ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBF) will hold three-day open trials to select players for the SAF Games.

The trials will be held at the Hamidi Hall of the Pakistan Sports Complex from Nov 15.

The squad, which will represent Pakistan in the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka next year, will be named on Nov 17.

All interested players have been advised by the basketball federation to register their names with the Pakistan team’s assistant coach Imran Bashir.

Although 20 players for the training camp were already named by the PBF at the conclusion of this April’s National Basketball Championship in Lahore, however, the federation has decided to give aspiring players another chance to get selected.

’Since the Pakistan basketball team will be competing in an international event after a long gap, we want a strong side for the South Asian Games,’ said a PBF official.

Meanwhile, a badminton camp has started at the Rodham Hall, Pakistan Sports Complex from Monday.

The national coach of the badminton team, Raziuddin Ahmad told Dawn: ‘The players are fit and training hard.’

The Pakistani contingent will appear in the 11th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games from Jan 29 to Feb 8 in Dhaka.

‘In the morning we are conducting match practice while the evening session is reserved for physical training,’ he said.

‘I am confident that the team will compete in the final of the SAF Games,’ he claimed.

Probables: Wajid Ali Chauhdry, Ahsan Qamar, Umar Zeeshan, Hashir Bashir, Rizwan Rana, Kashif Suleri, Rizwan Azam, Imran Mohib, Shabbar Hussain, Palwasha Bashir, Aniqa Rana, Sumerra Arshad, Rabia Malik, Sidra Ahmed, Khizra Rasheed.