KARACHI, April 15: Pakistan would send over a dozen shooters to train in China this summer to prepare for the 2006 South Asian Federation (SAF) Games to be held in Colombo in August.

An official of the National Rifle Shooting Association of Pakistan (NRAP) said on Saturday that the sports authorities of the country have approved the training tour that would begin early next month and would span over two months.

Khalid Javed, secretary NRAP, said that the Pakistan Sports Trust (PST) and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) would pay for the expenses of the training tour.

The NRAP official said that the trials to select the shooters for the training tour of China would get underway in Karachi from tomorrow (Sunday).

He said that a total of 12 or 13 shooters would be selected for the training tour after the trials adding that the Pakistani contingent to China would also include five female shooters.

Javed said that Pakistan is presently focusing on winning a healthy haul of shooting medals in the SAF Games in Colombo this summer.

Pakistan won a total of 24 shooting medals in the previous edition of the SAF Games held in Islamabad.

The haul included two gold, 14 silver and eight bronze medals.—PPI