Threats fail to deter Pakistan on eve of final
Asian champions to take on India for Kabaddi World Cup trophy.
KARACHI:
Pakistan kabaddi coach Tahir Waheed has vowed not to be deterred by threatening late night phone calls ahead of the 3rd Kabaddi World Cup final against India taking place in Ludhiana today.
According to Waheed, he received calls from an unknown local number telling him not to protest against India fielding three players who were not in the original squad and had skipped dope tests. He was threatened of dire consequences in case a protest was lodged.
“As a Muslim, we fear no one but God and we’ll let the Indians play mind games,” Waheed told The Express Tribune. “We’ll give an all-out effort in the final to lift the trophy no matter what happens off the field. The players are all charged up. I can’t say who will win but what I can say is that we’ll put in everything to become champions.”
The question of ineligible players was raised during India’s semi-final win over Iran. Waheed ruled out forfeiting the final in case India fielded those three players but confirmed an official protest will be lodged.
“Pakistan will not leave the ground in a cowardly manner like India did in the Asia Cup. We’ll stay there and fight till the end even if we lose. We can then file an official protest over the matter.”
Pakistan stormed into the final after thrashing last year’s finalists Canada 53-27 in the semi-final. Earlier, Pakistan put a commanding show in group C and beat Sierra Leone 55-12, Scotland 61-21 and Italy 66-20.
“I’ve tried to get my players mentally strong as we need to minimise the crowd factor as much as we can. We can only silence the crowd by putting up a better show at the start which will put India on the back foot and take it from there.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2012.
Pakistan kabaddi coach Tahir Waheed has vowed not to be deterred by threatening late night phone calls ahead of the 3rd Kabaddi World Cup final against India taking place in Ludhiana today.
According to Waheed, he received calls from an unknown local number telling him not to protest against India fielding three players who were not in the original squad and had skipped dope tests. He was threatened of dire consequences in case a protest was lodged.
“As a Muslim, we fear no one but God and we’ll let the Indians play mind games,” Waheed told The Express Tribune. “We’ll give an all-out effort in the final to lift the trophy no matter what happens off the field. The players are all charged up. I can’t say who will win but what I can say is that we’ll put in everything to become champions.”
The question of ineligible players was raised during India’s semi-final win over Iran. Waheed ruled out forfeiting the final in case India fielded those three players but confirmed an official protest will be lodged.
“Pakistan will not leave the ground in a cowardly manner like India did in the Asia Cup. We’ll stay there and fight till the end even if we lose. We can then file an official protest over the matter.”
Pakistan stormed into the final after thrashing last year’s finalists Canada 53-27 in the semi-final. Earlier, Pakistan put a commanding show in group C and beat Sierra Leone 55-12, Scotland 61-21 and Italy 66-20.
“I’ve tried to get my players mentally strong as we need to minimise the crowd factor as much as we can. We can only silence the crowd by putting up a better show at the start which will put India on the back foot and take it from there.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2012.