Lahore will be buzzing with a heavy schedule of sport activities in the coming week as citizens will have the opportunity to enjoy the taste of international competitions in wrestling and hockey besides the most popular National T20 cricket tournament.
World renowned wrestler Antonio Inoki from Japan has landed in Lahore with his 10 pupils in freestyle wrestling. Inoki had announced in Islamabad that he had embraced Islam and now his Islamic name is Muhammad Hussain.
His wrestlers fought each other to demonstrate the freestyle wrestling at the National Hockey Stadium on Sunday. Inoki reached Islamabad on Friday night and flew to Lahore in the morning. Soon after his arrival, Inoki along with his wrestlers went to the graves of Akram alias ‘Akki’ pehalwan and Zubair alias ‘Jhara’ pehalwan and offered fateha.
Inoki had defeated Akki in his fight held in Karachi in 1976, but he lost the fight in a controversial manner against Jhara, nephew of Akki, which was also the revenge of the famous wrestling family of Gama pehalwan.
The visit of Inoki to the graves of his former rivals was a good gesture. He also adopted a nephew of Jhara with the aim to raise him as a world best freestyle wrestler in future.
In hockey, the Holland Flying, a Dutch veteran hockey team arrived in Lahore on Saturday on an invitation of the Tanvir Dar Hockey Academy. The Holland Flying is the oldest hockey club of Holland. Former international hockey players of Dutch are also in the team.
Team manager Rob Lathouwers told media that they were very happy over their visit to Pakistan. He says Lahore is a beautiful city and many players of his team have already visited here in the past.
He says his team has started preparing for this tour about a month back. Pakistan ambassador in the Hague also arranged a dinner in honour of our team which is a very positive sign, the manager says.
During a nine-day stay, the visitors will play against Pakistan veteran team in which Samiullah Khan, Shahbaz Senior and many leading players of the past will play matches at the newly-built Mian Sharif Hockey Stadium in Johar Town.
The T20 Cup which started on Saturday will continue till Dec 9. Almost all top cricketers of the country are playing for their respective regional teams. Although the local administration has deployed a good number of policemen for security, a small number of spectators turned up to watch the first round matches on Saturday.
To avoid a heavy rush of spectators, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to charge Rs50 and Rs100 tickets for the entry in the Qadhafi Stadium.
The entry to the two other venues -- the LCCA ground and Bagh-i-Jinnah – is free. But a poor response from spectators may force the PCB to allow free entry to all venues.
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This week Hamza Shahbaz Sharif has resigned from his post as chairman of the Sports Board Punjab. No solid reason for his sudden decision has surfaced so far.
Interestingly, for the first time the Punjab government has appointed an MNA for this post. In the past, according to the constitution, only an MPA has been holding this post. But Hamza as an MNA was the first man who held this post for one year.
Intriguingly, the SBP, which made a new constitution in 2011, has written the name of Hamza Shahbaz as chairman, which was constitutionally a wrong step as it means his tenure is for an unlimited period.
The same mistake has been committed in the case of former Test opener Aamir Sohail, who has been mentioned in the constitution as vice-chairman of the SBP. Sohail has joined the ruling party in Punjab.
The circles closed to the SBP claim that Hamza has decided to resign from his post because the constitutional mistake may be creating some problems for him to contest the upcoming general election.
His resignation soon after the end of the Punjab Sports Festival, the costly event arranged by the Punjab government, also raises questions.
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International umpire Dilawar Bhatti from Lahore has passed the International Hockey Federation course in Malaysia. He told Dawn that he was the only person from Pakistan who qualified the course while eight men and five women from other countries also got through the course.
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The First Women’s Challenge Cup Hockey Tournament is being organized in Lahore from Dec 30, 2012, to Jan 6, by a group of former hockey players. The Pakistan Hockey Federation has approved the tournament.
Six leading women’s teams of the country are expected to participate in the tournament which will be held on a single league basis.
The group of former hockey players is spearheaded by Saman Rashid who is also the chief organizer. She has played for Pakistan, Punjab, Lahore, Railways and Wapda for 10 years till 2010.