KARACHI: Anum Salam will lead the Pakistan junior netball girls team in the ninth Asian Junior Girls Netball Championship, scheduled to be held in Hong Kong from Dec 14-20.

President of the Pakistan Netball Federation Mudassar Arain on Thursday announced the 13-member squad which comprises ten players, one stand-by, a coach and a manager. Kashia Asif is the vice-captain of the team.

The Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) and the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) have also issued the NOC for the team’s participation while the immigration department of Hong Kong has also issued the visas for team.

The Pakistan squad will leave Karachi on Saturday for Hong Kong.

The 12 teams which will be taking part in this mega event, include Singapore, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, Pakistan, Japan, Chines Taipei, Thailand, Abu Dhabi, Malaysia, Brunei and Hong Kong. Singapore will defend the title.

The Pakistan team will play their first match against Hong Kong on Monday and second match against Thailand on Dec 16.

Mudassar expressed hope that the Pakistan girls will perform well in the Asian Championship.

Squad: Anum Salam (captain), Kashia Asif (vice-captain), Yusra Shoaib, Fatima Ansari, Sara Ahmed, Asmat Rehmat, Laila Fareed, Sakina Shabbir, Submal Zehra, Ayesha Asid, Anusha Rehman (stand-by), Shazia Yousaf (coach) and Mohammad Rizwan (manager).

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2015