ICC Women’s World Cup: Hotels refuse to accommodate Pakistan team

CUTTACK - In the wake of protests and threats by radical outfits, the Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) was forced to arrange separate accommodation for the Pakistan women’s team inside the Barbati Stadium in Cuttack, after five-star hotels showed reluctance to provide hospitality.

“The Pakistani players would have faced trouble while travelling from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack for the matches,” said OCA secretary Asirbad Behera. “So we have arranged for their accommodation on the Barabati Stadium premises.”

The women cricketers reached Cuttack from New Delhi on Sunday to participate in the ICC Women’s World Cup. The women cricketers, led by Sana Mir, were escorted by a heavy deployment which took them to the stadium.

According to the report, as most hotels in Bhubaneswar refused to host the Pakistani players under immense pressure and threats, the team will remain confined to the stadium throughout the tournament. However, the remaining group B teams playing their matches in Cuttack – Australia, New Zealand and South Africa – will stay in hotels in Bhubaneswar.

Right-wing outfits had warned hoteliers in Bhubaneswar against offering “hospitality to the Pakistani players”, following which posh hotels in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack withdrew, forcing the decision to house the players on the stadium premises.

However, the OCA promised the best lodging for the team at the stadium. “Accommodation for the Pakistan team became a headache,” an OCA official told The Times of India before adding that the decision was taken to ensure safety for the visitors.

“We will provide five-star facilities to the players at the Club House in the stadium. The Club House is equipped with a world class gymnasium and swimming pool", the official said. Nearly 600 security personnel, including officials, Special Security Battalion and Odisha police were deployed during the team’s arrival to ensure their safety on the way to the stadium.

Director General of Police (DGP) Prakash Mishra visited the stadium to review the security set-up and held discussions with OCA officials about the arrangements. Meanwhile, Pakistan team manager Ayesha Ashar said her side was well-prepared to put up an exciting performance in the World Cup. 

“I am grateful for receiving a warm welcome from all the fans,” said Ayesha after her arrival in Cuttack. “I will ask Indian fans to come in numbers to watch our matches.”

"The arrangements are more like we get in Pakistan," Ashar was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency. "We are happy with the facilities provided to us by the organisers." Pakistan open their campaign against Australia at the Barabati Stadium on Friday.

The Barabati Stadium Club House was chosen by the International Cricket Council for the Pakistani women cricketers.  "The ICC considered all options and the best security for the teams," the ICC said in a statement.  Cuttack was added as a venue only this month to accommodate Pakistan, and remove it from Mumbai, where the entire tournament was to have been staged. The Women's World Cup starts on Thursday. Pakistan's move also forced organisers to shift fellow Group B teams Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to Cuttack, as well as some Super Six and playoff games. However, the final will be in Mumbai on Feb 17. (Nation)

Candyland win in bridge tournament

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Candyland interrupted Solox’s winning streak by annexing the latest edition of the weekly team championship organised by the Karachi Bridge Association (KBA) here at the Aslam Bridge Hall, housed in the National Stadium, the other day.

Candyland won the Swiss team contest among 11 participants by securing 72 Victory Points (VPs) while Free Bidders and Solax finished second and third position respectively although both of them aggregated 71 points each from four matches.

Candyland won all their four matches. After overpowering Essa (16-14), Aces (17-13) and Sakaria (19-11) they toppled Solax (20-10) to win the day.

There was a fierce contest in the weekly pairs event as well in which as at least three pairs fought the battle tooth and†nail until the end. It had gone so close that it became very unpredictable till the last card dropped.

The pair of Gulzar Bilal and Khalid Mohiuddin left other challengers behind in the North-South direction, winning the title with 64 percent score while Mohammd Nasim-Lutfuullajh ended runners-up with 62.99 percent score.

Dr Sarfraz Ahmed-Khalid Zaki won the contest while playing from the East-West direction by having scored 60.23 percent followed by Maqbool Ahmed-Ahmed Hasan and Masood Mazhar-Rais Ahmed both of whom aggregated 57.72 percent. (The News)

Chaudhry Nisar urges Zardari to disclose details of the deal

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Tuesday asked President Asif Ali Zardari to give details of the deal under which Pervez Musharraf was provided safe exit. He said if Musharraf’s escape was a result of any deal then Zardari also became through a deal.

Talking to media outside parliament house Islamabad, Chaudhry Nisar urged President Zardari to tell the nation which international power helped Musharraf escape. He asked why the parliament was fooled if a deal was already made on some guarantees from international authorities to give safe escape to the dictator. The opposition leader said PML-N would table privilege motion and deferred motion in the parliament on the statement of the president.

Sri Lankan cricketers attacked on Pakistan's darkest hour in sports history

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

March 3, 2009 will go down in Pakistan’s sporting history as the darkest day. It was for the first time in Pakistan when the sportspersons were directly targeted. The visiting Sri Lankan cricketers were attacked when they were on their way to the Qaddafi Stadium on what was to be the third day of the second and final Test.

Half a dozen Pakistani policemen sacrificed their lives in the process of protecting the lives of the Sri Lankans, five of whom were among 19 wounded, in the daylight attack.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene, his deputy Kumar Sangakkara and the mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis received minor injuries but star batsman Thilan Samaraweera and opener Tharanga Paravitarana were seriously injured.

The Test match was abandoned right away and the tour was called off. The Sri Lankan squad, having endured nightmarish moments earlier in the day, must have heaved a sigh of relief after safely landing in Colombo.

The Sri Lankan captain was quick to point out, upon his arrival in Colombo, that it was their own terror background that helped them in saving their lives when the bus carrying them to the stadium was ambushed.

"We have been brought up in a background of terrorist activities. We are used to hearing, seeing these things - firing, bombings. So we ducked under our seats when the firing began. It was like natural instinct," he was quoted as saying.

Jayawardene, very sportingly, also said that the attack on the team could have happened anywhere and could not be pinned down to Pakistan.

The other teams might have panicked in such circumstances that would have obviously caused greater damage. The Sri Lankans handled the situation very well during and after the attack.

Sri Lanka, after having piled up a total in the excess of 600 in the first innings for the second Test running, must have believed that they had a realistic chance of winning the game which would have also given them the series.

Thee march towards victory was in their thoughts when they boarded the bus at 8.30 am. As Sangakkara wrote in his diary they were all looking forward to the third day's play and trying to win the series.


He added: The bus was full of the normal banter. Players traded stories, mostly about Lahore shopping, and cracked jokes. Others chatted about the cricket and the crucial first session. Then, as we approached the large roundabout before the Gaddafi Stadium, we suddenly heard a noise like a firecracker. The bus came to a halt and some of the guys jumped out of their seats to see what was happening. Then came the shout: "They are shooting at us!"

“The truth is we owe our lives to the courageous Mohammad Khalil, the driver. I will forever be grateful to him. The tyres of the bus had been shot out and he was in grave personal danger, exposed to gunfire at the front of the bus. But he was hell-bent on getting us to safety and, somehow, he got us moving again. Had Khalil not acted with such courage and presence of mind most of us would have been killed,” Sangakkara acknowledged like a true sportsman.

(http://skm-sports.blogspot.com)

Pakistan's World Cup hopes under threat

Pakistan cricket is facing a bleak future, with visiting teams certain to boycott tours to the troubled nation for the foreseeable future in the wake of Tuesday's terrorist attack in Lahore. As international cricket pondered the ramifications, it became almost certain that Pakistan would be stripped of its status as the co-host of the 2011 World Cup.

Asked about plans for the World Cup, ICC president David Morgan was blunt in his assessment. "Things will have to change dramatically in Pakistan, in my opinion, if any of the games are to be staged there."

The chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, was less blunt but the message was the same. "It is pretty, pretty serious and it is very obvious that the landscape and the thinking has changed dramatically," Lorgat told Cricinfo. "We are going to have to reevaluate what we do and where Pakistan plays its cricket."

Those views were echoed by Sharad Pawar, the ICC vice president and former head of the Indian cricket board, a close ally of the Pakistan Cricket Board. India had been forced to abandon their tour of Pakistan in January following a government directive after the attacks on Mumbai.

Visting teams have experienced brushes with terrorism in the past but only now, with the Sri Lankans directly targeted by militants, is Pakistan faced with a blanket boycott. Even those who urged international teams not to abandon Pakistan have now accepted the inevitable.

Wasim Akram, the former Pakistan captain, said Pakistan hosting the World Cup in 2011 was now a "distant dream".

"How do you expect a foreign team to come to Pakistan now? We took pride in hosting our guests," Akram told ESPN Star. "This image has taken a beating. It's sad for Pakistan."

Waqar Younis, Akram's bowling partner, said the chances of foreign teams coming to Pakistan were now remote. "We have to agree with whatever the ICC decides," he said.

Ramiz Raja, another prominent voice in Pakistan, said he had never thought there would be a situation where sportspersons would be targeted in Pakistan.

The series against Sri Lanka was cancelled immediately after Tuesday's attacks, and similar announcements regarding other tours are expected in the coming months.

Australia, India, New Zealand and the West Indies are among the teams to have postponed or cancelled tours to Pakistan in recent years, and New Zealand will almost certainly call off their scheduled series there in November. The Black Caps experienced first-hand the dangers of touring Pakistan in 2002, when a bomb exploded outside their Karachi hotel, and NZC chief executive Justin Vaughan hinted strongly that the team would not return in the near future.

"It's very frightening that for the first time a cricket team appears to be the specific target of terrorist action," Vaughan told NZPA. "That's never happened before - all previous incidents have been about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a very different proposition and I think just a very frightening one for world cricket. You'd have to say this would throw further doubt over that tour but we don't make those decisions off the cuff like that. This is really serious."

Reg Dickason, the security consultant contracted by the ECB and CA, said he had long feared that terrorists in Pakistan would target cricketers. "A lot of the concerns we raised during the Champions Trophy have unfortunately come home to roost," Dickason said. "The notion of sporting teams being a protected species was held by many, but it was not a view that we shared, unfortunately.

"There were a number of factors we considered, including the global exposure an attack on an international sporting team could have. (Tours of Pakistan) are highly unlikely for the forseeable future given the present environment. How could you go there now? The Australians were supposed to have played there in March. This, unfortunately, is the realisation of many of the things we thought, and it is a terrible way to find out."

Geoff Lawson, who served as Pakistan coach until last October, feared the team would suffer from being cast into a nomadic existence. "Cricket won't be played in Pakistan for the foreseeable future," Lawson said. "Pakistan look like they will become a wandering cricket team now. They will be playing at neutral venues, because you can guarantee that there won't be games there [at home]. Obviously, there is no chance of the Champions Trophy or the World Cup going ahead there."

In a small vote of confidence, Cricket Australia confirmed its intention to proceed with an ODI series against Pakistan which, due to security concerns, had already been shifted to the United Arab Emirates.

"We do not expect this to affect the series (in the UAE)," CA spokesman Peter Young said. "We are due to complete a security inspection tour at the end of the week, and that is expected to go ahead as planned." (Cricinfo Report)