Pak ride Kyrgyz route to success
PFF ANNOUNCES CASH AWARD
BANGALORE: The quality of football between India and Pakistan is not all that different. As it turns out 2014 is likely to be a turning point in football development in Pakistan as it could be for India.
While Indian football awaits the beginning of the India Super League, Pakistan has set its sights on Kyrgyzstan, where three of their top players have found lucrative contracts, the first exports of the Pakistan domestic league.
Pakistan’s top footballers, skipper Kaleemullah, Mohammad Adil and Saddam Hussain, are set to turn up for eight-time Kyrgyz champions Dodoi Bishkek FC this season. While Kaleemullah has already played a season with the club, Adil and Saddam will join soon.
On Wednesday, against India, it was the effort of Kaleem and Saddam that brought victory to the visiting side. While Kaleem scored the opening goal, Saddam scorched home the second to take the game past India. Saddam was even awarded the man of the match award.
The duo’s participation in the Kyrgyz league is the first time that players from the Pakistan domestic league have managed to bag contracts with a foreign club. The Pakistan Football Federation is seeing this as a landmark year.
“It’s not every day that an overseas club comes knocking
and picks up three players,” said Sardar Naved Haider Khan, senior official of the PFF. “We anticipate a major interest in Pakistani football after the trio play there,” Sardar Naved added.
Dodoi are title contenders, and if they win it would give the Pakistani trio a chance to play in AFC Cup and may be the AFC Champions league in the future.
According to Kaleem, the Kyrgyz exposure has added immensely to his overall game. “The level of football there is much higher and competitive. With two other players from Pakistan coming in, it will do a lot of good to Pakistan football,” said Kaleem. LEH: When they call it the toughest race on the planet, they really don’t kid around. With three ultramarathons taking place simultaneously in the fifth edition of La Ultra – The High, there were 15 overall participants. At the end of the 48-hour cut-off mark, there are only two runners left, trudging along, trying to make the 333-km mark for the first time.
There was a lot of excitement at the start line, Nubhra Valley (10,766 feet), on Sunday night. A sudden change in weather near Khardung La (17,700 feet) brought about a commotion – it had snowed heavily. But, there was no turning back. It was time to start the toughest race on the planet – a race in the desert mountains of Ladakh, where temperatures often fall below -10° C.
On Sunday night, the first challenge faced by the runners was the freezing conditions while trying to reach the first cut-off mark – North Pullu – a 48km stretch in seven hours (for runners competing in the 111km and 222km races).
Ask Ankush Dixit, a runner from Bangalore, taking part in the 111km for the first time. After crewing last year, the lanky IT professional decided to try his luck. “I missed the first cut-off mark by 20 minutes,” he rued on Monday morning back at Leh.
At the end of the 48-hour mark, no one had managed to complete the 111km and 222km mark officially. Christian Scheuerer from Germany was the only one to have signed up for the 222km that ended at Serthi after crossing two passes – Khardung La and Wari La (17400 feet). “Not so much the weather, it was stomach issues which led me to pull out,” said the ultra -marathoner who is the mayor of Ohlstadt. “The race is too hard. I had heard about La Ultra last year from a friend and it fascinated me. The altitude, the challenge… I knew I had to try. So I decided to come here with my family,” added the 47-year-old as his wife and daughter looked on.