Uzbekistan rugby team to arrive on Apr 27

LAHORE (APP): Uzbekistan 15 side Rugby team will reach here on April 27 for playing matches of the Asian Rugby Championship Div III-C 2019. Chairman Pakistan Rugby Union Fawzi Khawaja told APP here on Tuesday that Uzbek Rugby team will play two 15 side test matches in Pakistan. “Asian Rugby on the request of RRU allocated us two matches of the Asian Rugby Championship for Div III-C, which is a big honour for the country,” he said.

The first match will be played on April 28 at Pakistan Rugby Academy Lahore Cantt at 4pm, followed by the second match on May first at the same venue, he said. He said that Pak team is fully prepared for throwing a decent challenge to the visiting team. “Our players worked really hard at a training under the watchful eyes of our national coach Shakeel Ahmad Malik,” said Fawzi.

Kashif Khwaja will lead the team which will be selected from among following players, Hammad Safdar, Ali Khan, Dawood Shah,Ibraheem Khan, Mozeez Shah, Wapada Saad Arif, Ali Shahid, Daud Gill, Multan Khawar, Sher Ali, Ahmed Waseem, Faisal Aslam, Saim, Muhammad Aqib, Sufian, Muhmmad Waqas, Muhammad Afzaal, Muneeb Iftikhar, Ali Hyder, Nasir Mehmood, Shahid Mehmood, Waqar Younis, Muhammad Waqas, Muhammad Haroon, Zahid Iqbal, Israr Ahmed, Anjum Sajjad, Mumtaz Ahmed and Khalid Mehmood.

Team officials are: head coach Shakeel Ahmed Malik, Manager, Muhammad Abdullah and Physio Dr Mohsin Aziz. The PRU chairman said that some officials from Asian rugby body would be visiting Pakistan to witness these matches.

“Holding of these international matches is a step forward to bring back international sports activities to Pakistan and to portray a soft image of the country which is safe to host elite international sports event,” he added. He said that the visit of the Uzbek team would help further popularise rugby in the country.