The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has an-nounced the women’s squad that will travel to Taji-kistan for AFC’s Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
Maria Khan will lead the national side while de-fender Malika-e-Noor has been named her deputy.
The 22-member national team and coaching staff will leave for Tajikistan from Dubai, where the squad held a brief training camp and played matches against local clubs, on April 2. The Pakistan women’s team, which is placed in Group E, will kick-start its campaign against the Philippines on April 5. Their remaining matches are against Hong Kong and the hosts Tajikistan on April 8 and 11, respectively.
Twenty-six teams have been divided into seven groups for the first round of qualifying. It must be noted that the winners of each group in this round will advance to the second round, where they will be joined by the five highest-seeded teams — DPR Korea, Japan, Australia, China PR, and Korea Re-public.
Pakistan squad
Forwards: Alia Sadiq, Anmool Hira, Isra Khan, Naqiyah Ali, Sanober Abdul Sattar and Zahmena Malik.
Midfielders: Aliza Sabir, Amina Hanif, Anushey Usman, Maria Khan, Marvi Baig, Rameen Fareed and Suha Hirani.
Defenders: Malika-e-Noor, Mishal Bhatti, Ni-zalia Siddiqui, Sahiba Sherdil, Sara Khan and Sophiya Qureshi. Goalkeepers: Fatima Naz, Nisha Ashraf and Rumaysa Khan.—Agencies
