ISLAMABAD, Jan 5 The Pakistan Basketball Federation has announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming 11th South Asian Games, scheduled to be held in Dhaka from Jan 29 to Feb 8.

An official of the federation told Dawn on Tuesday that the squad included 12 players, two coaches and a manager.

“Abdul Ghafoor is the head coach while Imran Bashir is the coach and Mohammad Naeem will accompany the team as manager,” he said.

The team, he said, had been selected out of 38 players.

The official added, “Players are selected on the basis of better fitness and performance during the month-long training camp.”

Answering a question, the PBF official claimed, “The players are short of international exposure but still we are confident to give a tough time to our opponents.

“We will vie for the gold and our main competitor will be the Indian team.”

Pakistan's basketball team had only been part of the SAF Games on three occasions and finished as runners-up against India in all the three editions.

Squad

Nawazish Ali (captain), Mudassar Khan, Pervaiz Hussain, Waheed Iqbal, Waheed Akhtar, Ahmad Jan, Mohammad Prem Shahzad, Mohammad Akhtar, Asfandyar, Gul Jamal, Zahid Mahmood and Naimatullah.