No evidence of fixing in Pak's Asiad loss to Afghanistan: PCB

Karachi:

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has found no evidence of match-fixing in the Asian Games cricket tournament match between the Pakistan A team and Afghanistan which the latter won unexpectedly to qualify for the final in China last month.

A senior official of the board dismissed accusations made by the President of a cricket club in Islamabad that the match was fixed and that Pakistan had deliberately lost the game on the behest of former Pakistan captain, Rashid Latif who is chief coach of the Afghanistan team.

"We interviewed all the concerned people and we found no evidence or suggestion that anything untoward happened in that match," the official said.

Javed Ali, the President of the club whose player Aqeel Anjum was a member of the Pakistan team in the Asian Games has claimed vociferously that captain Khalid Latif because of his friendship with Rashid Latif deliberately created circumstances where Pakistan lost the match.

Javed's accusations came after Khalid Latif and the Pakistan team coach, Sadiq Muhammad dropped Aqeel on disciplinary grounds in China during the games and also reported against him to the PCB.

The official said the PCB had taken the accusations seriously but after finding nothing nor getting any evidence from Javed to back his claims, it had closed the chapter.

"But we are now contemplating legal action against Javed Ali for making false claims," the official said.

He also made it clear that both Khalid Latif and Aqeel Anjum had been summoned to the board offices on Monday.

"We will be speaking to both of them regarding the issue of discipline that took place in China," he said.

The official said if Aqeel was found guilty of indiscipline in the tournament he could face penalties.

"We will speak to both of them to find out what happened because the coach has also reported Aqeel for misbehaving with the captain and openly challenging his authority after a team meeting," he said.