Payments to seven cricketers stopped

Coca Cola have stopped payments to seven Pakistan cricketers for their failure to respond to the letters of confirmation, sources said.

Seven Pakistan players - Moin Khan, Waqar Younis, Inzamamul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Yousuf Youhana and Saeed Anwar - had signed lucrative deals with Coca Cola for appearing in the company's promotional campaign, through their agent, Sports Unlimited. But at least five of them - Waqar, Inzamam, Yousuf, Saqlain and Saeed - may face legal action as they have decided to revoke their contracts with Coca Cola.

Sources at the cricket headquarters at Gaddafi Stadium claimed the players have sent their requests for termination of contracts. But Sports Limited argued that they have yet to receive any appeal.

The players have been forced to revoke their contracts by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) who are the aggrieved party in the entire scenario as their agreement with Pepsi as team sponsor was being affected. Pepsi pays $4.6million for using its logo on the players' kits.

Knowledgeable sources said Coca Cola had paid the players four instalments of their contracts. But the fifth instalment with a bonus has now been put on hold.

"Letters of confirmation were written to the players who have failed to respond. Until the players acknowledge, they will not be paid the fifth instalment," sources said.

The fifth instalment was due to be paid on Oct 3.

Moin Khan had signed the contract for Rs 2.2 million, Waqar for Rs 1.3 million, Inzamam Rs 1.75 million, Saeed Rs 1.45 million, Saqlain Rs 1.25 million, Mushtaq Rs 800,000 and Youhana Rs 900,000.

The next year's contract was to be revised with an annual raise of 10 per cent to 20 per cent (depending upon the performance during 2001) over 2001.

The first instalment of 10 per cent of the annual amount was paid on Jan 15 while the second instalment of 15 per cent of the amount was paid on Feb 10. The third and fourth instalments (25 per cent each) were paid to the players on April 3 and July 3 respectively.

In the fifth instalment, Moin was to get Rs 1.1 million, Waqar Rs 650,000, Inzamam Rs 875,000, Saeed Rs 723,000, Saqlain Rs 615,000, Youhana Rs 450,000 and Mushtaq Rs 400,000.

"In the letters, the players have been asked to confirm their availability for shooting of some commercials and other advertising drills. But unfortunately, the players haven't responded which left Coca Cola no other option than to temporarily stop their payments and adopt the wait-andsee policy," sources said.

A spokesman of the Sports Unlimited Tuesday said the decision about legal action would be taken by the regional office in Bahrain.

"When Sports Unlimited get players' request, they would contact Coca Cola's country office who will then forward the request to Bahrain.

"If Bahrain decides to take legal action against Sports Unlimited, Sports Unlimited, in turn, will press charges against the players. It should not be forgotten that Sports Unlimited had signed with Coca Cola on players' behalf."

In the four instalments until Oct 3, Coca Cola has paid Rs 2,096,000 to the seven players.