LAHORE: National champions Wapda will take on Nepal Police Club at Dasarath Rangasala Stadium while Taiwan Power Company will face Balkan at Halchowk Stadium as the seventh AFC President’s Cup will commence in Kathmandu, Nepal, from Wednesday.
Wapda’s next outing will be against Taiwan Power Company on April 22 and against Balkan on April 24.
Wapda will rue the absence of Khuda Bakhsh.
The man, who struck hat-trick against KPT in PPFL 2010, decided to quit due to personal reasons.
“My target was to win but now it seems a little difficult. I had a very balanced side, but losing key substitute is devastating,” said Wapda coach Khalid Butt.
Meanwhile, Turkmenistan League champion Balkan coach, formerly Nebitchi, Alexander Klimenko has vowed to win all the three Group ‘C’ matches.
“The players are determined to cross the first stage and the team is injury free,” he said.
“We don’t have much information about our rivals but they are all champions of their respective countries. We will aim to win all the games in order to seal our place in the finals,” he said. Squads:
Wapda: Goalkeepers: Abdul Aziz, Muzammil Hussain, Rao Yamin, Basit.
Defenders: Mohammad Ahmed, Akram Masih, Mohammad Asif, Naveed Akram, Muzaffar Ali, Rana Fakhar Hayat, Manzoor Ahmed, Mohammad Shahid.
Midfielders: Mehmood Ali, Syed Arif Hussain, Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Zainullah, Mohammad Tauseef, Shahid Mehmood, Ayaz Baloch.
Strikers: Imran Niazi, Qamar Zaman, Arif Mehmood, Khuda Bakhsh, Jadeed Khan Afzal, Zeeshan Javed, Ghulam Abbas.
Nepal Police:
Goalkeepers: Ritesh Thapa, Mukunda Thapa Magar.
Defenders: Rakesh Shrestha, Lil Bahadur Rai, Dipendra Paudel,Ravi Dev Subedi, Rabin Shrestha, Dipak Paudel, Suman Subedi.
Midfielders: Parbat Pandey, Ramesh Kumar Rai, Kunjan Shrestha, Anant Raj Thapa, Arjun Rijal, Bhola Nath Silwal, Chetan Ghimire, Roshan Karki.
Strikers: Ramesh Budhathoki, Ju Manu Rai, Arjun Rijal, Nuckard Debunny.
