Pak players want payment for Leisure Leagues matches

KARACHI: Pakistan’s star players who will play in the Leisure Leagues exhibition matches involving Ronaldinho and his friends are not happy with the way they are being treated by the organizers. They say they have not been promised any money for featuring in the couple of games.

“Ronaldinho and friends are being given huge amounts. They deserve that as they are great stars. But we also deserve compensation. Had they offered us money, it would have encouraged Pakistani players who are passing through the toughest period of their careers because of the two-year long drought due to the tussle between two groups,” a player who will play in these matches told ‘The News’ on Thursday.

“We have just been told that we will be part of one of the two matches and nothing else. They have not promised any compensation,” the player said.

Another player said that some of the players of Pakistan who are set to play in exhibition matches along with the world’s mega stars are the best of the country and deserve compensation.

They include Mohammad Essa, Kaleemullah, Saadullah, Saddam Hussain, Abdul Aziz, Mohammad Ahmed, Mohammad Rasool, Jaffar Khan, foreign-based Yousuf Butt, Hasan Bashir, Adnan Ahmed and Mohammad Ali.

A source said that Ronaldinho would be given 600,000 US dollars for the tour. “The other players of the touring party will get 300,000 dollars to 400,000 dollars,” he said. The exhibition matches are scheduled to be held here at the Abdul Sattar Edhi Hockey Stadium on Saturday (tomorrow) and at the Fortress Stadium, Lahore, on Sunday. The Karachi game will be played under floodlights. The Lahore match will be conducted in daytime because of the absence of floodlights at the venue.