Qatar to host $1mln Pakistan Super League, says PCB

LAHORE: The twice-postponed Pakistan Super League (PSL) will finally be ready for take off in Doha, Qatar, next year, former chairman Najam Sethi announced on Wednesday.

The event is scheduled for February and will feature around 25 foreign players.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had planned a Super Twenty20 league in 2013 but had to postpone it twice -- in 2014 and 2015 -- over a lack of response from sponsors and logistics problems.

Sethi, the head of PCB's Executive Committee, announced the PSL will be held from 4-24 February next year.

“The PSL will be held in Doha from February 4-24 with a prize money of one million dollars (100 million rupees) and we are getting encouraging responses from sponsors and foreign players,” said Sethi.

The idea behind staging the league was to give Pakistani players a chance to compete with and against top foreign players, something which the national players do not get as international cricket has been suspended in the country since 2009.

Pakistan was a no go area for international teams since terrorists' attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.

This was partially overcome with a short limited-over series against Zimbabwe in May-June this year.

“We are in talks with 40 foreign players and we expect some 25 to sign for the league and out of these 15 will be world class players,” Sethi said of the planned league.

Four West Indians and two players each from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa were amongst the targeted names, he said.

Sethi added that no player from India was on the PSL target list as the Board of Control for Cricket in India does not allow its players to feature in a foreign league.

Pakistan was forced to shift the League to Doha after grounds in the United Arab Emirates -- where Pakistan have played all their home cricket since 2009 -- were booked for a private league in January-February 2016.

Published In Dawn News.

Amir Khan visits Lyari in search of boxing champions

KARACHI: British boxer Amir Khan on Wednesday vowed to help Pakistan produce champion pugilists with a network of academies in his family's country of origin.

The former two-time world champion is currently touring the South Asian giant of 200 million people better known for its prowess in cricket, and plans to set up boxing schools in the western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, eastern Punjab, and the southern city of Karachi.

“I think we have the talent to produce boxing champions,” the 28-year-old told media during a visit to Karachi's troubled Lyari area, which is frequently hit by gang violence but also known for producing talented footballers and boxers.

British boxer Amir Khan of Pakistani waves to fans during his visit to the Peoples Football Stadium in Lyari, Karachi. — Reuters

“I have made a promise to the nation that I will pay back what I have achieved in boxing,” added the highly-rated fighter from Bolton, England who has a record of 31 wins including 19 knockouts, and three losses.

Khan was accompanied by a heavy security contingent to the neighbourhood, which has long been a hub of political, ethnic and criminal violence.

“I am here to meet potential champions and I am not afraid of anything, we will... beat terror and produce boxers of top quality,” he said.

Pakistan's sole Olympic boxing medallist is Hussain Shah, who won a middleweight bronze in the Seoul Games in 1988.

The country has also produced an Asian Games gold-medallist in Mehrullah Lassi, who won the featherweight division at Busan, South Korea in 2002.

Khan, who became Britain's youngest Olympic boxing medallist when he won silver at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said he was keen to train Pakistani boxers.

“I will pass my tricks to them and will do my best to help them qualify for the Olympics, if not the 2016 in Brazil then the next one in Japan in 2020,” he said.

Known for his speed and aggressive style, Khan won the last of his fights against US boxer Chris Algieri in New York in May before once again challenging the welterweight world champion Floyd Mayweather.

But Mayweather announced earlier this month he would aim to match the 49-0 career record of the legendary Rocky Marciano in his final bout against fellow American Andre Berto on September 12, effectively ruling out a highly anticipated clash with Khan.

Five-division world champion Mayweather beat Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines in May of this year in what was described as the “fight of the century”.

Published In Dawn News.