LAHORE, Feb 28 (APP):German Ambassador to Pakistan, Martin Kobler said on Wednesday that efforts will be made to promote women cricket in Germany with the technical expertise of Pakistan.
He said this after his visit to the National Cricket Academy here where he met the Pakistan Women Cricket team. Also present on the occasion were, Chief Operating Officer, PCB, Subhan Ahmad and captain of the women team, Bismah Maroof.
“We have our own women cricket team and I am hopeful that our team will play Pakistan women cricket team in near
future,” he said.
In a light vein the German Ambassador said: “Most likely our team will lose when it plays Pakistan.”
He said his visit to NCA is a part of the efforts for boosting women cricket ties between Germany and Pakistani and he will continue his efforts in that regard.
“It will be my utmost effort that both (Germany and Pakistan) women teams visit each other to foster cricket ties and it will be a big way of learning for my team,” he said adding, “The ultimate objective is to promote cricket in Germany where football is the most popular sport.”
The German Ambassador said every sport has its own importance sports are the effective medium to bring closer people of different countries.
Quoting the example of his own country, the German Ambassador said after the World War II, Germany established good relations with his enemy countries through sports. He also quoted the example of America and Russia in that regard saying sports played paramount role in developing relations between them.
” Sports are the best formulae to develop good relations and through sports enemies become friends”, he asserted.
He said it was a very good experience to visit the NCA and to meet the Pak omen cricket team which enjoys good international status due to the talented players in the team.
He said he also visited fashion designing school in Lahore where women are getting international standard education and training in the field of fashion designing. “In march world Women Day will be celebrated around the globe and efforts are underway for women empowerment through education and allied methods “,he said.
He said cricket was a popular sport in Pakistan, which has impressive standing in the game. ” Women cricket is also at rise in Pakistan as PCB is making solid efforts to provide equal opportunity to the women folk in the field of cricket.”
COO, PCB Subhan Ahmad said PCB believed in empowering women and women cricket and its allied projects speak volume of PCB effort in that regard.
He expressed his gratitude to the German ambassador for visiting the NCA and said his visit would play a big role in strengthening cricket relations between the two countries.
Women cricket captain, Bismah Maroof said Pakistan team was delighted with the visit of the German ambassador. ” We look forward to play the Germany women team in near future and will play our part to promote women cricket in Germany “,she added.
She said Pak team coming assignment against Sri Lanka in the ICC women cricket championship round is very vital and team is being prepared on solid lines to win it.

LAHORE, Feb 28 (APP):Pakistan Cricket Board’s anti corruption
tribunal here on Wednesday banned cricketer Shahzaib Hasan for one
year and fined him Rs 1 million for his role in spot-fixing during
the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) last year in
United Arab Emirates.
The 27-year old opener who was charged on three violations of
code of PCB anti corruption code, was found guilty on two counts
of breaching Clause 2.4.4, which deals with a failure to disclose
corrupt approaches, and one count of Clause 2.4.5, failure to report
any incident a player is aware of that will amount to a breach of
the anti-corruption code.
Shahzaib who represented Pakistan in three one-day internationals
and 10, T20 matches, is the sixth player who has been punished in the
spot fixing scandal that rocked the PSL last year. Sharjeel Khan was
banned for five years, Khalid Latif was also banned for five years,
Mohammad Irfan for one year , Mohammad Nawaz for two month and Nasir
Jamshed for one year as the of them got punihsments according
to their role and involvement in the spot fixing scandal.
He was suspended last year on March 17 and PCB’s anti-corruption
unit charged him for violating three clauses of its anti-corruption
code: for luring cricketers into the scam, not reporting approaches
by the bookies, and hiding information regarding his contacts with
the bookies.
Shahzaib was not found guilty of breaching the far more serious
Clause 2.1.4, which involves “directly or indirectly soliciting,
inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating
any participant to breach any of the foregoing provisions
of this Article 2.1.” That would have likely led to a significantly
longer ban.
“PCB is taking every step to clean the game of cricket from ill practices and we
strongly believe that PCB has dealt the spot fixing scandal with an iron hand as all of
its characters have been given punishments according to their role in it “,said PCB’s
legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi while talking to the media after the verdict of the
case.
Shahzaib was suspended by the PCB on March 18 last year and in
the given circumstances, his ban will end in coming three weeks times.
“We are waging a war against corrupt practices in cricket and
PCB has zero tolerance for any such negative practice”, he said.
When asked that Shahzaib’s ban will be ending, he said “This
does not mean that he would resume his cricket career as soon as
possible”.
“His ban may end on March 17, but remember that according to the anti-corruption
code, you have to go through a rehabilitation process.
The first step towards beginning rehabilitation is the acceptance of
guilt. If he does not accept that he was guilty, then his rehabilitation process cannot begin.”
The tribunal hearing the case against Shahzaib had reserved its
verdict on January 31.