Mahmood Lodhi determined to become Pakistan’s first Grand Master

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

International Master, Mahmood Lodhi, who holds the record of winning Pakistan’s national chess championship on the highest number of occasion, has expressed his fierce determination to become the country’s first-ever Grand Master.

“It’s my ambition and I desire to achieve it in not too distant future. Despite the hardships I have had to endure over the years, I remain determined to accomplish the most cherished goal of my careerm” the master craftsman observed in an informal chat at Marathon House in Karachi on March 31.

He acknowledged the timely support of the Mind Sports Association of Pakistan (MSAP), having helped him in regrouping when those at the helm of the affairs in the governing body of his own sport had deserted him.

“I am thoroughly grateful to the MSAP and their Director, Tariq Rasheed Khan, who have encouraged me with their deeds. Life would have been tougher without their help at this stage,” he conceded.

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Hunain, Majid off to Goa for Asian battle

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Pakistan’s promising teenaged duo of Mohammad Hunain Aamir and Mohammad Majid Ali have left the shores of the country to participate in the 13th Asian Junior (U-21) Snooker Championship 2012 starting in Goa, India, on April 2.

Both the cueists, alongwith referee Shabbir Hussain Daruwala, who will also be acting as manager, flew out of Karachi on March 31 and they will be reaching Goa, via Colombo and Mumbai, on April 1.

A total of 33 cueists from 10 countries will be contesting the 13th edition of the Asian Junior Championship which gets underway on Monday. The participants have been divided in eight groups with the top two to reach the knockout stage starting with the pre-quarter-finals. The final will be played on April 9.

Hosts India are fielding the highest number of cueists with half a dozen entries while Iran, with five, have the biggest participation among the foreign teams. Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, China, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE) have three participants each while Pakistan and Sri Lanka have two entries each.

Sialkot’s Mohammad Hunain Aamir, emerged triumphant in the Jubilee Insurance Pakistan Junior Under-21 Snooker Championship 2012 staged in Lahore, has been placed in the Group A, alongwith Hossein Vafaei Ayouri, the reigning world champion from Iran, Lalit Dhaiya of India and Marcus Lim Wie Jie of Singapre.

Faisalabad’s Mohammad Majid Ali, who ended runner-up in the National Junior Championship, has been drawn in the Group D in the company of Akani Songsermasawad (Thailand), Chang Yung Kiu (Hong Kong) and Sylavosh Mozayani (Iran).

It will be maiden international exposure for both the talented youngsters, who, however, were granted an opportunity by the PBSA of competing in the Jubilee Insurance Pakistan 37th National Snooker Championship 2012 held in Karachi last month.

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Precision Marathon outwit JK IV to retain national crown

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Precision Marathon, a blend of youth and experience, retained the crown by outwitting JK IV, comprising of seasoned campaigners, in the final of the National Bridge Championship 2012 which concluded at the Lahore Gymkhana on March 27.

By winning the championship, which also served as the national trials, Precision Marathon earned the right to represent Pakistan in the 2nd World Mind Sports Championship, scheduled to be staged at Lille, France, in August.

It was in the fitness of things that the final of the event was contested between the two best teams of the competition. Precision Marathon came back strongly after an uncertain start in the league matches while JK IV remained impressive all along until the final where they were downed by the former.

Starting the final with a disadvantage of 12.5 Victory Points (VPs), Precision Marathon from Karachi, featuring Tehsin Gheewala, Hasan Askari, Khalid Mohiuddin, Mubashir Puri, Junaid Said and Farrukh Liaquat with Tariq Rasheed Khan being the non-playing captain, triumphed in all the four segements to win the final 138-111.5.

JK IV from Lahore, containing Javed Khalid, Mirza Shauq Hussain, Saeed Akhtar and Masud Mazhar, who emerged as the top team in the league matches and extended their brilliant run in the semifinal against Century Insurance, could not reproduce their top game in the title clash.

JK IV, comprising of seasoned campaigners, entered the final with a carryover of 12.5 VPs on the basis of their better show in the earlier games. But they were derailed in the very first segment which their opponents won 47-24,

Precision Marathon, showing mental toughness to come to terms with the pressure games, did not look back after the excellent start which enabled them to neutralize the carryover factor very early.

Fierce battle for supremacy was witnessed in the remaining three segments between the two top sides of the event. Neither of them was prepared to give up but Precision Marathon emerged triumphant in all those closely contested ties to retain control.

They won the last three segments by the scores of 27-19, 31-26 and 33-30 with 27.5 VPs seperating the sides in the end. JK IV fought gallantly, not allowing their opponents to go into comfort zone at any stage, and the contest remained open until the end.

Originally eight teams from all over the country were to take part in the five-day final leg of the National Championship but Allana from Karachi pulled out at the eleventh hour. The seven participating teams were engaged in a double round robin battle, spread over three days, before the knockout phase starting with the semifinals.

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Precision Marathon start as favourites in final leg of National Championship

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Precision Marathon, having Tehsin Gheewala, Hasan Askari, Khalid Mohiuddin, Mubashir Puri, Junaid Said and Farrukh Liaquat with Tariq Rasheed Khan being the non-playing captain, started as the favourites in the final leg of the National Championship 2012 which commenced at Lahore Gymkhana on March 23.

As in the past the National Championship is also serving as the trials to select the national team with the winners of the Lahore event to earn the right to represent Pakistan in the 2nd Mind Sports Championship, scheduled to be staged at Lille, France, in August.

Precision Marathon, a blend of youth and experience, are also the defending champions, having captured the national crown under the banner of Data Steel last year. The alteration in nomenclature was prompted by the change of their sponsors. They got off to a flying start by winning the Sindh leg of the National Championship.

Allana, former national champions and one of the most experienced outfits of the country, have withdrawn from the final leg at the eleventh hour, after having qualified from Sindh.

The star-studded Allana, featuring Abdul Rahman Allana, Khurshid Hadi, Kemal Shoaib, Tahir Masood, Imran Jaka and Javed Ahmed Miran, decided not to proceed to Lahore just a few days before the start of the event.

When approached for comments, Khurshid Hadi, a former President of the Pakistan Bridge Federation (PBF), stated that it was a consensus decision in the end not to take part in the final round due to a combination of factors.

Masud Mazhar, Honorary Treasurer of the PBF, confirmed from Lahore that the withdrawal from Allana had been received and the final leg of the National Championship will now be limited to seven teams instead of eight.

The seven participating teams will be engaged in a double round robin battle before the knockout stage starting with the semifinals. The league matches will continue for three days while the semifinals and the final to be played on the last two days.

Defending champions Precision Marathon, Chandna and Century Insurance are the teams from Sindh which will be contesting the final leg of the National Championship alongwith four upcountry teams, Pre-empters, JK IV, Sabers and Engineers.

Chandna, comprising of Shakeel Ahmed Chandna, Pervaiz Mirza, Ghulam Mohammed, Anwer Kizilbash, Navaid Anjum Zaidi and Azwer-ul-Haque, and Century Insurance, having Shaikh Abdul Muqeet, Syed Asghar Abbas, Abdul Khaliq, Ghufran Ashraf and Yawar Abbas, are the other contestants from Sindh.

Pre-emptors, containing Izzat Khalil, Air Cdre.Safdar Mahmood, Asad Iqbal, Jahangir Ahmed, Malik Ghias and Ahsan Qureshi, and JK IV, having Javed Khalid, Mirza Shauq Hussain, Saeed Akhtar and Masood Mazhar, are the two outfits to have qualified from Lahore.

Sabers, consisting of Niaz Hussain, Air Cdre Qanar Kayani, Abdul Hamid, Azra Raja and Chaudhary Ijaz Ahmed, and Engineers featuring Yasir Rahim, Mudassar Rahim, Qasim Rahim, Ali Ahmed, Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Imran, are the two qualifiers from the federal capital.

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Bangladesh run out of luck against Pakistan as usual

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

One thing about the final of the otherwise maligned Asia Cup 2012 is certain. That it was not a fixed match, something which could not be said with conviction and certainity about some of the earlier games.

The final between hosts Bangladesh and Pakistan was a routine affair having predictable result with the latter emerging triumphant with the skin of their teeth. It was not unusual to find Pakistan being helped by the fringe members of their team.

Will you believe it that wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was not being beinf played in the crunch games, turned out to be Pakistan’s topscorer? Equally awesome was the performance of fast bowler Aizaz Cheema, who wasn’t an automatic choice either.

But these are the norms in Pakistan cricket. Those least likely to do it in ordinary circumstances come up with something sensational to turn the tide decisively. They won the final by a couple of runs while defending a modest score of 236.

Bangladesh would have realized that defeating Pakistan, no matter how inexperienced or vulnerable they may look on paper, present the toghest challenge in the world. They may be good enough to overpower the World Cup finalists but they run out of steam in taking on the semifinalists.

It must not be often when Bangladesh control the game but fail to cross the line. But it happened two times and on both occasion Pakistan were their opponents. They had overtaken a much bigger total of 290 against the world champions but they crashed reaching a modest target of 237 in the final.

Whether they will curse that final over from Shahadat Hussain which went for 19 runs with the last pair in or they hold the others responsible for it, Bangladesh had reasons to feel deprived of their maiden title win.

At 170 for three, with Nasir Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan going great guns, Bangladesh appeared on course of a comfortable win. Only 67 more runs were needed in eight overs which looked a straighforward task for them considering the purple patch of their batsmen.

But as we have seen so many times in the past, Pakistan came back from nowhere to derail the home side which, only for the second time in the tournament, faltered from a position of strength.

It was being anticipated that they would not repeat their mistakes after having suffered a loss at the hands of Pakistan in their league fixture. But they proved everyone wrong by literally throwing the match away.

The kind of fortune Misbah-ul-Haq has been enjoying for the past few months it was going to be difficult to tame him but Bangladesh were expected to perform much better than they did in their first-ever appearance in a final.

Irrespective of the conditions in which they had registered thumping victories over India and Sri Lanka the momentum was with Bangladesh and they seemed to be having a balanced outfit to bring home their maiden title. They ran out of luck, more than out of steam, in the final.

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Cricket suffers yet another major jolt in Asia Cup 2012

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Cricket was once again disgraced out in the open during the Asia Cup 2012 when hosts Bangladesh marched into final after recording a comfortable victory over Sri Lanka in the last league fixture on March 20. The outcome was as much predictable as the body language and the efforts on the field of the two teams.

The equation was quite uncomplicated and straightforward. It was not rocket science. Bangladesh had to win and Sri Lanka had to lose in order to prevent defending champions India from reaching the final. A Bangladesh-Pakistan final was predicted before the start of the game and every thing went according to the plan. The Nature also didn’t come in the way.

Although India, who had emerged triumphant in the last edition of the Asia Cup before going on to win the World Cup less than a year ago, wouldn’t have mind exiting from the tournament because they accomplished everything else other than retaining the title.

India should be returning home satisfied having overpowered both their bitter rivals, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, besides having watched their record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkur fulfill his ambition of scoring 100th international ton.

The Indian cricket authorities won’t feel embarassed for the above reacons but the cricket fans over there must have felt disheartened if not cheated by the shady deals that appeared to have taken place that marred the Bangladesh-India game.

In the prevailing circumstances every match in the Asia Cup is suspected of being fixed but there are two matches in particular where the emotions of a large number of people seemed to have been played with. It became apparent on so many occasions during the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka encounter that an engieered result was on the cards.

Bangladesh have rewritten their cricket history by advancing to the final of the Asia Cup for the first time. That they have done it in dubious manner, apparently with the support of the outside forces, certainly takes gloss out of their most awesome accomplishment yet.

They may even win the Asia Cup for the first time, since the event was launched in 1984. They would enter the final against Pakistan as underdogs despite their unexpected triumphs over India and Sri Lanka, the finalists of the last World Cup.

The kind of cricket that’s being played in the tournament and knowing the unpredictability and vulnerability of the Pakistanis in crunch games it should come as no real surprise if Bangladesh lift the trophy on March 22.

Interestingly betting and match-fixing were in the stage of infancy when the inaugural Asia Cup was staged in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) more than quarter of a century ago. Sharjah had just been inducted as a venue for One-day Internationals.

28 years down the road the mechanics of cricket have changed. In the past only just an odd game or two in years were feared to have been manipulated. It has become the other way round now. There are very few games that seem to remain unaffected of the outside forces. Let’s see how long cricket can endure this pain.

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Sir Syed University win Unilympics 2012

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology (SSUET) won the general championship trophy in the Unilympics 2012 organized recently by FAST National University of Computers and Emerging Sciences, at their Karachi campus.

SSUET emerged as the worthy winners of the All Star Trophy after winning the tournaments of table tennis and volleyball.

SSUET, having become one of the leading engineering universities of the country in a relatively short span of time, has been actively engaged in co-curricular activities and their athletes have been faring rather well in the various sporting events held from time to time.

A total of 15 educational institutions, representing universities and their affiliated colleges/high schools, from all over the metropolis took part in the two-day event in which competitions were held in basketball, table tennis, volleyball, throw ball and futsal.

‘It's not just Playing, It's Living the Sports’ was the slogan of the event, acclaimed as the biggest and the liveliest sporting extravaganza at the university level. It was organized by Sportics, the sports society of FAST NU.

The students of the FAST NU have been passionate about sports and their versatile society has built a platform to hold a competition featuring the top educational institutions of the metropolis. It made great sense to organize the Unilympics 2012 a few months before the Olympics 2012.

The preliminary round matches of all five disciplines of the Unilympics 2012 were held on the opening day with the semifinals and the finals taking place on the more exciting and absorbing last day of the event.

SSUET extended their supremacy in table tennis as the duo of Bilal Tariq and Taha Shibli, brought home the gold medal for the third year running. They remained undefeated in the competition.

SSUET made winning debut in volleyball with their outfit, comprising of Nooruddin Moeenuddin, Waqar Ali, Tehzeeb Sardar, Jamhoor Alam, Pervez Karim, Shamul Kamal, Shafiur ur Rehman, Muhammad Ismail and Tariq Amin, overpowering PAF City School 3-1 in the final.

Hosts FAST NU annexed the basketball title by outsmarting Fazayya Degree College, Malir, in the final while St Joseph Convent Girls High School claimed the throw ball trophy by defeating FAST NU in the final.

Fazayya Degree College, Malir dominated the futsal competition held on the lush green field. They secured gold medal by outwitting NED University of Engineering & Technology in the final.

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India unsure of a place in Asia Cup final despite another Kohli special

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

Pakistan may win the Asia Cup and India may not still reach its final. That’s how the situation remained even after Virat Kohli’s spectacular 183 off 148 balls that helped the Indians reach the stiff target of 330 with 13 deliveries remaining.

The scenario is not much different to the one at Hobart, Australia, a little while ago. India had needed a massive win over Sri Lanka in their last league outing to stay afloat which they did achieve, mainly due to the heroics of Kohli.

Despite the sensational victory at Hobart India’s fate had depended on the outcome of the Australia-Sri Lanka. Not surprisingly the Sri Lankans prevailed over the hosts to send India home early.

Sri Lanka can spoil the party for the Indians once more, having done it so many times in the past. India will exit from the Asia Cup if Banglalesh defeats Sri Lanka in the last league fixture of the tournament. It’s not the question of claiming a bonus point. Bangladesh will walk into the final only if they win their last game.

India would have paid the price of what looked like having gifted the match to Bangladesh in the process of securing 100th international ton for Sachin Tendulkar, if they are denied a place in the final even after having overpowered Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

India’s successful run chase against Pakistan on March 18 underlined the growing confidence of their young guns and the uncertainty in the minds of the old guard. Now Tendulkar, with nearly every batting record under his belt, has to play second fiddle to Kohli.

The enigmatic left-hander Gautam Gambhir somehow got a hundred in the opening game but he flopped miserably in the following two matches. He has already lost the vice-captaincy and if he contunues to fare inconsistently he could well be thrown out of the team too.

The promising youngsters like Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina have sit on the sidelines for quite a while in order to accommodate the veterans but now the time has come to move forward and bring about a change in policy.

With Kohli having matured into a top-class batsman, the Indian selectors need to be brave in giving longer runs to the likes of Sharma and Raina to let them get the feel of playing in all sorts of circumstances.

The Indian batsmen may be vulnerable to the short balls on the bouncy or seaming tracks but they seem to be in total control when playing on the docile sub-coninental pitches where the ball barely rises and hardly ever moves, particularly with the majority of the games being day-nighters.

That’s how they chased down the target of 330 with remarkable ease against Pakistan at Dhaka under floodlights. That’s why their inability to score briskly in the previous game against Bangladesh looked strange and raised questions. Isn’t it incredible that they managed scores in the excess of 300 against stronger and more resourceful bowling attacks of Pakistan and Sri Lanka but failed to do so against the hosts.

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