LAHORE, Aug 12: Muhammad Essa will lead a 20-member Pakistan football team to defend the title in the 10th South Asian Games to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from Aug 14 to 26.

The decision was taken by the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) president Faisal Saleh Hayat in a general council meeting on Saturday. Adeel Ahmed has been named Essa’s deputy.

Pakistan U-23 team will start the campaign by facing the hosts on Aug 19, followed by a match against Maldives (Aug 21) and Bhutan (Aug 23). The players born on or after Jan 1,1983 are selected for the games.

Muhammad Irfan Khan Niazi has been appointed as manager. Salman Ahmed Sharida from Bahrain will continue as coach.

Tariq Ibrahim is the assistant coach while Muhammad Afzal is goal-keeping coach.

Team:

Goalkeepers: Mahmood Ahmed (Faisalabad), Muhammad Shahzad (Karachi)

Defenders: Naveed Akram (Multan), Muhammad Irfan (Kohat), Yasir Sabir (Islamabad), Samar Ishaq (Faisalabad), Muhammad Imran (Faisalabad)

Midfielders: Adeel Ahmed (Nowshera), Mubashar Hussain (Bhakkar), Abdul Aziz (Karachi), Abbas Ali (Quetta), Muhammad Shahid (Bhawalpur), Saeed Ahmed (Quetta)

Strikers: Zahid Hameed (Quetta), Shahid Ahmed ( Quetta), Muhammad Essa (Chaman), Shakir Lashari (Karachi), Nasrullah Khan (Quetta), Muhammad Rasool (Chitral), Muhammad Qasim (Islamabad)

The five stand-byes are Farooq Shah, Aqeel Ahmed, Yasir Afridi, Akram Masih and Faheem Riaz.

DRAWS:

Group-A: Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bhutan

Group-B : India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal

Aug 14: India v Afghanistan; Maldives v Sri Lanka; Bangladesh v Nepal.

Aug 16: Bangladesh v Afghanistan; India v Nepal; Maldives v Bhutan.

Aug 19: India v Bangladesh; Pakistan v Sri Lanka; Afghanistan v Nepal.

Aug 21: Pakistan v Maldives; Bhutan v Sri Lanka.

Aug 23: Pakistan v Bhutan.

SEMI-FINALS:

Aug 24: Winners of A v Runner-up B; Winners B v Runner-up A.

Aug 26: Third place match and final.