-File Photo

LAHORE: The Pakistan Rugby Union (PRU) announced the names of the under-20 squad which will participate in the Asian Under-20 Division III Championship 2011, set to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from Sept 6-12. The event is being organised by the ARFU (Asian Rugby Football Union) under the auspices of the IRB (International Rugby Board) and is being hosted by the Uzbekistan Rugby Federation. The other teams taking part in the tournament are Singapore, Kazakhstan and hosts Uzbekistan.

PRU president Fawzi Khwaja said: “This is part of our efforts to start developing players at a young age as all the players are new caps.

The PRU has been holding camps for the U-20 boys since beginning July this year. The boys also played some practice games against Punjab Select and Super League team, the Lahore Rams.”

Head coach Rizwan Malik, who along with the U-20 coach Fahad Ali and Shakeel, spent a considerable time with the boys throughout the camps said: “The boys are showing good spirit and will be a competitive side in the championship. The team will face some of the best teams in Asia i.e Singapore and Kazakhstan who are top rugby playing nations. And hopefully, they will get to learn a lot from playing against them.”

He then announced that Mohammad Abu-Bakr Khan will be the captain of the team and Abdul Ahad Latif Chaudhary will be the vice-captain. The officials accompanying the side on tour will be manager Tariq Niazi, coaches Fahad Ali and Shakeel, physio Dr Rashid and liaison manager Major Umer farooq.

Team: Abdul Ahad Latif Chaudhary, Ammar Ahmed, Atif Rehman, Ayub Zafar, Chaudhry Mohammad Ali Riaz, Daud Gill, Fahad Masood, Hassan Mukahtiar Shah, Kamal Ahmed, Mohammad Abu-Bakr Khan, Mohammad Ahsan-ul-Haq, Mohammad Faizan, Mohammad Ghalib Javed, Mohammad Jawahir Rathore, Mohammad Khalid, Mohammad Sadoon Tahir, Nadeem Abbas, Nasir Mehmood, Osman Ahmad Choudry, Raza Jaffri Syed Mohammad, Shafaqat Ali, Shahbaz Malik, Shamvill Khan, Tauheed Ali , Yasir Nadeem, Zeeshah Munir.