KARACHI: The president of KCCA Zone III, Ali Hussain, has lauded the grand performance of the Pakistan blind cricket team and the role of its media manager in the recently concluded Blind Cricket World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa and added that sincere support, provision of infrastructure and international exposure can do wonders for the blind cricketers who are already a very competitive bunch.

Speaking at a reception given in the honour of leading blind cricketer Tariq Samuel and team’s media manger in World Cup Asif Azeem, Ali said the national blind cricket team deserves a lot of praise for the manner in which they played in the World Cup.

“Our blind cricketers played superbly in the World Cup to end runner-ups and the professional manner in which they were looked after by media manager Asif deserve high praise,” said Ali.

“KCCA Zone III has decided to award a gold medal to him for his services to the team in Cape Town.”

Asif, in his short speech, said the blind cricket team was simply amazing in the World Cup and beat all the including Australia, South Africa and England.

“Against India in the final too, our team fought well and the match was decided in the last over,” he said.

“But lack of infrastructure does affect the team’s show and more work needs to be done in the coaching areas,” he asserted.

The reception, among others, was also attended by Blind Cricket Council vice president Imran Shaikh, Mohammad Raeesi and KCCA treasurer Raziq Rabbani.

Published in Dawn December 18th , 2014