Pakistan Rugby Union on Wednesday announced 24-member team for the participation in the HSBC Asian 5-Nation Div-III Rugby Championship at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from May 30.
Talking to the reporters here at a local hotel on Wednesday, PRU secretary Arif Saeed said: “Pakistan team will leave for Malaysia on May 24 where it will attend three-day training camp. Pakistan team will take on arch-rivals India in its opening match on May 30 while Guam will face Indonesia on the same day. The winners of both matches will play against each other and both losing sides will take on each other on June 1.”
He said that the winner of the winners’ match would go on to play the winner of Div-II as part of the Rugby World Cup qualifying round for the 2015 Rugby World Cup scheduled to be held in London.
Talking about Pakistan squad, the PRU secretary said: “This year’s squad contains nine new faces and a strong presence of Pakistan Army players while the team has been trained by former Ireland Prop Justin Fitzpatrick wit 26 caps to his credit playing for Ireland against all top rugby playing nations.”
“Justin has been in Pakistan from May 1 and has held 20 sessions with the team making it physically fit and mentally strong. He will be traveling with the team to Kuala Lumpur along with Pakistan Rugby resident coach Rizwan Malik and team physio Rashid Hafeez.
The 24-member squad is Arsalan Zahid (captain), Fiaz Ahmed, M Abu Bakar Khan, M Tahir Rafi, Inam Ullah Khan, M Ali, Sharafat Ali, Fouzan Majeed Wain, Halide Mehmood, Umer Islam, Nasir Mehmood, Imad Ali Nasir, M Javed, Rehan Mansoor, M Imran, M Babar, Israr Ahmed, Shakeel Ahmed, Tahir Yaqoob, M Manan Naseem, Saqib Murtaza, Shaharyar Ahmad, Ahmed Mumtaz and Temour Ahmed.
