Pakistan tasted victory in an international basketball tournament for the first time in almost 10 years when they beat Tajikistan 73-51 in the first Islamic Solidarity Games in the Saudi Arabian city of Madina.
The men in green made no impression in their first three matches of the tournament when they went down to powerful Tunisia, Algeria and Libya without putting up a fight.
Playing their final match of the league stages, the inexperienced Pakistan team showed a lot determination at the courts of the Prince Mohammad bin Abdul Aziz Sports City. Mir Alam Khan, Sher Bahadur and Khalid Ahmed were the stars of the Pakistan win.
Pakistan team manager Lt Col Naseem Butt was proud of his team's achievement. "The boys really played well today," he said. "Now you can see what match practice can do for the moral of an inexperienced team."
"We had come into the tournament with a bunch of totally new players, who had not even played a single international match in their careers. But, after playing three matches against powerful opponents, our players felt at home today and played much stronger in both offence and defence," a beaming Butt added.

Pakistan suffered their third straight defeat in the basketball tournament of the first Islamic Solidarity Games when they lost to Libya 93-45 in the Saudi Arabian city of Medina on Monday night.
The men in green were hammered by Algeria and Tunisia in the first two matches and proved no match for the Libyans -- the third African team in their group.
"This is all because of inexperience. These boys have never played an international match, let alone a major event like the Islamic Games, Naseem Butt, the manager of the Pakistan team, said. "Matching the best of African teams is really not possible with a bunch of inexperienced players."
Pakistan next play Uzbekistan.

The lack of experience of Pakistan players at the highest level proved costly as they were hammered in the first two matches of their campaign in the basketball tournament of the first Islamic Solidarity Games at Medina's Al Ansar Club.
Tunisia overwhelmed Pakistan 123-39 in the first encounter while fellow-African powerhouse Algeria were never ever pushed in their 144-39 triumph over the beleaguered Pakistanis.
This is Pakistan's first international tournament in 10 years and quite understandably the men in green seemed to be overawed by the big occasion in the Saudi Arabian city.
"We have entered an international tournament after a lapse of 10 years and our inexperience is showing in the middle," Lt Col Naseem Butt, the manager of the Pakistan team, said after his side's second defeat. "These African countries are very strong and on the other hand we have to learn a lot."
Pakistan last featured in an international basketball tournament way back in 1995 when they finished runners-up to hosts India in the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games tournament.
Pakistan next play Libya in the Islamic Solidarity Games tournament.

Muhammad Ilyas was named to lead Pakistan in the basketball tournament of the first Islamic Solidarity Games to be hosted by Saudi Arabia from April 8.
The ad hoc committee of the Pakistan Amateur Basketball Federation announced the 12-member team in Islamabad on Saturday.
As Pakistan will feature in an international basketball tournament after a long gap of 10 years, the entire team is made up of inexperienced players.
Pakistan last fielded their basketball team in the 1995 SAF Games where they finished runners-up to hosts India.
Besides captain Ilyas, other members of the team are Atif Riaz, Pervaiz Hussain, Khalid Ahmed, Mir Alam Khan, Muddasir Khan, Waheed Iqbal, Sher Bahadur, Ghulam Mustafa, Imran Munawar, Muhammad Prem Shehzad and Muhammad Akhtar. Adnan Khan and Shehryar were named as reserves.
Lt Col Naseem Butt, who is also the secretary of the PABBF ad hoc committee, will manage the team in Saudi Arabia while former Pakistan captains Chaudhry Mohammad Bashir and Ghulam Haider are the coaches.
As many 24 players were selected for a training camp after the National Basketball Championship held in the NWFP city of Nowshera in December last year. The camp began on January 10 at the Pakistan Sports Complex in Islamabad.
The number of players at the training camp were trimmed to 14 late last month.
Pakistan have been placed in Group D of the Islamic Games tournament along with Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Tajikistan and Chad. As many as 22 teams are taking part in the event's basketball championship.

ISLAMABAD: Wapda beat HEC Blues 29-11 to win the National Women Basketball Championship that concluded at Naval Gymnasium Islamabad on Tuesday.
Sawera Khan and Sara Khan scored 6 points each for the winners. For HEC, the lone battle was fought by Asfa Bano, who added nine points.
Imran Bashir and Mohammad Ayub supervised the final match.
Earlier, in the third position playoff, Islamabad edged out Punjab 29-28 in a thriller. The match went down to the wire and Islamabad kept up their slight edge at the end of the match.
For Islamabad, Sabika Khursheed played well and scored 15 points and Rida Shahid got 6 points. For Punjab Zile Huma scored 11 points and Kajal scored 7.
Federal Minister Prof Attaur Rehman, who is chairman HEC, distributed prizes among the winners.

Wapda and HEC Blues qualified for the final of the National Women Basketball Championship after beating their respective rivals in one-sided semi-finals here at Naval Gymnasium in Islamabad on Sunday.
Wapda routed Islamabad 52-14 while hosts HEC Blues crushed Punjab 54-8 in the other pre-finals.
Earlier in the remaining three pool matches, Punjab beat Islamabad 26-23 while HEC Reds defeated Balochistan 34-4. Wapda booked their semi-finals berth with a convincing 64-20 victory.
The final will be played on Monday at 5:30 pm while Islamabad and Punjab will meet in a third-fourth place playoff at 3:30 pm.
Prof. Attaur Rehman, Chairman Higher Education Commission, will be the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony.
Meanwhile, a selection committee -- comprising Mohammad Naeem (Punjab, chairman), Imran Afzal (Wapda), Imran Bashir (Islamabad) and Mohammad Imtiaz Hasan (Police) -- was formed to select a 20 probables after the conclusion of the National Championship.
The probables would undergo a training camp at the Pakistan Sports Complex on the direction of Brig. Arif Mehmud Siddiqui, Director General of the Pakistan Sports Board.

 

 

ISLAMABAD: Punjab and Islamabad took opening day's honours in the National Women Basketball Championship that started here at the Naval Complex on Saturday.
Islamabad, led by Sabika Khurshid, defeated Balochistan 27-12 while later in the day, the team from federal capital beat hosts Higher Education Commission (Red) 19-7.
Sabika led from the front against Balochistan and scored 14 points. Rida Shahid was the star for Islamabad in the second match with four points.
Punjab scored 46-32 victory against Balochistan after they defeated HEC (Red) 17-11 in the first match. HEC (Blue) recorded 45-30 victory against NWFP and Wapda defeated HEC (Blue) 45-32 in the day's other matches.
The championship is being organised by HEC in collaboration with the adhoc committee of Pakistan Amateur Basketball Federation.
Kamran Lashari, chairman Capital Development Authority, was the chief guest on the opening day. Chairman PABBF Maj. Gen. Sarfraz Iqbal, secretary PABBF Nasim Butt and Brig Arif Mehmood Siddique, Director General Pakistan Sports Board were also present on the occasion.
Sunday's matches: Punjab v Islamabad; Balochistan v HEC (Red); Wapda v NWFP. Semi-final: Winner of Pool A v runner-up of Pool B; winner of Pool B v runner-up of Pool A

ISLAMABAD: Hosts Higher Education Commission (Red) will take on Punjab in the formal opening match of the National Women Basketball Championship here at Naval Gymnasium on Saturday.
The tournament is being organized by HEC in collaboration with the Pakistan Amateur Basketball Federation (ad-hoc) committee.
Pool A comprises defending champions Wapda, HEC (Blue) and NWFP. Punjab, HEC (Red), Balochistan and Islamabad form Pool B.
Kamran Lashari, Chairman Capital Development Authority, who is also the president of Pakistan Swimming Federation will be the chief guest on the opening day. As many as six matches will be contested on Friday.
Schedule:
March 5: Wapda v HEC (Blue); Islamabad v Balochistan; Punjab v HEC (Red); HEC (Blue) v NWFP; Punjab v Balochistan; Islamabad v HEC (Red)
March 6: Punjab v Islamabad; Balochistan v HEC (Red); Wapda v NWFP
Semi-final: Winner of Pool A v runner-up of Pool B; winner of Pool B v runner-up of Pool A
March 7: Third and fourth position play-off; final
Meanwhile, Sabika Khurshid of City School will lead Islamabad in the tournament.
The selection committee comprises Taban Satti and Sajid Niaz finalized the team on Friday after a 10-day camp at City School.
Sh. Arslan Hafeez, secretary Islamabad Basketball Association announced the team which also includes Rida Shahid (vice-captain), Natalia Naveed, Sara Khan, Sana Imran, Ayesha Rasheed, Kanwal Ashraf, Warda Inam, Zara Jilani, Bushra Qamar, Saniya Obaid, Atoofa Qazi. Imran Bashir will be the coach of the team.
Islamabad are placed in Pool B alongwith Punjab, Higher Education Commission (Red) and Balochistan. They will play their opening match against HEC (Red) on Friday.