Pakistan’s 24-member squad to feature in Zahedan wushu event

KARACHI: A 24-member squad of Pakistan will feature in the 3rd Peace and Friendship International Wushu Championship (men and women), to be held at Zahedan, Iran, from March 1-4.

Balochistan will have a major share in the squad as the tour will be sponsored by the Balochistan government.Pakistan Wushu Federation’s (PWF) president Malik Iftikhar told ‘The News’ on Tuesday that the Balochistan government had given green signal to Balochistan Wushu Association about sponsoring the tour. “Our federation’s secretary Amanullah Achakzai has convinced the provincial government. It has given Balochistan Wushu Association a go-ahead about the tour,” Malik said.

He was quick to add that it would be a competitive competition as fighters from the central Asian region would also be there.He said besides fighters from Balochistan, three fighters each from Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be part of the touring party.

“We also asked Azad Kashmir and Islamabad to confirm their top players. AJK told us that it was too cold there, so its fighters could not practise. Islamabad’s issue is that youngsters there play wushu for only fitness purposes. They don’t want to take it up as a profession,” the official said.

He said a 15-day camp would be held in Quetta. The squad will proceed to Zahedan by road. It is around 600 kilometre away from Quetta.“It would be much easier for the team to go by road. If you go by air you will land in Tehran and from there you will come down to Zahedan which is not much far from Quetta. It’s better to go by road,” Malik said.

“The stage is being set for the tour as reference numbers for visas have also been received by us,” he said. Malik revealed that PWF would also hold a couple of international events in Lahore this year. “We have already requested the city government Lahore for support. We are going to hold Friendship International and 5th South Asian Championship this year. Last year, through the support of the city government Lahore, we organised the 4th South Asian Championship,” Malik said.

“For the Friendship event, we will invite only those nations which share border with us. I am confident we will be able to host both events in a befitting way,” Malik said.He was quick to add that Sports Board Punjab (SBP) has built a state-of-the-art hostel in its new complex, which plays a key role in hosting such events.“The plus factor is that the fighters will stay at the same place where they will play. So there will be no security risk,” the official pointed out.