Pak football team to leave for Sri Lanka

LAHORE: Pakistan U23 football team is leaving for Sri Lanka tomorrow, Saturday to take part in Mahinda Rajapaksa International Football Tournament from December 3-9 at Nawalapitiya, Jayathilaka Stadium.

The team: Kaleem Ullah (Striker/Captain), Faisal Iqbal (MF/Vice Captain), Saddam Hussain (DF/Vice Captain), Saqib Hanif, Jahangir Khan and Muzamil Hussain are Goalkeepers, Naveed Ahmed, Mohsin Ali, Ahsan Ullah, Ghulam Fareed, Mohammad Hamid, Mohammad Salman are Defenders, Sher Mohammad, Mohammad Adil, Zia-us-Salam, Bilawal Rehman, Hasnain Abbas, Mehmood Khan are MF, Zakir Lashari and Saeed Ahmed are Strikers.

The officials are: Milosavljevic Zavisa (Head Coach/Team Manager), Shahzad Anwar (Assistant Coach), Mohammad Aslam Khan (Goal Keeper Coach) and Kamran Mehdi (Physio/Assistant Manager).

"The participation in the event will help our team to prepare for South Asian Games likely to be organized in September, 2013",said President, Pakistan Football Federation here on Friday.

He wished the team good luck and expressed the optimism that it will produce desired results in the event.

There will be two matches every other day commencing from December 3 when Sri Lanka will play against Maldives in the opening match.

Pakistan will open their mission on December 3 with the match against Bangladesh at 1530 Hours PST (1600 Hours SST), followed by their games against Maldives at 1330 Hours PST (1400 Hours SST) on December 5 and against Sri Lanka at 1530 Hours PST (1600 Hours SST) on December 7, 2012.

The final will be played on December 9, 2012 between Group Winner and Group Runner Up at 1500 Hours PST (1530 Hours SST)

The tournament is being organized jointly by the Ministry of Sports in Sri Lanka and National Football Federation of Sri Lanka.(APP)