karachi
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Written by admin on 06 January 2012
Karachi, Jan 6 (IANS) Pakistan’s national cricket team has been preparing hard at its week-long training camp for the upcoming series against England scheduled in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The training camp, under head coach Mohsin Khan, started Wednesday in the country’s eastern city of Lahore at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium, the head office of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Xinhua reported.
The team for the Test matches was announced Dec 26 by the chief of the national selection committee in Lahore.
Pakistan’s former captain Shoaib Malik has been dropped from the team following his poor performance during the last couple of series and replaced by young batsman Umar Akmal.
Talking to media, Pakistani team manager Mohsin Khan said that both teams ‘are well balanced, thus fans will get to watch a tightly contested series.’
The PCB has given specific and strict instructions to its players to focus only on the game and avoid any kind of controversy during the matches against England.
The Pakistani team has been performing well and are unbeaten since September last, winning series against the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Ireland, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
Pakistan have been playing home series at the UAE due to security concerns at home.
Pakistan are scheduled to play three Test matches, four One-Day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches against England. The first Test starts Jan 17.
Tags: Karachi
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Written by admin on 16 December 2011
Karachi, Dec 16 (IANS) There is no chance of an India-Pakistan bilateral series next year in March on Indian soil, as indicated by the Future Tours Programme, since the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has announced the Asia Cup during the same time in Dhaka.
The ACC at a meeting earlier this week in Singapore decided that the tournament will be held March 12-22.
‘It was agreed that the Asia Cup 2012 would go ahead on the proposed dates,’ Subhan Ahmed, the PCB chief operating officer, told ESPNcricinfo. ‘There was discussion of the ACC postponing the Asia Cup if both India and Pakistan agreed to play their series within that slot but that idea has faded out for many reasons.’
The ACC, however, said it would consider Pakistan’s proposal to host the tournament in 2014, pending a discussion and satisfaction with security and other issues.
‘Our request has been endorsed and was not turned down. They want a full discussion on the precautionary steps that the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) will take to ensure security. We obviously assured them the best and the case has been deferred until next meeting,’ said Ahmed.
The PCB was hoping to re-build cricketing ties with India and work out a possibility of the two countries playing each other again. However, due to the absence of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N.Srinivasan during the ACC meeting, the issue could not be sorted out.
BCCI’s chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty, who was representing the Indian board at the meeting, was not able to give any assurances to his Pakistani counterpart.
‘Pakistan-India series was not on the agenda at the ACC meeting but we were looking forward to Srinivasan coming across to discuss it,’ Ahmed said.
‘We had an ideal platform here to talk with our India counterpart but he (Srinivasan) didn’t attend the meeting. He (Shetty) was not in a position to talk on it. So, I don’t think India and Pakistan could play each other in a full series next year but they will meet in the Asia Cup,’ Ahmed said.
Tags: Karachi
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Written by admin on 10 December 2011
Karachi, Dec 10 (IANS) The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly finalized foolproof security plans for the visiting cricket teams, official sources revealed here Saturday.
The first step for the PCB will be trying to convince Bangladesh, where the Pakistani cricket team is playing these days, Xinhua reported.
According to sources, the PCB’s newly appointed chairman Zaka Ashraf has planned to meet Mustafa Kamal, his counterpart from Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), on the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Singapore next week.
After that, Ashraf will again go back to Bangladesh at the end of the Pakistani team’s tour to give the final presentation of the security plan in Pakistan.
‘The board (PCB) has formed a foolproof security plan and it will be presented and explained to the all cricket nations in future,’ the source said.
Pakistan last hosted an international sports event on March 3, 2009, when some unidentified gunmen attacked Sri Lankan cricket team’s bus on its way from the hotel to stadium in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore where they were to play a match against Pakistan.
In the attack, eight Pakistanis including six policemen were killed and six Sri Lankan players and two officials were injured. After the incident, the Sri Lankan team were quickly air-lifted from the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
After this incident, all international sports activities were stopped and since then the country has lost out on millions of dollars of revenue annually.
The country’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik has already promised to provide presidential level security to any foreign sports team visiting Pakistan.
If the PCB is successful, it would be a big achievement by the new management to bring back international cricket to Pakistan following the attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009.
Sources, demanding anonymity, told Xinhua that Pakistan will try to persuade Bangladesh to send its team in 2012 to Pakistan by supporting Bangladesh, under a give-and-take formula, for the selection of the next International Cricket Council (ICC) vice-president by conceding its right.
PCB chairman Ashraf will also visit India this month and will meet Indian officials to carry on the country’s earlier attempts to revive cricket ties with India.
According to the Future Tours Program of the ICC, Pakistani team is scheduled to tour India for three Tests and five One-Day International matches in March and April next year.
But Pakistan has not received any final word from India whether they are ready for the series or not.
The teams of both countries could not play any single bilateral series since the November 2008, Mumbai terrorist attacks.
As other teams are not ready to visit Pakistan, the PCB has been successfully arranging the matches at neutral venues in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) but officials consider it fatal for the development of sports activities in the country.
Tags: Karachi
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Written by admin on 30 November 2011
Karachi, Nov 30 (IANS) Pakistan’s tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi Wednesday ruled out any bitterness with India’s Rohan Bopanna after their split on the ATP doubles tour, saying his former doubles partner is his friend and will even come to attend his wedding.
Qureshi, 31, joined hands with Bopanna in 2007, the time when Indo-Pak diplomatic relations were at a boiling point, and were together till the World Tour Final which concluded in London last week.
Their unique partnership was hailed and appreciated by different circles and was described as a symbol of friendship between the rival countries, Xinhua reported.
The pair dubbed as ‘Indo-Pak express’ was currently ranked at career high ninth position. They got world fame when they reached the US Open doubles final in 2010.
‘Some months ago Bopanna told me that in order to qualify for 2012 London Olympics he has to play with an Indian partner. Although it was shocking for me, I respect his decision,’ said Qureshi, while talking to local media.
While Bopanna has already told the Indian media that he would make his team with veteran compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in 2012, Qureshi is hopeful of teaming up with Dutchman Jean-Julien Roger at the Australian Open in January.
‘I am not looking far ahead as I am also doing my bit to qualify for the Olympics and since I had to find a partner I have settled with Jean-Julien Rojer,’ he said.
Rejecting the news in the media that the split occurred due to some bitterness between them, Qureshi said: ‘It ended on a good note and we will continue to be good friends and ambassadors of peace. I have invited him to my wedding and he has promised to attend.’
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Written by admin on 29 November 2011
Karachi, Nov 29 (IANS) Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) president Doda Khan Bhutto Tuesday claimed that former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson would attend the opening ceremony of the second Benazir Bhutto Shaheed (BBS) International Boxing Tournament starting from Dec 20.
Bhutto said that Tyson would attend the opening ceremony of International Boxing Tournament at Liaquat Gymnasium at Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad.
‘We have finalised the schedule with Tyson and he will attend the opening ceremony of the event,’ said Bhutto.
Tyson, also known as Malik Abdul Aziz, 45, won 50 fights out of 58 and scored 44 knockouts during his career before he retired in 2006. He is ranked No. 16 on The Ring’s list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
According to official statement, around 35 countries would participate in the event.
‘Asian and African countries have confirmed their entries. But we have also sent a request to Poland, France and some other European countries,’ he said.
The PBF is waiting for the response from the European nations as the last date for entries is Dec 1.
The main aim of the mega event, which will cost Pakistan approximately $689,655, is to resurrect the image of the country and bring international sports back in the country.
High security arrangements have been organised to provide maximum protection to the players and other sports dignities, who plan to visit Islamabad during the event.
Tags: Karachi
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