Pak Basketball team named for 5-Nation C’ship

Pak Basketball team named for 5-Nation C'ship

ISLAMABAD, Jun 09 (APP): Pakistan Basketball Federation (PVF) on Friday announced national team for participation in Five Nation International Basketball Championship to be held from June 15 at the Maldives.

After getting the official affiliation with Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) this year, the top management of Pakistan Basketball Federation headed by Brig (R) Muhammad Iftikhar Mansoor and Secretary General Khalid Bashir took many steps to organise national events as well as to send Pakistan teams to international level.

“The five nation international basketball championship to feature Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal will conclude on June 22”, Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF) Secretary General Khalid Bashir told this scribe.

He said the event would be helpful for Pakistan team to get good exposure after a long seven years gap in any international competition.

“The championship will provide an opportunity to talented basketball players to represent Pakistan at international level.

The purpose of participating in the event is to provide opportunities to the players so that they can get experience as PBBF has set the target of the Pakistan basketball team to win a medal in upcoming South Asian Games to be held next year,” he said.

Khalid Bashir lauded the Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ehsan Ur Rehman Mazari and Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Shoaib Khoso for their full support and assistance to train the national team in the camp for more than a month as well as Pakistan team’s participation at international level.

He also praised PBBF associate secretary Ouj E Zahoor for his efforts in organizing the camp and coordination between all relevant departments.

The basketball team would be led by the country’s premier professional shooting guard Muhammad Shahbaz Ali while Former International Malik Muhammad Riaz will be the head coach.

Umer Mehmood would be the team coach while Ahmed Ali Teepu will act as the team manager.

The national team was picked after evaluating the skills of players by the selection committee comprising Col. (R) Shujaat Ali Rana, M. Riaz Malik, Modood Jafri and Khalid Bashir during the training camp.

Pakistan squad includes Muhammad Shahbaz Ali (captain), Abdul Wahab, Muhammad Umair Jan, Zain ul Hassan Khan, Muhammad Shahid, Imad Ahmed, Zia Ur Rehman, Saqib Ullah Mahsood, Mahtab Akram and Sheraz Aslam.

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