PHF TO ABOLISH SELECTION COMMITTEE

LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation’s (PHF) executive committee has decided to abolish the hockey selection committee during a meeting on Wednesday.

The executive committee also decided to make Hanif Khan the coach of the national side till 2014.

PAKISTAN READY FOR INRERNATIONALS

KARACHI: Players from the visiting International World XI Monday said overseas teams should return to tour Pakistan soon, after two Twenty20s against an all-star home side passed off successfully at the weekend.

The exhibition games were the first appearances by high-profile foreign players in Pakistan since deadly militant attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009 led to the suspension of international matches in the troubled country.

The visitors' captain Sanath Jayasuriya of Sri Lanka said international cricket should return to Pakistan.

"After these two matches I hope people will believe that Pakistan is a safe country for cricket," he told reporters on his departure.

"We had two great days with good crowds coming and I am sure that with more efforts international cricket will return to Pakistan."

Security was tight as capacity crowds of 32,000 packed into Karachi's National Stadium -- evidence, if it were needed, of the Pakistani public's desperation to see top level cricket at home.

Jayasuriya, the dashing left-hander who was instrumental in Sri Lanka's 1996 World Cup win, said he felt sad for the deprived people of Pakistan.

The Pakistan Cricket Board, which distanced itself from the matches initially, said it hoped a platform had been set for the revival of the game.

 "I hope these matches, despite being private, are a good step," board chairman Zaka Ashraf told reporters on Sunday night. "We are doing our efforts and hope that we are able to convince teams to tour us."

T20: PAKISTAN TO TAKE ON AUSTRALIA TODAY

COLOMBO: After being defeated by India in their second Super Eights match, team Pakistan is in a critical do or die situation as they will face Australia in their last Super Eight match in World Twenty 20 in Colombo while India will take on South Africa Tuesday, Geo News reported.

The Pakistan vs Autralia match will begin at 3:00 pm and India vs South Africa at 7:00 pm according to Pakistan Standard Time.

Pakistan will have to device a comprehensive strategy to come up with an impeccable performance against the unbeaten Australia, which is almost assured a semi-final berth after the commanding eight-wicket victory over South Africa in their last game on Sunday.

Pakistan will face an exit from the tournament in case of losing match against Australia, therefore, Pakistan is in a do or die situation to gain a safe place in the semis.

The fight for the second semi-final slot from Group 2 is indeed intriguing as both India and Pakistan have a fair chance of making their place in the semis, with the Aussies enjoying a healthy run-rate of +1.712.

In case Pakistan (-0.426), who are a shade ahead of India (-0.452) in terms of net run-rate happen to win against Australia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men will then have to win comprehensively against the South Africans in order to make it to the last four.

South Africa has lost both their matches in contrasting manner - a close defeat to Pakistan and a comprehensive one against Australia.

Even if they win on Tuesday, it is an unlikely proposition for AB de Villiers's side to seal a semi-final berth as their inferior run-rate (-0.605) at this stage of the tournament makes their case weak

PAKISTAN BEAT AUSTRALIA BY 32 RUNS

COLOMBO: Pakistan defeated Australia by 32 runs in a key group two Super Eights match of the World Twenty20 here at the R Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday.

However, Australia reached the semi-finals on the basis of a better net run rate.

Both Australia and Pakistan ended the Super Eights on four points each, which knocked winless South Africa out of the tournament.

Australia advanced to the semi-finals despite the defeat due to having the best net run-rate in the group. The result left India needing an emphatic win over South Africa later on Tuesday to stop Pakistan's progress.

Sri Lanka and the West Indies have already qualified from group one.

Chasing 150, Australian batsmen mesmerized by Pakistan’s five-man spin attack, could make 117 runs for the loss of seven wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

Off spinner Saeed Ajmal claimed three for 17, but it was 20-year-old Raza Hasan who was declared man of the match for conceding just 14 runs and taking two wickets in four overs of steady left-arm spin.

Veteran Mike Hussey was Australia's saviour with an unbeaten 54 off 47 balls as none of the other batsmen managed to cross 15 against the rampaging spinners.

Australia never looked comfortable after their in-form openers, Shane Watson and David Warner, were dismissed by the fifth over with only 19 runs on the board.

ICC World T20 2012: Former Cricketers Concerned Pakistan's Batting Firepower

The Pakistan team might be on a winning streak in the ICC World Twenty20 but some former greats have their concerns over the batting of the team.

Former Test captain Zaheer Abbas expressed apprehensions over the inconsistent batting performances by the team.

"We won a big match against South Africa on Friday but the way the batsmen made a hash of chasing a small total is worrying for me. Hats off to Umar Akmal and Umar Gul who played heroically to get us across the finishing line," Zaheer said.

Known as the 'Asian Bradman' for his stylish batting, Zaheer said that Pakistani batsmen now needed to fine tune themselves for the remaining matches of the event.

"The remaining games are against India and Australia in the super eight and I don't think if our batting keeps on struggling like this all the time we can escape. The batsmen need to show more responsibility and understand that T20 matches can also be won by playing sensible cricket shots."

Terming Pakistan as a front runner for the title Zaheer said the game against India will decide what happens next.

"It is a big pressure match and if our batsmen click than we can go all the way. The batsmen need to understand you can?t play shots on every ball. They need to pace their innings properly."

Another former test batsman, Mohsin Khan also expressed concerns over the volatile nature of the Pakistani batting.

"One day we are chasing down 187 the next day we are struggling to get past 134. The consistency is a source of concern as we go into the knockout stage of the tournament," he said. 

Mohsin who was coach of the national team until March this year said that the coach needed to talk to the players on batting itself.

Pakistan Vs Australia: 1st T20 Today

DUBAI: Following some hard-fought battles in the 50-over version, Pakistan and Australia take their rivalry to the shorter version in a bid to seek fluency ahead of the World T20, locking horns in the first of three T20Is , played today, September 5, 2012, at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Measuring their respective progress in this arena on the back of their current rankings could be a misleading research, where the green army occupies the sixth spot, while their opponents are ranked a lowly 9th.

Addressing a press conference yesterday, Pakistan Captain Mohammad Hafeez said that his was a balanced team, which has the ability to defeat Australia. In this series, we have to give a final shape to our preparations for ICC World T20 and constitution of our team by overcoming our shortcomings.

Australian Captain George Bailey said that winning the one-day series has boosted confidence. Saeed Ajmal is a dangerous spinner, but we have made a strategy of attacking Saeed Ajmal, who can bowl only four overs in T20, therefore the danger is minimized, he said.

Mohammad Hafeez said that it was good to be in form in one-day match and hoped that he would continue this form in T20 series also.

Three T20 international cricket series between Pakistan and Australia are being held for the first time. Pakistan and Australia have so far played seven international T20s of which Pakistan had won four and Australia three.

SUPERB JAMSHED lEVELS ODII SERIES

ABU DHABI: Pakistan, led by an aggressive 97 from opening batsman Nasir Jamshed, cruised to a seven-wicket win in the second One-day International against Australia on Friday to level up the series at 1-1.

                                                                          

Jamshed’s innings, which spanned just 98 balls and included 11 fours and two sixes, helped Misbah-ul-Haq’s side make light work of what looked set to be a testing target after Australia made 248 for nine.

The 22-year-old shared partnerships of 66 with fellow opener Mohammed Hafeez (23) and 101 with Azhar Ali before miscuing a drive at Mitchell Johnson to be caught at mid-off by Mitchell Starc just three runs short of his second ODI hundred.

Australia’s bowlers were handicapped by heavy dew in the second innings of a match that spanned two days and finished in the early hours of the morning local time.

Australia’s batsmen were once again shackled by Pakistan’s spinners with off-spinner Saeed Ajmal again proving the key bowler.

Ajmal, who took 3-30 in the previous match in the previous match in Sharjah, once again tormented the Australia batsmen and finished with 4-32.

“He’s our number one bowler and he’s the number one in the world,” said Misbah. “He is playing his role, helping us win matches but the other spinners are doing that too.”

Ajmal tormented David Warner (24) and the opener laboured for 68 balls before being put out of his misery when he tried to work the spinner on the on-side and was adjudged leg before wicket.

     Murray struggles in US Open sweatshop

NEW YORK: Third-seeded Andy Murray, the 2008 US Open runner-up to Federer, needed almost four hours to clinch a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) victory over 30th-seeded Spanish left-hander Feliciano Lopez here on Sunday.

Olympic champion Murray will next face 15th-seeded Milos Raonic, who defeated American wildcard James Blake and 6-3, 6-0, 7-6 (7/3) on the back of 29 aces to become the first Canadian to make the last 16 in 24 years.

Murray, four times a Grand Slam runner-up, had lost only one set in six prior matches against Lopez but had to come back from trailing in all three tie-breakers on Saturday.

Murray's 250th career match victory on hard courts, and his seventh in seven meetings with Lopez, came when the Spaniard netted a backhand.

 

CT 2013: Pakistan, India in same group

lONDON: Rivals Pakistan and India have been put in the same group in the 2013 Champions Trophy scheduled to be played in England and Wales, according to draws announced here on Tuesday.

 The sub-continental rivals will clash in Birmingham, which has one of Britain's largest South Asian populations, on June 15.

Meanwhile hosts England will begin the tournament by playing defending champions and old rivals Australia at Birmingham's Edgbaston ground.

The Champions Trophy, the "mini World Cup", features the world's eight leading nations in 50-over cricket.

Group A will include Australia, England, New Zealand and Sri Lanka while India, Pakistan, South Africa and the West Indies will compete in Group B.

As well as Cardiff and Edgbaston, The Oval in south London will also stage Champions Trophy fixtures, with the final at Edgbaston on June 23.

"This will be a terrific opportunity for fans to see the world's very best one-day sides in action over the space of less than three weeks and the fixture schedule has thrown up a host of exciting head-to-head contests," said tournament director and former South Africa seamer Steve Elworthy, after the England and Wales Cricket Board released the fixtures on Tuesday.

Next year's edition will be the seventh and last Champions Trophy, with the tournament being replaced by the International Cricket Council's new World Test Championship instead.

Officials had hoped to launch the World Test Championship in 2013 but sponsor and broadcast agreements meant they had to continue with the Champions Trophy.

England fall short at Lord's

South Africa wrapped up a 2-0 Investec series victory over England after the hosts went down by 51 runs on a thrilling final day at Lord's.

Chasing a record 346 to win and tie the three-match series with openers Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook already out, England gave the tourists a fright before being bowled out for 294.

Jonathan Trott, Jonny Bairstow and Matt Prior all struck half-centuries as England gradually closed on their victory target into the late afternoon.

When Trott (63) was sixth man out with the score on 146 it looked as though England would submit meekly, but Prior (73) along with Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann would have none of it.

The trio lashed the ball to all parts of the ground before Broad skied one, Swann was run out and Prior succumbed to the second new ball.

It meant South Africa deservedly took their place at the top of the Test rankings after dominating large periods of the series, with England dropping to second in the table.

Win earns Preston boss applause

Preston booked their place in the second round of the Capital One Cup with a 2-0 defeat of Huddersfield on Monday night.                                                                                                                                                 

Graham Westley left the Deepdale dugout to a standing ovation after his new-look North End saw off the Terriers.

Westley endured a troubled time after taking over at Preston last season but saw his side make the perfect start to the new campaign when Jack King headed home after 29 minutes.

Nicky Wroe, a summer signing from Shrewsbury, then doubled the lead five minutes before the break to help the League One side into the next round.

Westley fielded a starting 11 which featured 10 summer signings, with only goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann surviving the summer cull.

And the North End new boys enjoyed a dream start to the season when King's deft header floated past Alex Smithies in the Huddersfield goal after 29 minutes.

The striker, signed from Woking in the summer, directing Jeffrey Monakana's brilliant chipped ball inside the far post.

Wroe then side-footed Chris Beardsley's low cross into a gaping net five minutes before half-time to double the advantage.

Lee Novak would have pulled a goal back for the visitors after the restart had he not been tardy to Paul Dixon's cross.

Seconds later, Oscar Gobern's meek effort wasted some fluid build-up play as the Championship side failed to make their league supremacy count.

Steven Fletcher: Wolves reject third Sunderland bid

Wolves have rejected a third offer from Sunderland for striker Steven Fletcher.

The Championship side have previously turned down bids of £10m and £12m for the 25-year-old, and this latest offer falls short of Wolves' £15m valuation."We want to keep our best players," said Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey. "If our valuations are not met then they will remain at Wolves."

Fletcher, who scored 12 goals in 26 Premier League appearances as Wolves were relegated from the top flight last season, has two years left on his Molineux contract, with an option for a third.

His former club Burnley will be due 15% of any profit Wolves make on a player they paid £7m for in 2010.

"ALL parties need to draw a line under this matter, which has now dragged on for more than a month," he said.

"We need to focus on the season ahead and these disruptions to the squad's preparations are unhelpful.

"We cannot allow this speculation to drag on indefinitely up to the closure of the transfer window."

Sunderland are short of attacking options following the departures of Asamoah Gyan and Nicklas Bendtner, and boss Martin O'Neill has made Fletcher his prime attacking target this summer.

Rabia Ashiq to competes in 800m

LONDON: Pakistan’s Rabia Ashiq competed in the 800m race at the London Olympics 2012 on Wednesday

Ashiq took part in heat 4 of the 800m and finished last.

Ashiq took part in heat 4 of the 800m. She finished last in her heat and 35th overall.

Rabia Ashiq who is a resident of Lahore was a wildcard entrant into the games and was Pakistan's last athlete competing at the Olympics.

Campbell-Brown chases Olympic treble

LONDON: Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown will attempt an unprecedented Olympic treble on Wednesday as controversial South African 800m runner Caster Semenya makes her long-awaited Games debut. 

Campbell-Brown, winner of the 200m at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, will become the first woman in history to win an individual athletics crown in three consecutive Games if she successfully defends her title once more.

The 30-year-old cruised into Wednesday's final with an impressive 22.32sec in her semi-final and declared herself ready to see off the threat of rivals who include Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Allyson Felixand Sanya Richards-Ross.

"I am happy. I have a lot of experience, I know what to expect. Tomorrow night we know that it will be an extremely difficult event," Fraser-Pryce said.

"My objective is just to stay focused - and run my heart out."

Campbell-Brown's opponents look more than capable of ending her eight-year reign as Olympic champion, however, and few would begrudge Felix in particular if the 26-year-old American strikes it lucky at the third time of asking.

Felix has finished as silver-medallist behind Campbell-Brown at the past two Olympics, but looked superb in reaching the final on Tuesday, coasting home in 22.31sec to win her semi-final.

"It has been a long time coming. I feel I am ready to put a race together," said Felix, who ran a personal best and world-leading time of 21.69sec at the US Olympic trials, the fastest for 14 years.

"I think if I put a good race together I'll run a fast time."

Sri Lanka put India in to bat in T20

                                                             

PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene elected to field after winning the toss against India in the one-off Twenty20 international in Pallekele on Tuesday.

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain/wk), Ajinkya Rahane, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Ashok Dinda.

Sri Lanka: Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Angelo Mathews, Lahiru Thirimanne, Jeevan Mendis, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Rangana Herath, Shaminda Eranga.

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SL) and Tyron Wijewardene (SL), TV umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SL)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)

(AFP)

Olympic Tennis: Azarenka Reaches Semifinals.

London, August 2 - World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka secured a win over Germany's seventhseed Angelique Kerber to reach the semi-finals of women's singles in Olympics tennis competition here Thursday.

The Belarusian needed little more than an hour to beat Kerber 6-4, 7-5. Azarenka will next play either fourth seed Serena Williams or eighth seedCaroline Wozniacki in the semifinals.

If Azarenka wins a medal, it will be Belarus's first-ever Olympic medal in tennis.

Olympics_Boxing India Jai Bhagwan Boxed Out .

London, Aug 2 - India's Jai Bhagwan was outboxed by Kazakh fighter Gani Zhailauov at the London Olympics and lost by a big margin in the pre-quarterfinals of the men's 60 kg category here Thursday.

Bhagwan became the third boxer to fall in the London Games after the ouster of Shiva Thapa (56 kg) and Sumit Sangwan (81 kg) as he lost 8-16 at the ExCel Arena.

The Indian got off to a bright start and looked to having the upper hand over the Kazakh boxer, who had knocked him out in the quarters of the 2011 World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

Starting off aggressively, Jai Bhagwan landed some telling blows in the beginning and ended the first round 3-2 in his favour. 

The Indian though looked lazy in the second round and came in for some stick from the Kazakh boxer, who by now was well settled into the bout. Jai Bhagwan's reply never came as he withdrew himself into a shell and relied on the odd counter punches.

Things only got worse for Jai Bhagwan as he was given a public warning that resulted in a two-point penalty, ending the round 3-10.

Participating in his first Olympics, the 26-year-old Indian seemed to run out of gas in the third. Initially showing a bit of urgency, Jai Bhagwan lacked ideas to get back into the contest as the Kazakh showed great counter-attacking skills and clever boxing.

Zhailauov, who won a bronze medal in Baku, adopted a defensive strategy, trying to evade most of the punches coming his way and finally took the third round .

kARACHI: Pakistan’s presence at the London Olympics dwindled further on Tuesday as swimmer Israr Hussain and shooter Khurram Inam made their exits.

 Pakistan’s only representativesleft in London now are Rabia Ashiq (800m), Liaqat Ali and the hockey team after swimmer Anum Bandey 
also  bowed out.

Hussain failed to qualify for the 100m freestyle after he finished last at the Aquatics Centre. The 26-year old, who was competing in his first Olympics, recorded a time of 57.86 seconds. Hussain was given a wild-card entry to participate in the Games based on his performance at the Shanghai Qualifiers.

Inam, participating in his third Olympic Games after Sydney in 2000 and Athens 2004, crashed out after he scored 20 and 25 in the last two rounds on day two of the qualifiers.

Previously, Pakistan’s top skeet shooter had fired a total of 67 scoring 21, 23 and 23 in the first three rounds respectively.                                 

                                                   

London Olympics 2012: Hockey pride!

 I grew up in a neighbourhood where there were seasons of sports. Every time there was a major hockey competition, it’d be a hockey season.

We had two levels of it: first we’d play in our street and then there would be a match with the boys from the other street in the big playground. Not all of us owned hockey sticks – most would climb trees and find a naturally bent stick (usually the joint would provide the required bend) from the tree and play with that.

That was the 90s!

When I saw our boys, today, standing with their hands on their chests while the national anthem was being played in London, it reminded me of the glory days; the 1994 World Cup. I was only 10-years-old back then, but I distinctly remember the celebrations when Mansoor Ahmed stopped that penalty and I started dancing.   

Forget the protest, it's a dream come true, says Louis Smith

Louis Smith described it as "crazy" to consider Great Britain as the third best team in the world after their artistic gymnastics men’s team bronze medal last night.

The 23-year-old Huntingdon Gymnastics Club member got the team off to a flying start with his pommel horse routine, which hinted at more to come in the individual final on Sunday.

And then he provided the guiding hand as his team-mates contested the remaining apparatus.

"Everything we have done in the last four years – all the positives and all the negatives – has been towards this," said team captain Smith.

"We had to pick ourselves up after Japan and not qualifying (for the Olympic Games). We had to keep pushing through Christmas, which isn’t easy – I defin

Michael Phelps wins record 19th Olympic medal with gold in 4x200 relay.

  It was a coronation, but also a dethroning. Michael Phelps secured the two medals he needed to become the most decorated Olympian of all time as he took his career tally to 19 Games medals, beating the 48-year-old record of 18 held by former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.                                                                    But the colour of one of those medals on Tuesday night — silver in Phelps’s signature 200 metres butterfly event — was also proof that his pre-eminence in the pool is now well and truly over as he gets ready for retirement immediately after events in London.

Phelps did not do silver in Beijing four years ago. Gold was the only metal he was interested in and it was hung around his neck a record eight times, adding to the six golds he won in Athens in 2004.

He added another on Tuesday when he anchored his United States team-mates to victory in the 4x200m freestyle relay in the final race of the evening programme, though his contribution was purely a lap of honour after his compatriots had already established an unassailable lead by the time he dived in.

The American victory brought the 17,000 crowd to its feet to salute Phelps’s moment of history, though the celebrations were tinged with slight disappointment that he was unable to make it a double triumph.

A victory in the event he has owned for 11 years would have made him the first man in history to win three consecutive 200m butterfly titles.                                                               

STEPH HOUGHTON got Britain off to a great Olympic start — 48 hours before the flame was due to be lit in London.

Houghton, whose superb free-kick gave the Team GB women’s football team a 1-0 win over New Zealand in Cardiff, said: “This is the highlight of my career. I don’t think it is going to sink in for a while.

“I don’t score that many goals, so it was a really special moment for me.

“Being an Olympian has a special feeling. We all felt the same and just couldn’t wait to get started.”

Coach Hope Powell said: “The fans were fantastic. I almost found myself singing along with them at one stage.”

London 2012 live blog
Latest Olympics updates throughout the Games

London 2012 live Olympic blog.

Come here throughout the games to see the latest news, best pictures and quirky stories from the big event.

                                            Opening Ceremoney

After months of torch-bearing, stadium building and arguably tenuous Olympics-based TV programmes, the Games have reached London.

London 2012 got underway with an Opening Ceremony featuring a cast of 15,000, a simultaneously bucolic and pyrotechnic display called Isles Of Wonder that was designed to show off the best of Britain - its history, its countryside, its inhabitants, its athletes, even its farmyard animals. 

It saw reenactments of British history, performances from the Arctic Monkeys and Paul McCartney, colourful displays of dance and even a few celebrity came.

Mr. Bean At Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremonies

The Olympics are a serious time for serious athletes to… seriously compete. So inviting the extremely goofy Mr. Bean to be apart of the opening ceremonies may not be the best idea.

Of course, Mr. Bean was invited and it was for fun. Some real life comedy relief to cut some of the extreme tension. During the playing of Vangelis’ nearly obligatory Chariots of Fire, Bean appeared on camera as a part of the performance being very Mr. Bean-like.