Pakistan martial Arts team off to Bangkok

ISLAMABAD - As many as 35-member contingent will represent Pakistan in the first ever Asian Martial Art Games 2009, which are scheduled to be kicked off from August 1 at Bangkok, Thailand. Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Syed Amir Hamza Gilani left for Bangkok Saturday night to attend the delegation registration meeting being held on July 27 at same venue as the Chef-De-Mission of Pakistan contingent. Gilani will also make the arrangements in connection with accreditation, boarding, lodging, transport, training and other necessary arrangements for the green shirts before arrival at Bangkok. Pakistan will be featuring in the five disciplines including Judo, Taekwondo, Jus-Jitsu, Wushu and Karate during the 9-day international martial art event. Faheem Jawad Butt will be the flag bearer of Pakistan during the games. Pakistan Judo and Taekwondo teams accompany by Major Muhammad Afzal, Secretary-cum-Treasurer will depart on 30th July 2009 from Benazir Butto International Airport Islamabad while Ju-Jitsu and Wushu teams will depart from Lahore on 2nd August 2009. However, Pakistan Karate team will leave for Bangkok on August 4 from here to participate in the games. Later, a spokesman for PSB told the reporters that Pakistan Judo, Taekwondo and Karate teams were sent abroad for training-cum-competitions tour during the last financial year. However, all participating teams got training under the supervision of qualified local and foreign coaches since January 2009. "We are expecting acceptable performance from the national athletes, "he said. The names of the contingent: Amir Hamza Gillani (Chef-de-Mission), Major (Retd) Muhammad Afzal (Secretary-cum-Treasurer), Judo: Masood Ahmad (Manager), Zafar Iqbal, Karamat Butt, Muhammad Mehraj, Yousaf Riaz, Humaira Ashiq, Bennish Khan Karate: Muhammad Jehangir (Manager), Adil Jan, Saadi Abbas Jalbani, Muhammad Ramzan, Shoukat Ali Taekwondo: Wasim Ahmad (Manager), Master Yohan Bae (Coach), Ghazanfar Ali, Faheem Jawad Butt, Javed Karim, Arif Mehmood, Maham Aftab, Asia Batool, Nadia Rasool, Farzana Zulfiqar Wushu: Iftikhar Ahmad Awan (Manager), Syed Muratib Ali Shah, Asghar Hussain, Nazia Parvaiz, Rukhsana Hanif Ju-Jitsu: Abida Tanveer (Manager), Muhammad Haroon, Shakir Siddiqui, Aiat-Ullah, Muhammad Ashiq Hussain, Farah Riaz, Shabina Nawaz Janjua