Commonwealth Games contingent to depart in groups

KARACHI: The 104-member Pakistan contingent for the Commonwealth Games will leave for England in groups and almost the entire touring party will be in Birmingham ahead of the opening ceremony of the quadrennial event which will be formally opened on July 28 at the Alexander Stadium.

On Thursday (today), Deputy Chef de Mission and Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF) chairman Major (retd) Majid Wasim will leave for Birmingham.

Those who will proceed to Birmingham on July 24 are: Chief medical officer Dr Asad Abbas Shah, Abdul Quddus Jamali, Mohammad Shahid, Asif Azaeem, Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) secretary Ahmed Ali Rajput, badminton team official Mohammad Pervez Habib Butt, boxers Ilyas Hussain, Zohaib Rasheed, Nazeerullah Khan, Suleman Baloch, manager Mohammad Asghar and coach Arshad Hussain, the entire hockey squad, swimmer Syed Haseeb Tariq (from Toronto to London), swimming official Ahmed Ali Khan and table tennis player Fahad Khawaja.

Those who will leave on July 25 include chef de mission Abid Qadri Gilani, deputy chef de mission and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General Col (retd) Asif Zaman, athlete Aneela Gulzar and athletics team official and former Olympian Saddaf Siddiqui, badminton players Murad Ali, Hafiz Irfan Saeed Bhatti, Mahoor Shahzad, Ghazala Siddique, badminton coach Zafar Tasneem, entire women T20 squad (from Belfast), gymnastic official Pervez Ahmed and squash players Nasir Iqbal, Tayyab Aslam, Amna Fayyaz and Faiza Zafar, swimmer Bismah Khan, swimming official Farzana Sabir Mehdi, table tennis coach Irfanullah Khan and wrestling team official Abdul Mobeen Chaudhry.

Those to fly for Birmingham on July 26 are wrestling team official Arshad Sattar, gold medal hopefuls and the country’s prominent wrestlers Mohammad Inam and Inayatullah, and weightlifters Haider Ali, Hanzala Dastgit Butt and Nooh Dastgir Butt.

On July 27 admin personnel Imran Ahmed Khan, athletes Shajjar Abbas, Jamshed Ali, Arshad Nadeem and judoka Qaiser Afridi will leave for Birmingham.

Judo team official Faisal Saleem Butt, wrestlers Zaman Anwar, Ali Asad, Tayyab Raza, Sharif Tahir and wrestling coach Ghulam Fareed will proceed to Birmingham on July 28.

Tokyo-based Olympian judoka Shah Hussain will reach Birmingham on July 29.

According to a senior official of POA, minor changes may be made to travel schedule.