Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf leads tributes to Woolmer by AFP

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Player:	RA Woolmer
Event:	ICC World Cup 2006/07

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DateLine: 18th March 2007

 

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf led tributes to national cricket coach Bob Woolmer Sunday after his "tragic" death in his World Cup hotel room in Jamaica.

 

Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz both sent messages of condolence to Woolmer's family, an official statement carried on the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said.

 

"President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz have expressed heartfelt condolences over the tragic death of Pakistan Cricket Team Coach Bob Woolmer on Sunday," the statement said.

 

"In their separate messages, they said that Bob Woolmer had promoted the cause and game of cricket in Pakistan with dedication and single mindedness," it added.

 

"In their messages to his family they said Bob Woolmer's services to the game will be long remembered by cricket fans."

 

Musharraf is the chief patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

 

Legendary allrounder Imran Khan, who captained Pakistan to their only World Cup triumph in 1992, told AFP he was "extremely saddened over the untimely death."

 

"I am really shocked and I offer my deepest condolences to his family. It's very, very unfortunate," he said.

 

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said he was "in shock."

 

"It is a huge tragedy. We are not ready to believe this has happened," Shoaib told private Aaj television.

 

"I am completely shattered, and what is going to happen I don't know."

 

Akthar was pulled out of the tournament hours before Pakistan's departure for the Caribbean on fitness grounds.

 

He had recently patched up relations with Woolmer after an "altercation" during Pakistan's tour of South Africa, which the paceman said was due to the coach believing he had feigned an injury.

 

"He was a very dear man, he was a great leader and it's an unbelievable tragedy," he said.

 

Paceman Mohammad Asif -- who was also left out of the squad through injury and who was briefly banned alongside Akhtar after testing positive for steroids last year -- expressed "shock and despair."

 

"I can't believe it has happened," he told a private television channel.

 

Rameez Raja, Pakistan's captain in the early 1990s and a former chief executive of PCB, said Woolmer's death was a "terrible blow."

 

"I always found him to be a positive individual. He operated with a very positive mind. Pakistan's interests were always at his heart," he told AFP by telephone from the West Indies, where he is working as a commentator.

 

"Before the start of the match against Ireland I saw him questioning ICC (International Cricket Council) match referee Chris Broad as to why so much grass had been left on the pitch," he added.

 

"He was ready to fight for the Pakistani cause with passion. We should thank him for his services. He came and trained the team and brought unity in the ranks. He gave them direction.

 

"We are all extremely sad."

 

News of Woolmer's death came a day after this cricket-obsessed nation was left stunned by Pakistan's exit from the World Cup at the hands of minnows Ireland. Pakistan are to play Zimbabwe on Wednesday.

 

Protesters in the central city of Multan, skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq's home town, held a protest rally on Sunday and chanted slogans against the Pakistan squad -- and Woolmer -- and demanded that police arrest them.

 

Cricket fan Akhtar Hafeez, from the eastern city of Lahore, said: "Bob Woolmer has paid with his life for what our players did in the field.

 

"He was the one man who had dignity and he could not withstand this shock."

(Article: Copyright © 2007 AFP)