SPORTS
VOICE OF ASIA 21
Cricket:
Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan aim for Australia history
B
RISBANE, Australia | AFP | 12/14/2016 - The Pakistan team, six years in the making and armed with insider knowledge from coach Mickey Arthur, are poised to make history in Australia, veteran skipper Misbah-ul-Haq said on Wednesday.
FRIDAY, December 16, 2016
Cricket:
King Kohli jumps to 2nd in batting chart
national coach up to his sacking ahead of the 2013 Ashes series in England. “He knows the ins and outs of most of the players, he knows their strengths and weaknesses,” the captain said. “That’s always helpful when you have that sort of inside information
Veteran skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (Photo: Cricking.com) Misbah, who exerts a calming influence on the mercurial Pakistanis, believes the side has developed into one that can finally deliver a series win after 11 fruitless tours to Australia. Pakistan have won only four of their 32 Tests Down Under and have lost their last nine Tests since their last victory in Sydney in 1995. No team from the sub-continent has won a Test series in Australia, further underlining the massive undertaking. But Misbah, who scored just 76 runs in four innings in his only tour to Australia in 2009-10, is confident the tourists can turn things around against Steve Smith’s men, who are themselves emerging from a recent losing five-Test run. “We took almost six years to develop this team and that team showed a lot to the world when we played in England and in ‘home’ conditions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” he told reporters ahead of Thursday’s day-night Test at Brisbane’s Gabba. “So we have a lot of faith and confidence behind that. These players are experienced enough and they have the belief that they can do it. “We’ve had some unbelievable successes in the past. I think those victories and those performances always give you confidence, even in Australia,” Misbah said. “No doubt the conditions are tough but once you have confidence and belief I think you can change the history.” Much of Pakistan’s confidence flows from the insights coach Arthur has on the Australians after his time as their
about the opposition. - Gabba fortress “We feel we have that sort of advantage and he’s giving his input to the players how we need to go about the business. That can really help us in making our strategies.” No one has beaten Australia at their Gabba fortress since the West Indies in 1988, but the unique challenge of the first pink-ball Test under lights at the ground makes Pakistan’s chances difficult to assess. “It is not only the Gabba conditions but also the pink ball, day-night Test match,” said Misbah, who at 42 is the oldest current Test player. “The players are not that much familiar with the pink ball and these conditions. That could be a challenge, especially under lights. “It’s always a challenge when you come to play in Australia because these conditions are totally different from the rest of the world, a bit more bounce and pace here. “You need some time to get used to these conditions, especially if you are playing under lights and using the pink ball. That could be a little bit tricky, especially for the batsmen.” Leg-spinner Yasir Shah is looking to make an impact with the extra bounce from the Gabba pitch. “He’s a wonderful bowler, he proved himself not only in the UAE but also in England,” Misbah said. ““We believe he (Yasir) is the kind of bowler who can make his impact especially in Australia where bounce can play a big role during the series.”
Football:
Afghan bag shirt boy meets idol Messi
India’s Virat Kohli climbed to a career-best second position in the ICC batting chart after his double-century in Mumbai helped the hosts clinch the five-match Test series against England ©Punit Paranjpe (AFP/File)
N
EW DELHI, India | AFP | 12/13/2016 -Indian batsman Virat Kohli climbed to a career-best second place in the Test rankings Tuesday after his third double century of the year helped the hosts seal their series victory over England. Kohli, who is in the form of his life after striking his third double ton of the year, jumped a place in the Test table and is in line to top the rankings in all three forms of the game. Kohli, who is currently ranked sec-
O
SAKA, Japan | AFP | 12/13/2016 - Japan’s Kashima Antlers will look to spring a major upset by reaching the Club World Cup final -- their aim to put Asian football on the map. Antlers coach Masatada Ishii has called on the J-League title holders to ambush South American champions Atletico Nacional in the tournament’s first semi-final on Wednesday. Barring a seismic upset, a potential dream final against Spanish giants Real Madrid in Yokohama awaits the winners. “We are on a great run of form,” he said Tuesday. “The players are a little fatigued but the target is to maintain our momentum and finish the season with two more victories.
But they will be facing sentimen-
D
Murtaza Ahmadi met the Barcelona forward in Doha, where the Spanish league champions are due to play a friendly match against Saudi Arabian side Al-Ahli later.
Murtaza became a worldwide online hit earlier this year after he was pictured wearing his hero’s shirt, made out of a plastic bag, with the name Messi and the famous number 10 written on it in marker pen. The shirt was made by his teenage brother Homayoun after his neighbour threw away grocery bags.
Six-year-old Murtaza, from the rural Ghazni province southwest of Kabul, walked out onto the pitch as a mascot hand-in-hand with the Argentinian at the start of the match at Doha’s AlGharrafa stadium.
“I love Messi, he plays really well, and I love the shirt my brother made for me,” he told AFP at the time.
“The image the world wanted to see,” tweeted Qatar’s 2022 World Cup organisers, who brought the pair together.
Pictures of Murtaza playing football in his improvised kit were first posted on Facebook.
“The six year old boy who dreamed of meeting his hero, #Messi, finally comes true.” A delighted Murtaza said: “I’m very happy to have met my hero. It is a dream for me,” according to a statement released by Qatar’s Supreme
His family could not afford to buy him a replica kit.
After the pictures went viral, Murtaza received a real shirt from his hero. His father, Mohammad Arif Ahmadi, said at the time: “I want my son to become the Messi of Afghanistan.” Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar all started the friendly game .
Meanwhile Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who has claimed 27 wickets in the four matches so far, comfortably held on to his top Test spot in the bowlers’ chart.
by Manuel Cabello Dujo
Kashima, who captured their eighth Japanese championship 10 days ago, squeezed past part-timers Auckland City 2-1 before beating South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns 2-0 to reach the semi-finals.
Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the committee overseeing organisation of the 2022 tournament.
While India consolidated their ranking as the top Test side, the Alastair Cook-led England are in danger of
Third-placed Australia and fourthranked Pakistan will be looking to displace England during their three Test series starting with the day-night Test in Brisbane on December 15.
Japan’s Antlers carry the fight for Asia
“If we fail, people will continue to say Japan is still way behind Europe and South America. We’re fighting for Japanese football, which makes these two matches extremely important.”
OHA, Qatar | AFP - An Afghan boy who became an internet sensation after pictures of him wearing an improvised Lionel Messi football shirt went viral finally got to meet his superstar idol on Tuesday.
Dubbed King Kohli by the media, the Indian skipper hit a career-best 235 at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium over the weekend as his team romped to victory over England in the fourth match of the five-Test series.
losing their second place if they lose to their hosts in the fifth and final Test in Chennai starting Friday.
Football:
“If we get the results we want people will say that Asia is closing the gap,” added Ishii, whose team are bidding to become Asia’s first Club World Cup finalists.
Murtaza Ahmadi became an Internet sensation when he was photographed wearing an Argentina football shirt made out of a plastic bag. (Photo: AFP )
ond in ODIs and tops the Twenty20 chart, is just 11 points behind Australia captain Steve Smith in the International Cricket Council Test ratings.
Kashima Antlers midfielder Daigo Nishi speaks during his team’s official press conference for the Club World Cup in Osaka on Tuesday. (Photo: AFP-JIJI) tal favourites in Nacional, who were thrust into the public eye after their incidental part in the recent air tragedy which all but wiped out Brazilian rivals Chapecoense. Chape were en route to play the Colombians in the Copa Sudamericana final when their plane crashed into a hillside near Medellin. “These past few weeks have no doubt been difficult,” said Nacional coach Reinaldo Rueda, who led his side to a second Libertadores Cup in July. “For us Chapecoense are like broth-
ers,” he added. “We have to give it everything for their memory because we’re a team, we are human beings. Chape had their dreams cruelly snatched away so it is our duty to reach the final.” The Medellin club, who were beaten by AC Milan in the tournament’s forerunner, the Intercontinental Cup, in 1989, have already played more than 80 games this season but will start as favourites on Wednesday. “Kashima play attractive football and work well as a team,” said Rueda. “They’re a dangerous team so we need to be careful.”
Bobsled / Skeleton
Sochi stripped of world championships
L
AUSANNE, Switzerland | AFP - Sochi was stripped Tuesday as the host of next year’s bobsleigh and skeleton world championships amid accusations of state-sponsored doping against Russia, bringing a furious reponse from Moscow at what it dubbed a baseless “political decision”. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) had come under pressure to move the event from the 2014 Winter Olympics host city after last week’s damning report by Canadian law professor Richard McLaren which implicated more than 1,000 Russian athletes in at least 30 sports in a state-sponsored doping programme. “The IBSF executive committee felt that during this difficult time it is prudent not to organise such an event in Russia,” a statement by the sports governing body read, adding a new location would be decided in the com-
ing days. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov reacted immediately, saying Russia “enormously regretted” the decision. “We’re convinced that this was a political decision. It’s based on statements without any evidence,” Peskov was quoted as saying by the R-Sport agency. Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov expressed his surprise. “There is an agreement for the organisation of these world championships that no one has terminated,” Kolobkov told R-Sport. “We must look very carefully at the agreement signed by our Federation with the International Federation. We will clarify these issues and make decisions in the future.” The announcement comes four days after the final publication of the McLaren report in which the Canadian lawyer described how Russia “hi-
jacked” sport by involving more than 1,000 athletes in an “institutional conspiracy” to win by mass doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter and London 2012 Olympics and other global competitions. McLaren, who detailed in a previous report how Russian security services were involved in the nefarious scheme, said in a second report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that at least 30 sports were implicated and that salt and instant coffee were used to manipulate Russian samples. “This decision was made for two primary reasons,” the IBSF said of its ruling on Tuesday. “First: to allow athletes and coaches from all nations to participate in a competition that focuses on sport rather than accusations and discussions whether justified or not. “Second: The Russian Bobsleigh Federation has put a great effort in the preparation of the World Championships, but the current climate would make it nearly impossible to appreciate the efforts of the organising committee to host a great event or the quality of the Sanki Sliding Center as one of the best tracks in the world.