Asia cup cricket 2012 : Fixtures and Schedule of Asia Cup 2012

While some of the non test playing nation will fight in UAE to enter the ICC T 20 world cup, Asian cricket giants will play to proof them self as the king of Asia. The Asia cup 2012 is set to start from 12th March 2012 in Bangladesh. Four  test playing nations from Asia - India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be playing in the ODI tournament. Unlike previous editions, no test playing nation will feature in this year's Asia cup. If you want to know the details schedule and Fixture of Asia Cup 2012.

Here is the complete fixtures / schedule of Asia cup 2012:

Date	Match Details	Time		Venue
		GMT	IST	Ground	City
Mar 11 - Sun	Bangladesh v Pakistan, 1st Match	08:00	13:30	Shere Bangla National Stadium	Dhaka
Mar 13 - Tue	India v Sri Lanka, 2nd Match	08:00	13:30	Shere Bangla National  Stadium	Dhaka
Mar 15 - Thu	Pakistan v Sri Lanka, 3rd Match	08:00	13:30	Shere Bangla National Stadium	Dhaka
Mar 16 - Fri	Bangladesh v India, 4th Match	08:00	13:30	Shere Bangla National Stadium	Dhaka
Mar 18 - Sun	India v Pakistan, 5th Match	08:00	13:30	Shere Bangla National Stadium	Dhaka
Mar 20 - Tue	Bangladesh v Sri Lanka, 6th Match	08:00	13:30	Shere Bangla National  Stadium	Dhaka
Mar 22 - Thu	TBC v TBC, Final	08:00	13:30	Shere Bangla National Stadium	Dhaka

AFC Challenge Cup 2012: Two Philippines Players Under Sexual Harassment Complaint

Philippines National football team have arrived Kathmandu yesterday  evening but two of its players are in trouble! 

What appeared as locker-room banter has put two members of the Philippine national football team in hot water.
Cristy Ramos, who served as match commissioner of the international football friendly pitting the Philippines and Malaysia on Wednesday, has filed a sexual harassment complaint before the Asian Football Confederation against the players.

Ramos, the daughter of former President Fidel V. Ramos who served as president of the Philippine Olympic Committee from 1997 to 1999, said she felt disrespected when she conducted the prematch inspection inside the Azkals’ dugout at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
In an interview with Sports Radio 918, Ramos alleged that “some players ridiculed her with one player disrespectfully asking for the size of her brassier, which was followed by a roar of laughter.”
Another player, Ramos alleged, appeared before her half naked during the inspection, in violation of Fifa ethical norms.
National team manager Dan Palami said he only learned about Ramos’ complaint through the media and the official never mentioned her concerns when they talked after the match.

“I asked the players and it was nothing more than banter inside the dugout,” said Palami. “It is an unfortunate incident, but there was never an intention to disrespect anyone.”

Philippine Football Federation general secretary Rolly Tulay said the PFF has already received a copy of Ramos’ incident report.

“We are conducting a parallel investigation of the alleged incident through our disciplinary committee headed by attorney Eric Ingles as we await further instruction from AFC,” Tulay said in a statement.

On the other hand, Team manager Dan Palami has made an official statement regarding incident report filed by Match Commissioner Cristy Ramos where he has said that PFF andhe took the allegations seriously and they would promptly investigate this incident. He has also postponed his trip to Nepal

AFC Challenge Cup 2012: Know about Participating Team – Maldives

Football in Maldives is like what Cricket in India. The people of Maldives loves football as they thought its their passion. Tiny island country is obsessed with the beautiful game. A mere population of three hundred thousands people hasn't barred them from producing talented football players. 

Maldives football association logo

Maldives was known to the world when they drew with South Korea at home 0-0 in the Asian qualifying for the 2006 World Cup. Their most significant success was winning the 2008 SAFF Championship where they beat the most successful team India in the final 1–0. Few years back Maldives was minnows in South asia but now the things have been changed and they are powerhouse of south asia.

Red snappers

Nickname: The Islanders are known as Red Snappers

FIFA Ranking: The Islanders are ranked at 175th position in the world and 37th in Asia. The highest FIFA ranking 126th position was in 2006 and the lowest was 183rd in 1997.

Kit: Maldives' home kit comprises a red jersey and red shorts – red is the national colour of the Maldives, and represents the boldness of the nation's heroes. The current away kit comprises a black jersey and black shorts. Adidas is the kit provider to the national team, a sponsorship deal that began in 2011.

Home colours

Away colours

Coach: Istavan Urbanyi is the hungarian coach who took the helm from Andres Cruciani. Urbanyi was also the coach of the team in 2009/10. 

Player To Be Watched: Ali Ashfaq. Ashfaq is currently not fit as he is recovering from knee injury. But he is surely a player to be watched in Maldivian squad. Ashfaq is the man who scored a ROCKET goal against Nepal in the first match of SAFF Championship 2011.

Supporters: Maldivians are so passionate about the beautiful game and they follow their beloved team closely. 

Maldives football fan

World Cup record

    1930 to 1986 – Did not enter
    1990 – Withdrew
    1994 – Did not enter
    1998 to 2014 – Did not qualify

Asian Cup record

    1956 to 1992 – Did not enter
    1996 to 2004 – Did not qualify
    2007 – Did not enter
    2011 – Did not qualify

AFC Challenge Cup record

    2006 to 2008 – Ineligible
    2010 – Did not qualify
    2012 – Qualified

SAFF championship record

Winner in 2008

First International Match:
Seychelles 9 Maldives 0 in 1979

Biggest Win:
Maldives hammered hapless Mongolia 12-0 in 2003

Biggest Defeat:
Iran defeated Red Snappers 17-0 in 1997 in Damascus, Syria.

Maldives are grouped with Nepal, Palestine and Turkmenistan in Group A of AFC Challenge Cup. 

Stay with anantasports.blogspot.com to get exclusive updates of AFC chalelnge cup 2012.

AFC Challenge Cup 2012: Know the Participating Team: Palestine

Palestine is a "different country" in world football. Despite entering in the international football in 1953, they couldn't play many games due to political tension with Isarel. The Palestine Football Federation was founded in 1952. Its successor, the Palestine Football Association, was recognized by FIFA in 1998, after the creation of the Palestinian Authority.

Palestine are grouped with Nepal, Maldives and Turkmenistan in Group A of AFC Challenge Cup. They will take on hosts Nepal in the opening match on 8th of March at Dasrath Stadium. Currently they are touring UAE for the preparation of AFC Challenge Cup. They have already played a friendly match against UAE which they lost 0-3. They played  another friendly match against Ajerbaijan  and won the match by 2-0.

Nickname: Al Fursan (The Knights), Al Fida'i (The Fighters)

FIFA Ranking: The team reached an all-time high position of 115 in the FIFA ranking system in April 2006 after seven years of progression from 191st in August 1999. Following their recognition by FIFA, the team played no official fixtures in the Palestinian Territories due to security concerns until a match on October 26, 2008 against Jordan in the newly renovated Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium in Al-Ram north of Jerusalem, which finished in a 1–1 draw. In recognition of their efforts the Palestinian Football Federation was awarded FIFA's inaugural Development Award. They are currently ranked at 162nd position.

Kit:  Home Color is red shirts and black shorts, Red shocks. Away color is white shirt and black shorts. 

Coach: Jamal Mahmoud is the head coach of the team.

Player To Be Watched: Fahed Attal is the player to be watched in Palestine squad. He is the second leading all-time scorer in the history of the Palestine national football team behind fellow striker Ziyad Al-Kord with 12 goals in 16 games. All of Attal's goals with the national team came in the 2006 calendar year earning him recognition from IFFHS International Federation of Football History and Statistics which cited Attal as the World's 8th leading scorer of international goals on par with the likes of David Villa and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Attal was also included in the Asian Football Confederation shortlist of 10 players for the 2006 AFC Player of the Year Award So far, Palestine has an undefeated record when Fahed Attal finds the back of the net.

Supporters: Palestinians are football lovers but their supporters hardly travel with the team to support the team. 

World Cup record:

1930 to 1998 – Did not enter
 2002 - Did not qualify
 2006 - Did not qualify
 2010 – Did not qualify
 2014 - Did not qualify

Asian Cup record:

1956 - 1996 - Did not enter
2000 - Did not qualify
2004 - Did not qualify
2007 - Did not qualify
2011 - Did not qualify

AFC Challenge Cup record:

2006 Quarterfinals
2008 Withdrew
2010 - Qualifying Stage
2012 - Qualified

First International Match: Palestine played their first match against Egypt which they lost 1-8 in July 26, 1953.

Biggest Win: Palestine hammered Guam 11-0 in April 1, 2006 in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Biggest Defeat: 8-1 defeat at the hands of Eygpt is still the biggest loss for them in International football.

Palestine are grouped with Nepal, Maldives and Turkmenistan in Group A of AFC Challenge Cup. 

Australia's Whatmore to take over as Pakistan coach

Former Australian batsman Dav Whatmore, who guided Sri Lanka to World Cup glory, arrived here to sign a contract to become Pakistan's new cricket coach, an official said Friday.

The 57-year-old Whatmore, who played seven Tests and one limited overs international for Australia, coached Sri Lanka to the World Cup title in 1996 and also helped Bangladesh reach the second round in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. Whatmore was chosen by a three-member coaching committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after regular coach Waqar Younis left the post citing health issues in September last year.

Former Pakistan opener Mohsin Khan was appointed interim coach under whom Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and whitewashed England 3-0 in Tests before they went down tamely 4-0 in one-day series and 2-1 in the Twenty20 internationals last month.

The head of the coaching committee Intikhab Alam confirmed Whatmore will sign a contract.

"Whatmore and Julien Fountain (likely to take over as fielding coach) have arrived here and Whatmore will sign a contract as head coach of the Pakistan team," Alam told AFP, refusing to give further details of the contract.

Whatmore's first assignment will be to help the team in the four-nation Asia Cup in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Defending champions India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will also compete in the March 11-22 event.

Alam said Whatmore would assist the newly-formed selection committee along with captain Misbah-ul Haq to pick the squad later Friday. Former spinner Iqbal Qasim was appointed head of the selection committee after Mohammad Ilyas resigned from the post on Thursday.

Whatmore will be Pakistan's fourth foreign coach after Richard Pybus (South Africa), Bob Woolmer (England and South Africa) and Geoff Lawson served in the past.