Lahore will host the Pakistan World Cup squad next week at a training camp for the World Cup. The mega event is being organised by Australia and New Zealand next month.

In the past, the city has also held training camps of the Pakistan team for the extravaganza. So, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is following its tradition.

The team will leave Pakistan for New Zealand on January 21, for which the PCB has yet to announce any send-off. The PCB has organised lavish send-off ceremonies in the provincial capital when Pakistan teams left Lahore for South Africa in 2003 and then West Indies in 2007. Last time, when the team left the city for India for the 2011 event, no such event was held. The probable reason for that no-show is Pakistan was unceremoniously dropped from the host countries. Pakistan was to host the mega event along with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh but the ICC dropped it after the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore in 2009.

In 2011, Ijaz Butt was the PCB chairman. His predecessors Tauqir Zia (2003) and Dr Nasim Ashraf (2007) held impressive send-off functions at the Gaddafi Stadium for the team. It is another story that on both occasions, Pakistan displayed pathetic performance and failed to qualify for the second round.

In the 2011 edition, Pakistan fought till semi-final and was defeated by India in Mohali.

Though cricket pundits are not rating Pakistan as semi-final product for the 2015 event, Lahore will see a hub of cricket activities till the departure of the team. A chilly weather and rain forecast may spoil impact the training camp.

Junior weightlifters Abdul Rehman and Nooh Dastgir Butt were accorded a warm welcome on their return to Lahore from the Asian Championships held in Qatar last week, where they won three gold medals each.

The Pakistan Weightlifting Federation (PWF) held an impressive welcome ceremony for the team. Pakistan earned a gold medal at the Asian level after 39 years. Last time, Pakistan’s Arshad Malik seized a gold medal in Thailand way back in 1976.

Rehman earned gold medals in the three events of 77kg class while Dastgir dominated the 94kg class, winning the three events.

PWF secretary Hafiz Imran Butt said that both Rehman and Dastgir attracted the attention of participating countries such as Taiwan, Japan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Jordan, Sri Lanka, UAE and Qatar. Butt was also elected member of the executive body of the Asian body in Qatar. He said Pakistan had bright chances to win more laurels for the country in this sport, provided the government extended full support to the sport.

The Punjab government has yet to inaugurate the three major sports venues, which have been completed in the Nishtar Sports Complex. The new facilities are: an international swimming pool, an indoor gymnasium and a tennis complex. The projects were completed after a delay of three to four years. Now, the government should show its keenness to make the complexes operational for players. The reported hurdle in the inauguration of the facilities is that the government has yet to appoint staff to run them. If it is true, it will take several months for the government to hire the staff, especially for the swimming pool, because a good number of technical staff is required for it. The issue is a sheer example of bad governance.

Two teams of the Lahore City Cricket Association — Eagles and Lions — are currently holding practice sessions at their own ground, preparing for the National One-day Cup to be held in Karachi from January 19. Some practice matches were also organised between the two teams. Both teams have no well-known players, because Test and international cricketers will be representing their departments in the tournament.

Published in Dawn January 11th , 2014

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