Sports in Pakistan: The year that was… ’12

A look back at the biggest moments for Pakistan in sports in 2012.

 

Bronze at World Scrabble Youth Championship

Pakistani youth made their mark in the World Youth Team Scrabble Championship in Birmingham this  year as they finished third in the 26-nation event.

Pakistan’s Javeria Mirza also landed the award for scoring the highest word in a game (158 points). This was the first time that Pakistan won a medal in an international scrabble event, an improvement from the fifth-place finish last year.After leading the championship for the first two days with Javeria topping the charts, Pakistan lost focus and all six players lost at least three games on the lat day to slip to third. However, their manager Tariq Pervaiz said that the important thing for Pakistan Scrabble Association was that all participants finished in the top-40 out of 89 in the competition.

 

2012 London Olympics

Pakistan’s participation in the Olympics does not often result in medals and 2012 was no different.

The country was represented in London by the hockey team, two track athletes, a shooter and two swimmers. While hockey was the only realistic chance of a medal, Pakistan’s show in the other disciplines showed how far behind the country
is when compared to the world’s best.

The hockey team finished a disappointing seventh and there was not much to cheer about on the track or in the pool. Pakistan’s show in London should have given officials a harsh dose of reality, driving home the fact that money was needed to improve the country’s show in the global arena.

 

England whitewash

Few predicted Pakistan to stand up to the English challenge in the UAE. Fewer expected Pakistan to actually win a Test. Nobody, not even the staunchest of supporters, predicted a 3-0 whitewash of the top-ranked Test side in the world.

The batting remained far fromconvincing at times but Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman shared 43 of the 60 wickets to fall to illustrate England’s frailty against quality spin. None of the English batsmen managed to reach the three-figure mark in the three-match series with the lowest point reached when the team was bundled out for just 72 while chasing 144 to win the second Test.

 

Ju-jitsu Asian Championships

 

Pakistan ju-jitsu players continued to shine in the Asian Championships with Mohammad Ammar and Abu Huraira defending their men’s double duo system title in Kish Island, Iran and finishing top of their individual categories.

Ammar, the 23-year-old from Karachi, won gold in the -69kg fighting event and a bronze in the -69kg competition. Huraira won gold in the -62kg event and two bronze medals in the belt wrestling freestyle and classic style event. Another highlight of the event was the participation of Sundas Salam as the only female athlete in the championship. She wrapped up her run with a silver medal in the -49kg fighting system and belt wrestling event, while Mohammad Irfan won silver in the -77kg fighting event.

 

Asian Champions Trophy

Free-scoring Pakistan dethroned India as Asian Champions Trophy winners by thumping them 5-4. The team scored 27 goals in a tournament that mainly  comprised minnows of the hockey world. The Greenshirts got off to a flyer,  thumping Oman 8-3 before beating China 5-2. Pakistan were held 3-3 by Malaysia before losing 2-1 to India. However, a 5-2 win over Japan ensured a place in the final and despite the antics shown by India in the decider, Pakistan ensured the year ended on a high after a long, long time. Winger Waqas Sharif scored 11 goals and picked up the player-of-the-tournament award.

 

Kabaddi World Cup

 

 

Hosts India avenged their Asia Cup loss by bulldozing Pakistan 59-22 in an unexpected one-sided final to claim the 3rd Kabaddi World Cup.  Pakistan players were not even close to their shadow of Asia Cup as stopper Ekam Hathur – the star of final – gave India a solid start. India pocketed INR20m while Pakistan received INR10m. Pakistan coach Tahir Waheed Jutt and captain Musharraf Zaidi levelled serious charges against their counterparts after the defeat but the reality was as it was displayed on the score-sheets — Pakistan were second best on the night.

 

Kabaddi Asia Cup

Indians do not take defeats lightly. So when their kabaddi team was losing 40-31 to Pakistan in the final of the 2nd Asia Kabaddi Cup, they decided to walk off.

With just 10 minutes remaining,  an Indian raider came for his second consecutive attack. According to the rules, a raider can only attack once and then a different raider has to come. The argument forced team officials to step in but the Indian team walked off, forcing officials to hand the trophy to Pakistan. Earlier, Pakistan defeated Iran 62-41 in their first match and followed it with a 53-21 victory over Nepal.

 

Deaf Cricket Asia Cup

Pakistan has been the pioneers to introduce cricket for the handicapped and it shows from their efforts for blind, deaf and physically challenged people. The Pakistan deaf team lifted the 2nd Asia Cup beating Sri Lanka by 92 runs in the final played at the Bagh-e-Jinnah Cricket Ground in Lahore. This was not a performance that could be undermined as in the end what matters are titles to any nation.

 

Revival of a bilateral series

Talks of revival of a bilateral series against India had been part of every talk that PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf had since his takeover. He finally succeeded in convincing the BCCI for a short, five-match series to be played in India and as the hype started growing, so did the level of tension.

The tour got off to a brilliant start as the Twenty20 series was shared after thrilling contests in Bangalore and Ahmedabad. The crowd on both sides of the border loved every minute of the action. The only thing missing was a few Tests to see how Sachin Tendulkar fares against the old foes.

 

Karachi hosts international cricketers

 

 

With Pakistan a no-go area for international cricketers, the news of an unofficial World XI touring brought joy to the nation. It was not the Pakistan Cricket Board but Sindh Sports Minister Dr Mohammad Ali Shah who gave Pakistan renewed hope by hosting
former international players in Karachi.

The event turned out to be a huge success as the travelling players claimed they enjoyed playing in front of the enthusiastic crowd.

 

2012 World Twenty20 

Pakistan had made it to the semi-finals of every ICC event since the 2007 World Twenty20 and much was expected this time around too. Starting late, Pakistan made immediate impact, especially with the bat. With progress confirmed, Mohammad Hafeez’s men went onto shock South Africa and Australia and, despite the customary loss to India, made it to yet another semi-final. Frailty against left-arm spin was exposed yet again as the hosts defended a low total to seal Pakistan’s exit from the tournament but the efforts of Saeed Ajmal with the ball and Umar Gul with the bat will be long remembered.

 

Champions Trophy hockey

 

 

The 34th edition of Champions Trophy will be remembered for its flawed format, one that guaranteed progress even if a team fails to win any of its group matches. The eight-team event saw Pakistan reach the quarter-finals after beating just Belgium. However, a courageous show against Olympic champions Germany put Pakistan in the running for a medal but a semi-final loss at the hands of the Netherlands meant the Greenshirts had to beat India for bronze. Shakeel Abbasi was named player of the tournament after Pakistan edged out India to grab their first Champions Trophy medal since 2004.

 

Asia Cup cricket winners

 

 

A Virat Kohli master-class ensured Pakistan were shocked by India in the Asia Cup but the resurgence of Nasir Jamshed, and a formidable opening  partnership with Mohammad Hafeez, ensured Pakistan ended up with the Asia Cup trophy, beating hosts Bangladesh in a tight finish. The hosts did accomplish one of their greatest feats when they outran India and Sri Lanka for a place in the final but their inability to press on with proceedings when it mattered left them as runners-up. Hafeez ended the tournament as Pakistan’s highest run-scorer while the bowling charts were dominated by Pakistan – the top-three comprised Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema and Saeed Ajmal.

 

World amateur snooker championship

Cueist Mohammad Asif was in the form of his life going into the IBSF World Championship after finishing as runner-up in the Dubai International event.

His trip was not sponsored by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) but yet he defied the odds in Sofia, Bulgaria, going through the entire tournament undefeated and lifting the trophy, beating UK’s Gary Wilson 10-8 to become the second Pakistan to become the world amateur snooker champion.

He remained composed in the tournament, evident from his one-sided victory in the semi-final where he thrashed Malta’s Alex Borg 7-1 after defeating Syria’s Mer Alkojah 6-2 in the quarter-finals

 

News Details: Express Tribune

 

Pakistan Outplay India to win ODI series

KOLKATA: Pakistan recorded second successive victory against India in the three-match One-day International series here at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.

They defeated their arch rivals by 85 runs with two overs remaining in an exciting match at the jam-packed 90-thousand capacity ground of Kolkata.

This was for the first time since 2004 that Pakistan won an ODI series against India in India

Chasing 251 to win, Indian batsmen could not resist against Pakistan bowlers and were bowled out for 165 in 48 overs.

Captain Mahinder Singh Dhoni, was their top scorer with 54 not out while opener Virender Sehwag made 31. No other batsman could make any significant contribution.

For Pakistan, off-break bowler Saeed Ajmal and fast bowler Junaid Khan captured three wickets each while seamer Umar Gul claimed two.

Earlier, a big opening stand of 141 runs was set up in 23.5 overs by Mohammad Hafeez and Nasir Jamshed but later Pakistan collapsed to 250 in 48.3 overs

Nasir made 106 runs from 124 balls with twelve fours and two massive sixes while his partner Hafeez scored 76 off 74 balls with ten boundaries.

This was Nasir’s second successive century of the series after an unbeaten 101 at Chennai on Sunday and the third ODI hundred of his career — all against India.

News Details: The News

Pakistan beat India to clinch Asian Champions Trophy

 

Pakistan defeated India 5-4 in an exciting Asian Hockey Champions Trophy final at the Al Rayyan Stadium in Doha, Qatar on Thursday to clinch the gold medal.

It was a close match, marred by controversy in the final few minutes, with India walking off the field in protest against a penalty corner that was not given. They came back on with two minutes left in the match as Pakistan held on to secure the win.

Shafqat Rasool scored one while Mohammad Waqas and captain Mohammad Imran scored two goals apiece.

The Greenshirts opened the scoring in the seventh minute through a penalty corner scored by Waqas, but India equalised within two minutes through SV Sunil.

Raghunath then gave his side the lead in the 21^st minute as India went into half-time 2-1 up.

In the second-half, the tempo of the game was much faster with both teams creating chances and Rasool soon gave Pakistan the equaliser in the 42^nd minute.

Imran’s goal gave Pakistan the lead again but India pulled one back through Gurvinder Chandi to make the score 3-3. However, Waqas soon restored Pakistan’s lead in the 57th minute but Rupinderpal Singh scored yet another equaliser for the men in blue.

Pakistan were awarded a penalty corner in the 64^th minute which led to Imran scoring the winning goal.

The tournament comprised six top teams from Asia – Pakistan, China, India, Oman, Malaysia and Japan.

Pakistan thrashed Oman in their opening match 8-3, followed by a 5-2 win over China, a 3-3 draw against Malaysia and lost 2-1 to India who they had beaten to clinch the bronze medal at the Champions Trophy earlier this month in Melbourne, Australia. Pakistan brushed aside Japan 5-2 in the final pool match to set up a clash with India.

Meanwhile, Malaysia clinched the bronze medal after beating China 3-1.

 

News Details: Dawn

PkPositive News Of June-12

Pakistani student scales Africa’s highest peak: The News 

Tanzania-based 18-year old Pakistani student Alveena has brought laurels for the country by scaling Africa’s highest peak, 5895-metre Kilimanjaro. Alveena is the first Pakistani woman to climb this peak. She is the daughter of Pakistan High Commissioner in Tanzania Najeeb Durrani.

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HEC ranking of Pak varsities receives int’l recognition: Pakistan Today  

The ranking exercise carried out by Higher Education Commission (HEC) has received worldwide attention and recognition and the web statistics of HEC website shows increased interest of academia and other stakeholders in recently published ranking results of the Pakistani universities.

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Faisalabad Mentioned as Best Mapped City on Google Maps: ProPakistani  

Faisalabad has been mentioned as best (user-contributed) mapped city on Google Maps, thanks to millions of inputs from enthusiastic mappers from Pakistan.

Pakistan has been featured many times before as an example of user-contributed mapping, but Faisalabad has now been termed as best mapped city on earth.

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Pakistan Military Introduces Takhti 7, An Android Tablet: ProPakistani 

After introducing PAC Pad1, PAC eBook1 and PAC nbook 1 PAC is now offering Takhti 7, an android tabled-computer. Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) said that it has partnered with INNAVTEK International to produce Takhti 7, a better form of PAC Pad1.

Takhti 7 is said to be a sister tablet of PAC Pad1, having enhanced hardware such as double RAM and better ARM Cortex-A8 processor packed with-in it. Takhti 7 boosts a 7 inch capacitative screen and improved battery time as well. The Takhti 7 uses Android Ice Cream Sandwich instead of Android Gingerbread used by the PAC Pad1.

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Pakistani chef spices up American cooking show : Dawn News 

Fatima Ali, won an episode of Chopped, a reality cooking show on The Food Network in the United States.

Pakistan Muslims Feed Orphans

KARACHI – A leading Islamic foundation in Pakistan has launched a program to provide shelter, food and education to thousands of children who have lost their parents in natural calamities in the south Asian Muslim country.

“We had been planning to launch this project for last five years but because of some unavoidable reasons we could not do that,” Ejazullah Khan, the national director of Al-Khidmat Foundation told OnIslam.net.

“We are thankful to Allah who has enabled us to launch this project in order o patronize those children who have lost their parents.”

The much-awaited program has been divided into two parts – Aghosh (protection), and Kifalah (support). The Aghosh or protection project is meant for children who have lost their parents, and have no other family member to take care of them.

“These children will be admitted to Aghosh centers, which are already working in northeastern and northwestern parts of the country,” Khan said.

Pakistan’s northeastern and northwestern parts were badly hit by a deadly earthquake and floods in 2005 and 2011. “They (children) would be provided food, shelter and quality education,” added Khan, who also deals with charity’s other ongoing projects like education support program, water projects, prisoners’ welfare project, and women employment projects.

Under the program, a sum of Rs 2 billion (22 million dollars) will be spent on establishment of new Aghosh centers and expansion of centers already working. About 500 orphans will be admitted to each center.

Over 5,00 orphans, who lost their parents in the 2005 earthquake area already being taken care by Al-Khidmat Foundation, the relief wing of Jammat-e-Islami, the country’s one of the two major Islamic parties.

 

Kifalah

A second part of the program is Kifalah (support), which aims to provide financial support for families taking care of orphans. “The Kifalah program has been introduced in 2012 after some experiences,” Khan told OnIslam.net, referring to the induction of hundreds of orphans in Aghosh centers after 2005 earthquake.

He said the program aims to provide financial support for family members who take care of orphans.”In Pakistani culture, this is a matter of shame for many if their niece or nephews are admitted to orphanages,” Khan said.

“Initially, those children (adopted by Aghosh after the 2005 earthquake) stayed with us, however after some time, because of social pressure, their uncles and aunts came and took them to their homes, no matter they could afford or not.

“That’s why we have decided to support their (orphans living with a family) educational and other needs at their doorstep. “Billions of rupees are required for this program too, as it would continue for a longer period,” Khan said.

Under the program, a sum of Rs 3000 (35 dollars) to Rs 25000 (260 dollars) will be provided to each orphan depending on nature of need. “Those who just need a small amount for their primary education, they would be provided lesser amount, but with the passage of time their requirements would be increased (vis-à-vis higher education). Therefore, we plan to increase the amount with passage of time,” Khan said.

Pakistan has been hit by floods, torrential rains, and earthquakes during the past five years, rendering thousands of children as orphans, mostly in northwestern Khyber Pkahtunkhuwa (KP), southern Sindh provinces, and Azad Kashmir, besides killing nearly 100,000 people, and causing a massive devastation.

Though there are no official statistics, but surveys conducted by NGOs estimate that there are 4.2 million orphans across Pakistan and their numbers have considerably increased due to recent natural calamities. Al-Khidmat Foundation, led by former mayor of Karachi, Naimatullah Khan, has set up a permanent disaster management cells to tackle the devastation caused by natural calamities.

 

Saving Religion

Another key motive behind the Orphan Care Project is to save the religion of those children. “We witnessed this bitter experience at the time of earthquake in 2005 when hundreds of Muslim children were adopted by non-Muslim, particularly Christian NGOs, and admitted them to their missionary schools and centers,” Khan told OnIslam.net.

“These centers and schools are either missionary or secular, where Muslim children are either taught about Christianity rather than Islam, or their beliefs are influenced by secular education.

“These both conditions are unacceptable to us. That’s why we have come up with this program.” Giving example of small centers set up by Christian NGOs in earthquake-hit areas in KP province, where Muslim girls were admitted, Khan said many of them were retrieved with the help of the local community later.

But, he admitted, these centers are still operating in some parts of the country. Khan says that the unavailability of an alternative forced Muslim children to get refuge in those centers run by non-Muslim NGOs. “When you are hungry, shelterless, and vulnerable, the first thing comes in your mind is to save your life,” he said.

“At this stage, very few think of religion or morals, this is a human nature. “That’s why we have come up with an alternative that is aimed at not merely providing them (orphans) with food, shelter and education, but saving their religion. Saving them from becoming secular or non-Muslim.”

News Details: OnIslam.Net

Mohammad Asif claims World Snooker Championship title

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif defeated England’s Gary Wilson in the final to win the IBSF World Snooker Championship on Sunday in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Asif, who was unbeaten in the tournament, defeated Wilson 10-8.

In a best of nineteen frames match, Asif was leading through most of the final and was 6-3 up at the break. Pakistan’s number one cueist started off well reaching 3-1 but later made mistakes which Wilson took advantage of to win the the fifth and the sixth frames to level the scores at 3-3.

Wilson made a comeback after the break, levelling the scores at 8-8. At this point in the match, Asif demonstrated brilliant cue control to win the seventeenth and eighteenth frame to clinch the title.

President of the Pakistan Billiards and Snooker Association, Alamgir Sheikh, termed the victory a turning point for snooker in Pakistan.

“Asif worked very hard to win this and it is a very big victory, a turning point for the sport in Pakistan. I hope the government takes notice and supports these boys,” Sheikh said while speaking to Dawn.com.

Asif was the third Pakistani to reach the final of the world event and the second one to win it. Before him, Mohammad Yousuf won it in 1994 while, in 2003, Saleh Mohammad was defeated by Pankaj Advani of India.

 

News Details: Dawn

One Pound Fish Man: Pakistan’s Shahid Nazir song gets record deal with Warner Music

 

London: A Pakistani fish seller at a London market, Mohammad Shahid Nazir, is about to sign a record deal with Warner Music for his unique style of selling fish by singing.

“Come on ladies, come on ladies, have a, have a look, one pound fish. Very very good, very very cheap, one pound fish,” goes his song.

Nazir was spotted after a YouTube video of him singing at the Queen’s Market, Upton Park, got more than 3.6 million views, The Sun reports.

British star Alesha Dixon and US boy band Mindless Behaviour have both recorded versions of the song.

Nazir said: “People have come from Australia, the US, Canada and all over Europe. They don’t come here to work or shop, they come for One Pound Fish Man.”

Shahid moved to Britain just over a year ago with the hope of making enough money to send to his wife and four children in Pakistan.

On his first day at the fish stall, his boss told him to shout to customers to get their attention. He said he did not like shouting, and so made up a song.

News Details: The News Tribe