KARACHI: Renowned cricket journalist and broadcaster Qamar Ahmed was profusely praised on Thursday for his unique feat of covering 400 Test matches as speakers urged the government to recognise the services of the man who has been reporting on the sport for almost 40 years.

Former federal minister for information Javed Jabbar, while paying rich tribute to Qamar at the reception organised by ‘Friends of Cricket’ at the Karachi Gymkhana, urged the government to play its role in appreciating the feat of a man who has reported on cricket in all major countries where the game is played.

“In my view Qamar’s feat is a truly incredible and remarkable individual achievement in cricket reporting,” Jabbar said. “Such excellence is a rare feat in journalism and also because it is for Pakistan by a Pakistani.”

Qamar reached the incredible landmark of covering 400 Tests during the last match of the series against Sri Lanka in Sharjah which Pakistan won to square the three-match series.

Hussain Lawai, a well-known banker, commended Qamar for his longevity as a seasoned journalist. “Of course, it is a unique achievement for someone like Qamar to have covered 400 Tests and 732 One-day Internationals since 1974,” Lawai remarked. “It showed his great consistency that Qamar dedicated and devoted himself to achieve such a rare distinction.”

Lawai further pointed out that on the basis of his accomplishments, Qamar thoroughly deserved recognition from the federal government.

Renowned plastic surgeon Faiz Mohammad Khan, a contemporary of Qamar since his school, college and university days in Hyderabad, also complimented the 76-year-old journalist for his grand achievements.

M. Taher Memon, the man who put together Thursday’s impressive event in very short span of time, said even players of calibre of former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar appreciated Qamar’s outstanding contributions to cricket which showed the scribe’s calibre.

“Qamar deserves the highest civil award for all his achievements,” he said. “This is no mean feat by any imagination and achieved only by two other people [famous English writer and reporter John Woodcock and former Australian captain Richie Benaud] in history of the game. And even those two can’t claim to have achieved what Qamar has,” said Taher, a former employee of Pakistan Tobacco Company which successfully held the once popular Wills Cup in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Former Pakistan team manager Aslam Sanjrani and cricket commentator/TV anchor Mirza Iqbal Baig also spoke on the occasion.

Qamar was later presented with a glass trophy for his grand achievement.

Also present on the occasion were former Test players Nasim-ul-Ghani and Sadiq Mohammad, ex-KCCA president Syed Sirajul Islam Bukhari, famous artist Jimmy Engineer, Karachi Gymkhana president Ali Rahim, cricket writers and a large number of media persons.