Shahid Afridi to promote cricket in Canada
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TORONTO – Pakistan’s cricket star Shahid Afridi appreciated Toronto Mayor John Tory for inviting him for an effort to make cricket popular in the multi-cultural city and elsewhere in Canada.
“This is a great honour for me to be here,” Afridi said as he stood with Tory and Councillor Neethan Shan on at the city hall on Thursday.
“This is my fourth trip to Toronto. Such a beautiful country, such a beautiful city.”
Khan took over as captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in 2009 and has been named Man of the Match 32 times, the most of any Pakistani player.
Toronto is the most multicultural city in Canada with a large number of immigrants from South Asian origin where cricket is one of the most popular sports.
According to Statistics Canada, the province of Ontario is the home to 62% of all Canadians of South Asian origin, while another 22% lived in British Columbia.
“We look forward to taking you up on your offer of some help with our young people and others who are interested in cricket, because I know you’ll be a powerful influence on them and a positive influence and we really appreciate that,” Mayor Tory told Afridi.
This trip to Toronto follows Afridi’s February announcement that he has retired from the sport on the international stage, but he continues to promote cricket internationally off the field, the CBC News reported.
