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Pakistan's
women golfers: Ladies on the upswing International
football: Under the shadow of hooliganism More
shame for the shameless Shane joins
an exclusive club in Test cricket
golf 'Parents
used to push you to play. We used to be practising morning and evening in the
holidays. Now parents are more pushed about education. And they are more
complexion-conscious' By Durdana
Soomro
But on
the fourth day, from the moment Ms Chieng Chiew Jing from Brunei stepped on
to the first tee, it was apparent that the 7-shot margin was just not large
enough. Jamila's putting crumbled under the pressure and she finished with a
round of 92 to Ms Jing's 77. She lost the gold medal to Ms Jing by 8 strokes
and had to settle for the silver, while teammate Tahira got the bronze.
Does the
success of the women's team mark a threshold in women's golf in Pakistan or
was it a one-off event? On the one hand they were certainly lucky: there was
no Indian women's team! In November last year two Indian teenagers Miss
Vaishavi Sinha and Miss Sharmila Nicollet with handicaps of 1 and 3
respectively, wiped out the Pakistani girls at the 45th Amateur Golf
Championship in Lahore. Miss Sinha's winning score was 16 strokes better than
Jamila's.
Presently
in Pakistan there are only four or five women with single digit handicaps.
These are: Jamila
Jabbar -- A 5-handicapper, she has been playing for around ten years. She won
the nationals three times in 2001, 2003 and 2004 and was on the team that
went to Sri Lanka in 2000 along with Tahira Nazeer. Tahira
Nazeer -- Playing since 1993, now off a 7 handicap, she has also won the
nationals three times in 1997, 1998 and 2002. Tahira's daughter also has a
7-handicap but is taking time off from golf to sit for her CSS exam.
Faakiha
Ahmreen -- This 21-year old has come down from a 24-handicap to 9 in a very
short period. It is likely, though, that we will be seeing less of her in
Pakistan for the next few years as she is poised to go to the US on a golf
scholarship for a four-year degree in public relations. She hopes to qualify
for the LPGA but insists that she will come back home. "I want to be a
golf ambassador for Pakistan," she says. The PGF
has a ranking system but none of the ladies have been ranked as they have not
fulfilled the necessary criteria. To be ranked a player has to take part in
two compulsory tournaments: the Pakistan Open and the National Amateur. Aside
from these their four best scores are considered from among the provincial
and other open tournaments. A first position is worth 100 points, second 75,
third 65 and so on down to tenth position. However, women golfers have not
been playing the required number of tournaments because of the cost and
inconvenience of travel.
To build
a strong women's team the population of women golfers needs to increase. But
while new players are coming forward there are hardly any young girls taking
up the game. According to a former ladies national champion, when she started
playing golf in the 1970s, "parents used to push you to play. We used to
be practising morning and evening in the holidays. Now parents are more
pushed about education. And they are more complexion-conscious." Many of
those who are playing do it for purely recreational reasons, the feeling
being that there is no future in golf. "If I became a 2- or
3-handicapper so what?" says the Karachi golfer. "It would be
satisfying on a personal level but that's it. If I had time to spend on golf
I would, but I have my work." She feels that golf is not going to get
anywhere until there is a professional circuit for women and adequate
sponsorships to meet the expenses of training and travelling. At
present most players get coaching from the club pros who haven't had any
formal training. However, the PGF has recently been given 5000 pounds
sterling as seed money by the R & A (the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of
St Andrews) to start a teaching programme for pros. This will help golfers
across the board, but another move which specifically impacts women is that
for the first time they are being invited to participate in the management of
the sport. The
Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has made it mandatory for every sport
affiliated with it to induct 20% lady members in their Executive Committees
at the national as well as the provincial level. Last year the PGF inducted
two women on to its executive committee: Yasmin Mubarak, a former Ladies
National Champion and this writer. At the AGM held on 21 April 2006 Lt
General Kayani was empowered to appoint a third woman to comply with the
requirement. This will enable women golfers to surface issues which are
important to them and will give them a voice and a role in the management of
the sport. Indeed,
this is a great time for women to be in sports. Sports associations across
the board are falling over themselves to promote women, be it hockey,
cricket, football, or golf. Faakiha's success in winning a golf scholarship
should be an eye-opener for Pakistani girls -- and their mothers. The
future in golf may not be as bright as in medicine, or law or banking but
it's a road that can definitely lead you places. "Parents don't realise
what a great game golf is for women," says Taimur Hassan Amin,
Pakistan's ace golfer who is Honorary Secretary of the Pakistan Golf
Federation. "As
children of members you play in a safe, secure environment; everyone knows
who you are and who your father is. The facilities are great and so is the
environment. Where else can you leave your children without fear of anyone
bothering them? Look at India where young girls are playing by the
hundreds." Durdana
Soomro is a freelance journalist and a noted author (she has recently
released the book 'Bengal Raag' co-written with her twin sister Ghazala
Hameed). She is the captain of the ladies team at the Karachi Golf Club and
an executive committee member of the Pakistan Golf Federation
International
football: Under the shadow of hooliganism The FIFA
World Cup is threatened more by spectator hooliganism than by terrorism By Waris
Ali
With the
32 teams participating in the finals after going through a years-long process
of FIFA World Cup qualification, a process adopted to shortlist the
participants (about 200 member countries) to a practical number, the
mega-event will keep the people from all the six continents of the world
spellbound and overindulged in the tournament. Exactly
like the nature of the game, the tournament is also highly professionalised
and also commercialised. It is a star-studded giant event and will be marked
by miraculous narrow escapes, shocking upsets, and glorious victories, but
will throughout be shrouded by the menace of hooliganism. Yes, hooliganism,
not terrorism, that will haunt the 16 'soccer cities' like a devil during the
football month. Football
hooliganism, that surfaced as a non-negligible problem in the 1950s in
Europe, is characterised by disorderly behaviour planned at a large scale by
the spectators during, before or after a football match. This hooligan
behaviour, rooted in incited prejudice against the rival team, gave birth to
two worst ever tragedies -- the Heysel and Hillsborough disasters -- both
involving the English hooligans as their major perpetrators. The
Brussels Heysel Stadium witnessed the dismal abyss for English football
during the European Cup final between Liverpool FC and Juventus on May 29,
1985 when 39 people -- 32 of them Italians -- were crushed because of
hooliganism. The packs of ultra hooligans intent on creating troubles, the
crumbling terraces of the 55-year-old stadium, and the organisational chaos
in handling the situation were the contributing factors to the tragedy. Also,
the Italians won the final by a controversial goal that further incited the
troublemakers. A year
back when Liverpool beat AS Roma in the 1984 European Cup final in Rome, the
Liverpool fans were attacked by Italian ultra hooligans. It provided a
justification to the English hardcore hooligans to attempt revengeful attacks
on the rival Italians in case of defeat. It further added to the grossness of
the situation that the police stood by confused and inactive while the
catastrophe was still in the running. While there had been skirmishes around
Brussels all day before the game, local police packed the fans into the
stadium, instead of arresting and detaining offenders. If the
Heysel Stadium witnessed the worst ever tragedy up till that time with 39
casualties, Hillsborough disaster went far beyond with the deadly human crush
of 96 football fans on April 15, 1989, during the 17th FA Cup semifinal
between Liverpool FC and Nottingham Forest FC at Hillsborough stadium in
Sheffield, England. The
tragedy was not an outcome of hooliganism directly, but was an offshoot of
the precautious measures taken against hooliganism. Hooliganism had plagued
the sport for years in England with incidents of pitch invasions and the
throwing of a variety of missiles. In response to hooliganism, most stadiums
had placed between the spectators and the pitch high steel fencing that was
later identified as the main factor behind the disaster. A bottleneck
developed with more fans arriving than entering the stadium. With an
estimated 5,000 fans trying to get through the turnstiles and an increasingly
dangerous situation, the police decided to open a second set of gates which
did not have turnstiles. The
resulting in-pour of hundreds, or maybe thousands, of fans through a narrow
tunnel caused a crush at the front where the fans were pressed against the
fencing. The crush ultimately took the lives of 96 people, with 766 fans
receiving injuries, proving the worst ever catastrophe in football history. While
the two disasters earned notoriety for the sports fans, incidents of crowd
disorder at football matches have been recorded as early as the 19th century.
During a match in 1846 in Derby the riot act was read and two troops of
dragoons called in to deal with a disorderly crowd, while pitch invasions
became increasingly common from the 1880s onwards. After
the 1989 tragedy, Lord Justice Taylor conducted inquiry, as a result of which
fences in front of fans were removed and stadiums were converted to become
all-seated. Further, the closed circuit television, and arrests for
football-related crimes dramatically reduced the menace. But
hooliganism shifted from the stadium itself to other meeting places, where it
is better organised and more violent, leaving the police less able to control
it. The National Criminal Intelligence Service of England in a recent report
said that arrests for more serious football-related offences have doubled. Further,
the English hooligans tend to take place abroad as well as in the country.
That is why hooliganism is fairly declared as English Disease on many
occasions. However, football hooliganism is not limited to England, and many
other countries have serious hooligan problems. The
situation for this World Cup tournament is the most critical in view of three
factors; firstly the English are notorious hooligans, secondly the tournament
is being held in their enemy country; thirdly there are meagre chances of
England's reaching the semis stage for various reasons, prime among them is
Wayne Rooney's unlucky absence. It is
this background of the England soccer fans that prompted the host country's
police to warn them against any such attempts. In Germany the Nuremberg
police chief warned the English fans against mentioning, imitating or making
any reference to either of the two great wars. "England
fans should be aware that the Nazi salute and provocative behaviour like
goose-stepping in public will be punished," England's biggest-selling
daily Sun quoted him. England has been scheduled to play Trinidad and Tobago
in Nuremberg in the first-round World Cup match on June 15. The city of
Nuremberg has a sensitive history of the second world war where some
notorious Nazi party rallies were brought out in the 1930s. The city staged
the war trials of several senior Nazis including Rudolf Hess after end of the
war. He
announced zero tolerance for intolerance, advising the fans to enjoy the
matches and leave the baiting at home. "Racist abuse of black people by
England fans will also be taken very seriously... My officers will have the
power to remove offensive fans from the situation." England's
football support has long contained a strongly xenophobic element, as evinced
by chants at matches against Germany "I'd rather be a Paki (Pakistani)
than a Kraut (German)" and "Two World Wars and One World Cup,"
a reference to Germany's defeats in World War I and II and England's victory
over the then West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final at London's Wembley
Stadium. Further, references to German behaviour in World War II have been a
staple of British humour for over 60 years. In a
similar bid to shun the Britons from unruly behaviour, England's Football
Association and the English coach Sven-Gran Eriksson warned fans to refrain
from insulting behaviour towards the host Germany during the FIFA event.
Further, television commercials starring David Beckham, Michael Owen and
Wayne Rooney requesting the same are also planned. Exactly
in this perspective, it makes no wonder that more than 500 foreign police
will arrive in Germany to assist the security operation against hooligan
violence. 300 uniformed officers from European Union states and 200 from
other countries among the 32 qualified nations would assist the German
police. Also the British government announced to send 79 officers, including
44 in uniform, to Germany to accompany the 100,000 England fans expected to
attend the finals. Waris
Ali is a staff member at 'The
News' Lahore waristhenews@yahoo.com
----- Hooliganism
rampant in spite of strict security... Apart from
the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies resulting in death of 39 and 96 deaths
respectively, the incidents of hooliganism are rampant despite strict
security and numberless preventive measures. Here are mentioned a few of
them: 1. The English fans strengthened
their notoriety by creating widespread rioting in the French city of
Marseille during World Cup 1998, and later at Charleroi during Euro 2000. A
French riot policeman was permanently brain damaged by an attack of German
hooligans. 2. The FIFA World Cup 1990 in Italy
was also plagued by hooliganism, when nearly 300 fans, most of them belonging
to England, were expelled by the Italian police for involvement in a number
of ugly brawls. 3. Two Leeds United fans were
stabbed to death in Galatasary, England, in August 2000, a day before start
of a UEFA Champions League match. 4. Rival firms from Leeds United and
Manchester United fought in January 2001, en route to playing Manchester City
and Bradford respectively. 5. A match between Strasbourg and
Metz in the French First Division was abandoned in December 2000 after an
assistant referee was hit by a firecracker. 6. In Italy, hooligan groups known
as 'ultras' clashed with rival firms and the police after a 6-1 Italian Cup
loss to Parma. 7. In Greece, AEK Athens were banned
from playing in their own stadium for four matches after their fans threw
missiles and invaded the pitch during a Greek Cup tie with Olympiakos. 8. The African Women's 2000
Championship final had to be abandoned in Johannesburg after South Africa's
fans began rioting when the referee ignored an offside flag and allowed a
Nigerian goal to stand. 9. The decisive match of the 2000
Championship in Brazil had to be replayed after 60 people were injured in
fight that began between two fans -- of the same team -- arguing over a
substitution decision. --Waris Ali
scandal Shane
Warne and Mike Tyson have had great careers and achievements but nobody would
like to advise youngsters to follow them. Parents definitely would ask their
kids to remain away from such 'role models' By Ghalib
Mehmood Bajwa
Warne
suffered several heavy losses such as the breaking of a 10-year marriage,
ending of a 10-year association with a leading sports channel, a chance to
lead Australia and above all a respect among cricket lovers. It is woth-mentioning
here that in July, 2005, Australia's Channel Nine cancelled Warne's A$300,000
a year television commentary contract because of his off-field antics.
Cricket
is a game of gentlemen but like all other walks of life, it too has some
persona non grata, who no doubt are damaging the nobility of the game to a
great extent. It has been observed that many of the sportsmen including
cricketers have been involved in different kinds of off-field unhealthy
activities. Some have indulged in the match-fixing saga, some in doping cases
and the others in immoral activities but the Australian has a 'great
distinction' among them all for his involvement in all these ills.
No doubt
sports persons like Shane Warne and Mike Tyson had great careers and
achievements in their respective fields but nobody would like to advise
youngsters to follow them. Parents definitely would ask their kids to remain
away from such 'role models'. Simply these sportsmen have lost their share of
respect among the masses. Likewise, cricketers involved in match-fixing
scandal can't remove the tag of 'gambler' and attain genuine respect despite
their great cricketing feats.
Last
year in June, Shane Warne and wife Simone announced that their 10-year
marriage was over. In good old days, Simone had said in a statement that she
would stand by her husband 100 per cent and would not let certain individuals
tear apart their family. Such
cheap incidents have caused great personal hardship and embarrassment for the
spinner. It caused unrest between him and his wife. His public reputation has
been severely damaged as a result of these incidents. Warne
had a long list of extra-marital episodes. Before his separation with wife,
Warne had an affair with Rebecca Weeden, a 20-year-old archaeology student. Three
days after Shane and Simone Warne announced their separation, an English
paper claimed that Warne had an affair that lasted more than a month with a
31-year-old sales manager, Kerrie Colliemore, just before his family arrived
in Britain.
In 2003,
a South African woman named Helen Cohen Alon accused Warne of calling her up
40 times after a models' party and sending her lewd text messages. He also
has been at the centre of a court case the same year involving a 16-year-old
girl Aleasha Black who alleged Warne tongue-kissed her. In 2000, Warne was
stripped of the Aussie vice-captaincy after pestering 22-year-old
Leicestershire nurse Donna Wright with explicit calls. Three years later
married stripper Angela Gallagher claimed she had a three-month affair with
him. Warne,
who has been linked to a string of sex scandals, also exchanged dozens of
texts with a TV station secretary, Michelle Masters, a couple of months ago.
Michelle works near Warne's Southampton home and has been one of his frequent
companions.
Ghalib
Mehmood Bajwa is a staff member at 'The News' Lahore
Jacques
Kallis He
responded magnificently, sending down 27.4 overs and took 5-90 to be declared
Man of the Match and Man of the Series without any contest By Khurram
Mahmood
Kallis,
who was then ranked the number one all-rounder in the world, joined the
legendary Sir Garfield Sobers of the West Indies as the only two players to
score more than 8,000 runs and take 200 Test wickets. Sobers made 8,032 runs
(average 57.78) and took 235 wickets (34.03) in 93 Tests, while Kallis, in
his 102nd Test, has scored 8,033 runs (55.78) and taken 200 wickets. Sobers
also held 109 catches and Kallis will soon join him in a treble. He has
caught 98 so far. "It's
a very special club, obviously, and it's an honour to join it. It will mean
more to me in years to come when I retire and sit back to think about
it," said a delighted Kallis. Jacques
Henry Kallis is among the very few batsmen in world cricket who has an over
55 batting average. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has the highest average
among the current players with 58.22 in 105 Tests. Indian captain Rahul
Dravid is on the second place with a 57.79 average. Kallis is at the third
position with 55.78 average, while other leading batsman like Sachin
Tendulkar (55.39), Matthew Hayden (53.08), Brian Lara (53.02), Virender
Sehwag (52.23) and Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq (51.34) are behind Kallis. He is a
man with an ability, mental strength and presence of mind to change the
situation. Jacques Kallis is a true South African champion. Former Australian
captain Steve Waugh once said that "we had tried simply everything
against this guy, but we can't find a weakness in his game". He has
the ability to construct an innings ball-by-ball, playing each delivery on
its merit, no matter what is happening to the rest of the batsmen in the
team. Kallis is a magnificent player with a solid technique and this,
together with a cool temperament, makes him a top-class Test batsman. Kallis
made his Test debut against England at Durban on December 14, 1995, but in
his first innings he made just one run. His next seven Test innings produced
only 57 runs, leaving him with an average of 7.13. In his next Test a knock
of 61 against Pakistan saw his average rise to 13.11. The
selectors continued taking risks as they picked Kallis for South Africa's
tour of Australia, hardly the place to tour if you're looking to improve on
your record. Playing in front of a massive Melbourne Cricket Ground Boxing
Day crowd, Kallis made 15 in the first innings of the first Test against the
Australians, but in the second innings, with the Proteas set an improbable
381 for victory, Kallis showed a magnificent fight and mental toughness to
occupy the crease for three minutes shy of six hours in making 101. That
effort saved the Test for South Africa, and became the turning point in
Kallis's career. Since
that day in December 1997, he has become the foundation of South Africa's
batting, lifting his average continually so that by the completion of the
recently concluded series against the New Zealand last week he averaged
55.78. He is
now South Africa's all time leading Test run scorer with 8,033 to his name.
In November 1998 the West Indies team toured South Africa for a five-Test
series; Jacques Kallis undoubtedly was the star of the series with 485 runs
with an average of 69.28. In addition, in the presence of Allan Donald and
Shaun Pollock he claimed 17 wickets at the very low average of 17.58. In the
fourth Test at his home ground, Newlands, Kallis delivered one of the best
all-round performances in Test history. In South Africa's first innings he
made 110 and then followed that up with 2 for 34 as the Proteas took a first
innings lead of 194. Batting a second time he finished unbeaten on 88 as
South Africa declared on 226-7, leaving the West Indies requiring an
improbable 421 for victory. With
Allan Donald having injured himself, Kallis, despite spending almost
eleven-and-a-half hours at the crease while batting, was called on to open
the bowling with Shaun Pollock. He responded magnificently, sending down 27.4
overs and took 5-90 and was declared Man of the Match and Man of the Series
without any contest. Kallis
was declared the ICC Test Player of the Year in 2005. JACQUES
KALLIS: TEST MATCH SUMMARY
Mat
Runs
HS
BatAv 100
50
W
BB
BowlAv 5w
Ct Overall
102
8033
189*
55.78
24
40
200
6-54
31.71
4
98 For ICC
World XI 1
83
44
83.00
0
0
1
1-3
38.00
4 For
South Africa 101
7950
189*
55.59
24
40
199
6-54
31.67
4
94 v
Australia
18
1188
114
38.32
3
5
35
3-29
37.17
14 v
Bangladesh
2
214
139*
1
1
7
5-21
13.57
1
4 v
England
20
1412
162
47.06
5
6
34
6-54
34.02
1
19 v India
6
579
121
82.71
1
4
10
3-30
28.70
5 v New
Zealand
12
1010
160
59.41
3
5
17
3-71
44.23
10 v
Pakistan
8
456
105
38.00
1
2
9
2-21
48.44
7 v Sri
Lanka
12
639
87
33.63
0
5
23
4-39
30.86
14 v West
Indies
18
1856
177
77.33
7
9
44
6-67
29.43
2
21 v
Zimbabwe
6
679
189*
169.75
3
3
21
4-13
14.71
4 Home 55
4275
177
57.00
13
23
114
5-21
29.54
2
62 Away 47
3758
189*
54.46
11
17
86
6-54
34.58
2
36
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Jamila
Jabbar, Pakistan's top woman golfer, had a 7-shot lead going into the final
day of the Islamic Games in Tehran last year. Seven countries participated in
the tournament: Brunei, Korea, Cyprus, Germany, Lebanon, Pakistan and Iran.
The Pakistani team consisted of the seasoned pair Jamila and Tahira Nazeer
and two newcomers Mehvish Javed Mirza and Faakiha Ahmreen and Jamila looked
all set to win the individual gold medal. 
Although
on a personal level it was disappointing for Jamila, her solid performance on
the first three days helped the team to secure the gold medal -- the first
time any Pakistani team has won this in golf. The achievement was recognised
by the Pakistan Golf Federation (PGF) President Lt-Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
when he announced an award for them of Rs 250,000. 
This
is not to say that Pakistani women don't have the talent or the potential. To
play competitively requires high standards of physical fitness, stamina and
hours of practice. For the Islamic Games the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB)
provided extensive physical training and golf coaching to the team. But the
lack of any serious competition at home means that players have little
incentive for dedicated practice and can afford to take it easy. 
Saba
Iqbal -- A 9-handicapper who won the national amateur in 2000, she is
presently finding her work at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture
more rewarding than golf.
Therefore,
if a team has to be sent abroad trials are held; for the Iran Games they were
held in Lahore, making it difficult for players from elsewhere. A Karachi
golfer suggests that each province should hold its own trials or support
should be extended towards travel and accommodation costs. 
FIFA
is going to stage the 18th edition of its World Cup tournament in Germany
from June 9 to July 9. With its status as the most widely-viewed sporting
event in the world, surpassing even the Olympic Games, the soccer World Cup
finals enjoy a cumulative audience of nearly 30 billion worldwide, according
to the World Cup 2002 figures. 
Australian
leg-spinner Shane Warne, with another sex scandal, has continued to tarnish
his and his country's image the world over. He has shown a great amount of
consistency in not only taking Test wickets but in his off-field antics too.
The burly spinner is such a person, who is as infamous for his off-field
negative activities as he is famous for his spin bowling. Warne's latest
spell with two models last week in London was a fresh blot on an already
scandalous career of the spinner. 
He
was widely expected to join the Channel Nine commentary box alongside other
Australian greats Richie Benaud, Mark Taylor, Ian Chappell and Bill Lawry.
Despite all these blows, the 'strong nerved' spinner did not try to change
his 'dirty track'. The strange-natured cricketer does not care what people
are thinking about him. 
It
may be recalled here that Shane Warne and Mark Waugh were convicted of
obtaining match info from a bookie during the 1994 tour of the Sub-continent.
In 1998, Warne admitted that he had taken money to provide pitch and weather
reports from a man later discovered to be operating with bookmakers. Then in
February 2003, just prior to the start of the 2003 cricket World Cup, Warne
was sent home after a drugs test during the one-day series in Australia
earlier in the year returned a positive result for a banned diuretic. It
won't be wrong if we give Warne top ranking in the list of infamous people. 
Warne,
no stranger to off-field shenanigans, was caught out again last week when he
was pictured in a British newspaper allegedly romping with a pair of models
-- Coralie Eichholz, a New Zealand-born brunette and blonde television
presenter Emma Kearney, both 25. The weekly tabloid also ran explicit text
messages allegedly from the spin bowling ace, who is facing an expensive
divorce battle with his wife Simone. 
Further
allegations of having extra-marital affairs broke in 2005 as Australia began
its tour of England in preparation for The Ashes. An English tabloid
newspaper published a story in which a 25-year-old London student Laura
Sayers claimed that the controversial Australian cricketer had badgered her
for 'favours' after a night out in April with his close mate, England batsman
and Hampshire teammate Kevin Pietersen. 
When
Jacques Kallis dismissed New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming on the second
day of the third and final Test at the Wanderers last week, he completed his
remarkable double of 8,000 runs and 200 wickets in Test cricket.