KARACHI: The Pakistan Netball Federation (PNF) on Friday named national squad for the Asian Men’s Netball Championship to be held in Kuala Lumpur from Dec 13-17.

PNF president Mudassar Arain announced the squad.

The Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, government and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) have issued the NOC for the team’s participation. Besides, the Malaysian Consulate has also issued the visas for the Pakistan team.

The Pakistan contingent comprises 17 members who will be led by Mohammad Akhtar while Samad Masood has been nominated as the vice-captain.

Anwar Ahmed Ansari will be the coach of the team while Yasir Ahmed will be the assistant coach. Mohammad Riaz will be the team manager and Mudassar Arain will be the Chef de Mission.

Pakistan will play their first match against Singapore on Dec 13 at 10.00am and then on the same day, Pakistan face arch-rivals India at 6.00pm.

Pakistan’s third match will be against Hong Kong on Dec 14 and the fourth against hosts Malaysia on Dec 15.

It may be mentioned here that Pakistan won silver medal in the 2016 Asian Men’s Netball Champ­ionship which was also stage in Malaysia.

Squad:

Mohammad Akhtar (captain), Samad Masood (vice-captain), Ali Raza Fareed, Usman Bashir, Mohammad Khursheed, Mehboob Shah, Rana Zahid Khan, Yawar Khan, Abid Ali Ansari, Masoom Abbass, Haris Kamal, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseeb Raza, Mohammad Zohair (reserve).

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2017