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Pak team racially abused in New Zealand
Napier, Dec 15 (PTI):
Visiting Pakistani cricketers were subjected to racial abuse during the third Test against New Zealand here but the team manager has ruled out lodging a formal protest about the episode.
According to a report in "The Dominion Post", racist remarks were hurled at the Pakistani cricketers on Saturday from the corporate box at McLean Park hired by National MP Chris Tremain's brother Mark and his 17 friends.
The report quoted a spectator as saying that he felt embarrassed by the "drunken stupidity" of the group which abused the visiting cricketers, calling them "Pakistani terrorists".
The incident prompted the authorities to display a "no racist comments please" sign near the scoreboard in the afternoon.
Mark Tremain, meanwhile, denied being abusive towards the Pakistani cricketers. "We were yelling out, but not abusively," he said. Asked if it was racist, he said, "That's not my understanding, but anyone can take anything any way."
Mark conceded he and his friends were first asked to stay quiet and then were politely told to leave the place. Conceding that he may never be allowed to hire the box again, Mark sought to put a lid on the episode and said, "I apologise to anyone who was upset."
Meanwhile his MP brother Chris did not approve of the incident and said, "Clearly what happened is unacceptable." Pakistan manager Abdul Raqeeb, however, downplayed the incident and said the team had not filed any complaint.
"One or two of the players heard something raucous from over the far side, but they could not decide what was being said and just brushed it off," he said. NZ Cricket public affairs manager Stephen Hill said NZC staff were prompt to tackle the issue and ensured it never went out of control.
"Our security staff were on the ball and they took steps to resolve the situation, and got them to modify their comments," Hill said.
