Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah Friday honoured Pakistan cricket team members and officials for reaching the semi-finals of recently concluded 10th edition of Cricket World Cup (CWC). "These cricketers are ambassadors of the country and they brought glory and honour to the country in the World Cup," he told during a reception hosted in team's honour at CM House here.
He congratulated each and every member of the team and officials for taking Pakistan into the semi-final of World Cup before going down by 29 runs against India at Mohali. "These cricketers are asset for the country and they must be encouraged and honoured," Sindh CM said. The Chief Minister said it's great to see that Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh invited Pakistan Prime Minister, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani to watch the Indo-Pak semi-final.
"Besides watching cricket the two premiers must have discussed a lot of other things of mutual interest," Qaim Ali Shah added. The CM said that cricket is now turning into a national sport because of its growing popularity. Qaim Ali Shah paid tributes to the Pakistan team for showing tolerance and sportsmen spirit throughout the event. He expressed the hope that Pakistan team will performed well on the upcoming tour of West Indies and keep the country's flag flying.
On behalf of people of Sindh and provincial cabinet, he thanked Pakistan team for their good show in the World Cup. Each Member of the team and officials were awarded Rs 500,000 each and presented ajraks and souvenirs for the reaching the semi-final. Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt said it was great gesture on the part of Sindh CM to greet and honour the team.
"This kind of encouragement and respect will go a long way and will have positive effects on the players," Ijaz Butt said. Pakistan Captain, Shahid Afridi said he had never seen in his 14 year career that team has worked so hard to prepare for the mega event. "Pakistan team went through a troubled-time in the past few months. But our team put up a great fight to reach the semi-finals," he commented. He thanked Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for providing support to the players and officials.
Team Manager, Intikhab Alam said Pakistan was not rated when they started the event and reaching the semi-finals was a great achievement. He complimented skipper Shahid Afridi, coach Waqar Younis and other members of the support staff for steering the team into the pre-finals. Intikhab Alam complimented the love and affection shown by Sindh CM to honour and encouraged the team.
Intikhab Alam said since there was no international cricket in Pakistan it was good to see players giving good performances despite being away from their families for 4-5 months. Sindh Sports Minister Dr Muhammad Ali Shah congratulated the team in reaching the semi-finals which he said was a good performance. The reception was largely attended by Former Pakistan Captain Javed Miandad, Chief Selector Mohsin Khan, Sindh Ministers, KCCA President Syed Sirajul Islam Bokhari, Secretary Professor Ejaz Farooqi and others.