KARACHI: The Pakistan women’s football team, led by Maria Khan, has left for Saudi Arabia to participate in the women’s six-nation friendly football tournament.
Pakistan women's footballers left from Lahore on Saturday after their earlier scheduled flight to Saudi Arabia was rescheduled by the airlines.
A source has confirmed that the Pakistan women's football team reached the airport on Friday evening only to find out that their flight was rescheduled and they were not informed on time of this change.
The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) had earlier received a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to travel to Saudi Arabia on late Friday afternoon.
Pakistan is scheduled to take on Malaysia on the 21st of September before facing hosts Saudi Arabia on the 24th. The other group includes teams from Laos, Bhutan, and Lebanon.
If Pakistan finishes among the top two teams, they will play the semi-final, if they finish on the bottom then it will play the bottom-placed team from the second group for the fourth place.
Pakistan had also participated in a four-nation tournament in Saudi Arabia earlier this year where they finished 2nd.
Head coach Adeel Rizki is confident of a good show by Pakistan in the six-nation event.
Earlier, Pakistan had announced a 22-member squad for the tournament which featured the return of Malika Noor.
However, Kayla Siddiq was not part of the squad touring Saudi Arabia as she was not available due to her academic commitments.
Pakistan women's football squad:
Goalkeepers: Rumaysa Khan, Nisha Ashraf and Mafia Parveen
Defenders: Malika Noor, Mishal Bhatti, Sophiya Qureshi, Nizalia Siddiqui, Sara Khan and Noureen Baig
Midfielders: Maria Khan (c), Aliha Aladin, Kayanat Bokhari, Rameen Fareed, Marvi Baig and Aliza Sabir
Forwards: Sanober Abdul Sattar, Zahmena Malik, Zulfia Nazir, Aliya Sadiq, Anmool Hira, Suha Hurani and Isra Khan
Team Officials: Adeel Rizki (Head Coach), Ahsanullah Khan (Goal Keeper Coach), Haider Ali (Media), Aqsa (Physio) and Eiman Ahmed (Team Manager).
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