SPORTS Thursday, 31 March, 2016
Fiery Waqar slams PCB For ‘leaking’ ConFidential rePort Lahore
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Tennis is in ruins: Nick Kyrgios MiaMi Agencies
Australian Nick Kyrgios unleashed a tirade on tennis as a “biased” and “ruined” sport Tuesday during his fourth-round triumph at the ATP and WTA Miami Open. The 20-year-old from Canberra defeated 51st-ranked Russian Andrey Kuznetsov 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 to become the first Aussie in the Miami quarter-finals since Lleyton Hewitt’s 2002 semi-final run. But a dispute flared in the first set after chair umpire Cedric Mourier called a code violation against Kyrgios for swatting a ball tossed his way by a ballperson into the stands. On the next changeover, Kyrgios told the umpire his action wasn’t intentional and said a star player such as 14time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal would not have been called out for the same action. “Anyone else, like Rafa did that, you would keep it cool,” Kyrgios said. “This game is biased as anything. You all know it as well. It’s biased as shit, this game. What else has it got to hide? It’s ruined. Absolutely ruined.” After the match, Kyrgios said only that he stood by the comments. Kyrgios, the youngest player ranked in the ATP top 30 at 26th, will face Canadian 12th seed Milos Raonic on Thursday for a semi-final berth. Off to a career-best 13-3 start that includes his first ATP title last month at Marseille, Kyrgios has a track record of making off-color remarks. Last year he drew almost blanket condemnation throughout the tennis world for lurid remarks about Stan Wawrinka’s teenage girlfriend during a match against the Swiss star in Montreal.
Agencies
EAD coach Waqar Younis fired a stinging volley at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after details of a confidential report from Tuesday’s meeting in Lahore was leaked to the media. In a press conference outside the Gaddafi Stadium, a fired-up Waqar went as far saying that there “was more politics in Pakistan cricket than the parliament.” The 44-year-old took to the press after the second meeting of a fact-finding committee which was formed to assess Pakistan’s disastrous World Twenty20 campaign. The coach gave a detailed report to the PCB on the first day of the meeting on Tuesday, the details of which were leaked in the media, prompting Waqar’s ire. “Let’s forget about my position as coach for a minute. The real question is who is leaking information from these confidential reports? I’ve given a fair assessment but bits and pieces from my reports have been picked, moulded and leaked in the media to present me as
some kind of villain,” Waqar said on Wednesday. According to the former captain, who was hired as head coach for a second time in 2014 and whose contract is due to expire in May, said Pakistan cricket was rife with politics. “There is more politics in Pakistan cricket than the parliament. We are all fed up of these inquiry committees.
What are they achieving? We need to open our eyes and not look at opportunities to shift the blame.” According to some reports in the media Waqar alleged that star batsman Mohammad Hafeez kept his injury a secret before World Twenty20, while the captain Shahid Afridi hardly participated in team meetings and practices he alleged former wicketkeeper and
team manager Moin Khan of disrupting team culture. Waqar said his details from his report had been ‘twisted’ to create further divisions. “I presented an honest assessment in my report but I feel some individuals did not appreciate that. Hence my report has been twisted and leaked in the media. And that is why I came to meet the PCB chief today. Unfortunately, despite being present in his office and only three doors down from me, I was only give time over the phone.” “Have I suddenly become their enemy? Aren’t we all part of the same team? I have been left deeply hurt by their actions,” Waqar said pointing to PCB chief Shaharyar Khan and ex-co chairman Najam Sethi. The coach once again offered to resign from his post saying if “my exit means things will be better, I would do it without delay.” There was further drama as selection committee member Kabir Khan resigned from his post as Waqar addressed the press. It was followed by a very brief statement from Shaharyar Khan who clarified his position.
Shahid Afridi seeks forgiveness from fans on Facebook SportS DeSk
Russian hockey club cancels visit to Pakistan The Russia-based Dinamo Field Hockey Club has pulled out of their tour to Pakistan which was scheduled to kick off on April 2 in Lahore. According to a press release by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Dinamo were scheduled to take on the Pakistan Junior Hockey Team in Lahore on April 2, 3, 5 and 6 but Sunday’s terrorist attack in the city forced the club from Ekaterinburg to call the tour off. At least 72 people were killed in a suicide blast that took place in the crowded Gulshan-i-Iqbal park on Sunday evening. It is unclear whether the tour will be rescheduled but the development comes as another blow to Pakistan hockey. The club, one of the most prestigious in Russia, is home to six national team players and would have
helped the Pakistan junior team get some valuable practice and exposure. International sports teams have largely avoided touring Pakistan since the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in March 2009. Apart from a handful of squash and snooker events and the Zimbabwe cricket team’s visit, No significant tournaments have taken place in the country since 2009. Hockey, Pakistan’s national sport, has fallen to the depths in recent times and the security situation adds to its misery. Politics, corruption and mismanagement have meant the one-time ‘kings’ of hockey failed to qualify for the World Cup and the Olympics for the first time in the game’s history. Pakistan are currently placed at 10 in the FIH World Rankings. Agencies
Pakistan’s cricket team received criticism from fans and mentors for their poor performance in the World T20. Shahid Afridi posted an apology on Facebook for his failure to perform as the captain for national cricket team. “I am here to answer to you,” Afridi tells the nation in a video posted to Facebook, “And today I seek forgiveness from you because the hopes you had from me and my team, I could not live up to them.” “When I wear this uniform, when I walk onto the pitch, I carry with me the sentiments of my countrymen. This is not a team of just 11 players, it is made up of every Pakistani,” he says. Afridi’s apology comes just a day after the Pakistani team’s head coach, Waqar Younis, also offered an apology to the nation during a ‘fact-finding’ enquiry conducted to probe the team’s performance during the series. “I’ve been very hurt by the situation [that has surrounded Pakistan cricket] and my comments in recent press conferences show it. I apologise to the nation and if my leaving makes things better, then I will do it without delay,” he said. “We don’t need stars, we need heroes,” Younis said, elaborating that there was a need to ‘dig deep’ and find such heroes for the Pakistani team. Sharjeel Khan was Pakistan’s highest run-scorer in the WT20 series with 112 runs in 4 matches while Shehzad, who was recalled to the team at the last
minute, scored up 108 runs in as many WT20 outings. Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi and veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik scored less than 100 runs in 4 matches and failed to take responsibility when the side needed it. ‘Boom Boom’ was off colour with the ball as well, as his side failed to make their presence felt at the world event and crashed out in the group stage. The Pakistan Cricket Board’s factfinding committee convened in Lahore on Tuesday for a three-day period but it was learnt that Waqar Younis submitted a ‘damning’ report on the team’s World T20 performance on Monday. The committee, which includes Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq and senior batsman Younis Khan, has been given the mandate by the board to meet and talk to the captain, coach, manager and senior players of the national team.
KOHLI, GAYLE HEADLINE WANKHEDE BIG BASH
MuMbai Agencies
Chris Gayle. Virat Kohli. Dwayne Bravo. MS Dhoni. The Wankhede stadium will be
screening an ensemble-driven action movie as much it hosts a cricket match on Thursday night. Those individuals and their styles of play contribute to a lot of the interest surrounding this game, and also
typify there are various ways to establish T20 batting dominance. India’s has been to simply extend their Test and one-day game into the Twenty20s arena, and when all goes well, they get the bulk of their runs through orthodox cricket. West Indies, ideally, wouldn’t want their long-format form anywhere near them right now. Helpfully, this format has a tight cap on the number of overs so the big-hitters can keep hitting big without worrying about consequences. Case in point are the methods that their marquee players use. Gayle likes to “beat” the ball. No wonder it rockets as far away from him as it can, hoping to be lost somewhere in the rings of Saturn. Kohli is kinder in assisting with the ball’s travels, and even throws in a few surprises - patrons waiting in the off stump line could end up at midwicket almost as often as they do in the covers. Both teams clearly have lots of
cream at the top, but the middle looks a bit squishy. It’s been over two years since Denesh Ramdin or Suresh Raina have hit a T20 fifty. Dwayne Bravo, at No. 5, has looked unsure whether he needs to be the aggressor or the anchor. Yuvraj Singh has been similarly jittery, but an ankle injury ruled him out of the World T20. That leads West Indies to the prospect of bowling at a player - one of Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey or Pawan Negi who hasn’t faced a ball in this tournament. But Mumbai is just about the perfect venue for the out-of-form and brand new batsmen to get into the swing of things - the lowest total in the tournament here has been Afghanistan’s 172 against South Africa. Quite apart from tactics and strategy, there are players from both sides who may be playing their last World Cup, so the incentive to make it to Eden Gardens - for the final - for one more match will
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 79, Sector 24, Korangi Industrial Area Karachi.
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be very strong. India haven’t made any changes to their XI since the start of the tournament. But now, with Yuvraj ruled out, they will be forced to do so ahead of the semi-final of the tournament. India 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Suresh Raina, 5 Manish Pandey/Ajinkya Rahane/Pawan Negi, 6 MS Dhoni (capt and wk), 7 Hardik Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Ashish Nehra West Indies will be without Andre Fletcher, who was ruled out with a hamstring injury. His replacement Lendl Simmons has a chance at getting a game straight away. West Indies 1 Chris Gayle, 2 Johnson Charles, 3 Lendl Simmons, 4 Marlon Samuels, 5 Denesh Ramdin (wk), 6 Dwayne Bravo, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Darren Sammy (capt), 9 Carlos Brathwaite, 10 Suliemann Benn, 11 Samuel Badree