Pakistan Basketball Federation (PVF) on Friday announced Pakistan basketball team for five nation international basketball championship starting from June 15th at 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 including Pakistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal is scheduled to be held in Male, Maldives from June 15-22”, said Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF) Secretary General Khalid Bashir, adding that the this event will be helpful for Pakistan team to get good exposure after a long seven years in any international competition.
He said that the five nation international championship will be a door opener for talented basketball players to represent Pakistan, the purpose of participating in the event is to provide opportunities to the players so that they can get experience as PBBF set the target of the Pakistan basketball team to win the medal in upcoming South Asian Games to be held next year. Khalid Bashir said that the Pakistan Basketball Federation is especially grateful to 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 able PBBF to train the national basketball team in the camp for more than a month as well as Pakistan team participation at international level. He also lauded the efforts of the PBBF associate secretary Ouj E Zahoor for his efforts in organizing the camp and coordination between all relevant departments. The green shirts will be led by the country’s premier professional shooting guard Muhammad Shahbaz Ali. Former International Malik Muhammad Riaz will be the head coach and Umer Mehmood will be coach while Ahmed Ali Teepu, will act as team manager with the team. National team is finalised after evaluating the skills of the players by the selection committee comprising Col. (R) Shujaat Ali Rana, M. Riaz Malik, Modood Jafri and Khalid Bashir during the training camp which lasted for a month at Pakistan Sports Complex Islamabad.
Pakistan squad: 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. Officials: Malik Muhammad Riaz (head coach), Umer Mehmood (coach), Ahmed Ali Teepu(manager)
