26 February 2004	Thursday	05 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, Feb 25: A 20-member Pakistan football team will be finalized on Saturday for the tour of Thailand before participation in the 9th SAF Games in March-April.

"The selected team will go to Thailand to play four international matches there as part of their preparations for the SAF Games," Chaudhary Abdur Rashid, the commandant of the SAF Games football camp in progress at Jinnah Stadium here, said on Wednesday.

He said in the first leg of selection, 59 players from the four provinces were selected, after which 26 players were shortlisted for training camp. "The final team for the SAF Games will be named on Feb 28".

He said the Chinese coach, Wang, had trained Pakistan to victory at the 4th SAF Games in Islamabad in 1989 and the same man has again been hired to train the team for the 9th edition of the event, to be played from March 29 to April 7.

Rashid expressed the hope that the team would win football gold as the players were giving improved performance at the training camp. Coach Wang maintained that some experienced players were also there in the camp and they were capable of handling the pressure. However, he called for more practice and commitment by players to beat India who have better record in the SAF Games. -APP