ASiF BAJWA;S CONFESSION OF TROWING MATCH

PAKISTAN HOCKEY TEAM LOST TO POLAND PURPOSELY Pakistan lost WCQ match to Poland deliberately as part of planning to avoid France in Final, Asif Bajwa makes shocking revelation to VOA.

By SARDAR KHAN

KARACHI: As if Pakistan’s worst ever 12th position in the recently concluded hockey world cup in New Delhi was not enough that led the former Olympians to call for Asif Bajwa’s head, the sacked manager of Pakistan team and reigning secretary of Pakistan hockey federation (PHF) Asif Bajwa, in an exclusive interview to Voice of America (VOA) has made the shocking disclosure that Pakistan lost its league match to Poland purposely in world cup qualifying tournament (WQC) held in Lille as part of strategy to avoid hosts France in the final. It may be remembered that PHF President Qasim Zia had sacked the team management comprising of manager Asif Bajwa and chief coach Shahid Ali Khan as well as the whole selection committee after Pakistan’s humiliating display in 2010 world cup.
When asked that how come star studded Pakistan team lost its league match to minnows like Poland on 7th, Nov 2009 in WCQ tournament in France, Bajwa made this shocking revelation that “ I don’t want to justify that defeat but I want to tell you that it was part of the strategy. Had Pakistan beaten Poland, Pakistan could face host France in the final that Pakistan wanted to avoid as in that case, France could win and would have qualified for the final rounds of the world cup”. “It was part of our planning, we fielded our second string in the match in order to ensure that we faced Japan in the WCQ tournament final instead of France, Bajwa said”.

When asked that deliberately losing a match is not only against the spirit of fair play but it also comes under the parameters of Match fixing, Bajwa said, “ I don’t call it match fixing but a strategy and planning. We rested our key players in order to be better equipped in the final against Japan”.

When VOA pressed that even despite resting senior players Pakistan was not a team to be beaten by Poland, Bajwa replied, “ I am not justifying the defeat and I admit that Pakistan should not have lost but what I am saying is that our planning worked well and we qualified for 2010 world cup”. It is worth pointing out that after finishing 12th in 2010 world cup, allegations were echoed by many including former Olympian and coach Shahnaz Shaikh suggesting that he smelled rat of match fixing or under performance that led to disasters humiliation.

Now this bombshell from sitting PHF secretary Asif Bajwa suggests that a high level investigation should be carried out to find out the hidden reasons of debacle. Muhammad Shafiq, one of the sacked selector in the aftermath of world cup, told VOA that it was not a team that could finish at 12th position so an inquiry be set up and responsible should be brought to book.

Girl on the media is not Ayesha Siddiqui – Rashid Latif

Muhammad Asif Khan

Karachi: After a flurry of contrasting stories related to Shoaib Malik’s alleged marriage with Ayesha Siddiqui, former Pakistani captain Rashid Latif has given a new twist to the story.

Talking exclusively to News One TV, Rashid Latif claimed that the girl is not the Ayesha Siddiqui. “Shoaib Malik used to borrow my laptop for chatting with a girl and he did show me a few pictures of her”, said Rashid Latif
“I can assure you that the girl I saw in pictures is not the one on TV these days”, said Latif

Rashid Latif urged fellow cricketer to come forward and support Shoaib Malik and he offered his services in this regard. “I can go to any forum including a court of law to reiterate my statement, and I appeal to all cricketers to stand by Shoaib Malik on this issue”

Pakistan secure bronze in AIBA China Open boxing

KARACHI: Pakistan has secured one bronze medal in the ongoing first AIBA China Open International Boxing Championship at Guiyang China.

Pakistani boxer Mirwaiz Khan gets bye in technical draws as he now reached the semi final and secured bronze medal in Supper Heavy Weight category and won $1000 and he will fight Ghossoun Soumar from Syria. Mirwaiz had also faced him during Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Boxing Tournament at Karachi last January, where the Syrian boxer came out as the winner in the quarter final bout.

Pakistan’s another boxer Naimatullah has lost his bout against the host Chinese boxer Zhang Jiawei in 54KG weight category by 12-1 in pre quarter final on the opening day.

Naimatullah was the winner of Pakistan’s lone gold medal at South Asian Games at Dhaka, Bangladesh February this year.

Pakistan’s prominent boxer Mohammad Waseem will fight against Cuba’s Hernandez Andris Laffita in 51KG weight category and fourth Pakistani boxer Nisar Khan will face Italian opponent Podda Luca, according to Swiss timing technical draws.

First AIBA China Open International Boxing Championship started from Monday at Chinese City Guiyang in which 20 teams including Pakistan are participating.

102 boxers and 64 officials are taking part in the mega event and 91 bouts will be played.

AIBA President Ching Kuo Wu, AIBA vice President and Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) President Chang Jianping and other AIBA, ASBC top officials were present on the draw.

AIBA grant support for Pakistan int’l boxing event

KARACHI: The Vice President of Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) Iqbal Hussain met AIBA President Ching Kuo Wu at Guiyang Monday ahead of the opening ceremony of first AIBA China Open International Boxing Championship.

PBF Vice President and Pakistan team manager Iqbal Hussain told awansports.blogspot.com from Guiyang that he has discussed many boxing issues with AIBA President especially related to Pakistan.

“Our meeting was very fruitful and we have discussed many issues like PBF will host President Cup International Boxing Tournament in July this year so he committed full support and showed his interest to personally coming to Pakistan during the said tournament”, said Iqbal Hussain.

AIBA President also apologised for not coming to Pakistan due to some other important international appointments during Shaheed Benazir Bhutto International Boxing Tournament (SBBIBT) which was held at Karachi in January this year. However, he praised Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) for holding a big event during which 23 countries participated.

“Pakistan is an important country in boxing world so we will provide all kinds of support to Pakistan and the PBF” said Ching Kuo.

Iqbal Hussain also called on Terry Smith, Chairman AIBA referee judge commission and now technical delegate of first AIBA China Open International Boxing Championship, and discussed with him chances for Pakistani referee judges in international boxing arena.

Roddick beats Berdych to win Key Biscayne title

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP)—Andy Roddick’s softest shots made the biggest impact Sunday. He kept Tomas Berdych out of rhythm by hitting delicate backhands, loopy forehands and changeup first serves.

By the ninth game, Berdych was so flummoxed he lost track of the score.

There was no confusion about the final result: Roddick beat Berdych 7-5, 6-4 to win the Sony Ericsson Open.

It was Roddick’s fifth title in a Masters 1000 tournament—one level below the Grand Slams—and his first since 2006. The runner-up two weeks ago at Indian Wells, another Masters 1000 event, Roddick has a record of 26-4 this year, best on the men’s tour.
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“The last month has been real good for me,” said Roddick, who was seeded sixth. “I’ve played well on the big moments. I’ve been able to have a game plan and execute it, regardless of what kind of shots it takes. So it’s all good. It’s all encouraging.”

At 27, he’s showing he can win with more than just a big serve. He surprised Rafael Nadal in the semifinals by frequently charging to the net.

“A lot of people say the serve is fine and the rest of it’s pretty average,” Roddick said. “That’s all right. But there are a lot of guys with big serves who are pretty average, so there’s got to be some difference.”

Roddick’s slice backhand repeatedly forced the 6-foot-5 Berdych to hit the ball at ankle level, robbing his forehand of power. While searching to find a rhythm with his strokes, Berdych also lost track of the score in the ninth game, lining up to serve from the wrong side.

The match turned two games later, when Roddick reached the first break point of the match. He broke when Berdych hit a forehand out, then held at love to take the first set.

That was part of a streak where Roddick won five consecutive games. He broke again to start the second set when Berdych hit another errant forehand, and never faced a break point.

Since hiring Larry Stefanki as his coach in late 2008, Roddick has lost at least 10 pounds, improved his foot speed and developed a more well-rounded game.

“He works as hard or harder than anybody else on this tour,” Stefanki said. “He could be similar to Andre Agassi, where his best years are from 27 on.”

Roddick’s lone Grand Slam title came at the 2003 U.S. Open, and after a series of disappointing defeats in 2008, he wondered if his best days were in the past.

“I honestly didn’t know,” he said. “But I knew there was a way to find out, and that was to kind of go back to the drawing board and give myself every opportunity to succeed. Luckily, that has given me some good days.”

Roddick coaxed one last errant groundstroke from Berdych on championship point, and responded to the crowd’s cheers with a thumbs-up. The title was Roddick’s second at Key Biscayne, where he also won in 2004.

The No. 16-seeded Berdych, who beat top-ranked Roger Federer in the fourth round, was playing in only his second Masters 1000 final. He made just 48 percent of his first serves but attributed his defeat mostly to Roddick.

“He was just too strong today,” Berdych said. “He’s not just serving the big bombs. His variations of the serve are a really big improvement. … I was really looking for maybe to get one chance, but he held pretty well. I didn’t get any chance during whole match.”

Roddick had 13 aces against Berdych and dropped just two service games in the tournament.

“It was a pretty good day,” Roddick said. “But it wasn’t really serving— the rest of it was pretty clean.”

Happy to settle into rallies that often lasted more than 10 strokes—one reached 29—Roddick committed only 16 unforced errors. He hit the fastest serve of the tournament at 143 mph, but didn’t approach that speed against Berdych.

He now has other ways to win.

Exclusive: Pakistan withdrawn international boxing events

Arsenal lose Fabregas, suffer more injury woes

LONDON: (Reuters) - Arsenal's Premier League title challenge was dealt a huge blow on Thursday after captain Cesc Fabregas was ruled out for the rest of the season with a cracked bone in his right leg.

"Cesc will miss the remainder of the domestic campaign as he will be out of action for at least six weeks," a statement on the club's website (www.arsenal.com) said.

The Spain midfielder injured his right fibula in a collision with Barcelona defender Carles Puyol in Wednesday's 2-2 Champions League quarter-final first-leg draw in London.

He picked himself up to tuck away the resulting penalty for Arsenal's equaliser and hobbled through the final eight minutes before leaving the stadium on crutches muttering that he feared the worst.

A scan on Thursday confirmed his pessimism was not misplaced but while the injury could not have come at a worse time for Arsenal as they try and reel in Chelsea and Manchester United, he should be fit for the World Cup finals.

"I hope he recovers as soon as possible so we can start enjoying his play again and he can go to the World Cup because he will be a very important player for us," Barca captain Puyol told a news conference on Thursday.

Fabregas, who has been in sparkling form for third-placed Arsenal, has scored 19 goals in all competitions this season, and was patched up by Arsenal's medical department this week after receiving a kick against Birmingham City on Saturday.

Given the all-clear to play on Wednesday, Fabregas and his team mates were run ragged by Barcelona for an hour at the Emirates, but he gradually rallied his troops for an unlikely late revival that brought two late goals.