25-member Pakistani Wushu squad to leave for Iran tomorrow
A 25-member Pakistan's Wushu team will leave for Iran tomorrow to feature in the 3rd Peace and Friendship Wushu Championship (Men and Women) which is scheduled to be held from 1 to 4 March at Zahedan in Iran.
Pakistan Wushu Federation (PWF) President, Malik Iftikhar confirmed that Pakistan's Wushu team will leave for Iran on February 27, “The visas have been received by the touring party, consisting of 20 fighters, 12 men, 8 women and 5 officials,” he said.
The 3rd edition of Peace and Friendship Wushu Championship (Men and Women) is featuring teams from about nine (9) nations among which, the host, Iran will have two teams fielded in the competitions. According to Iran's media reports, the participating nations are: Palestine, Iraq, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Sistan and Baluchistan. And the competitions are be held at the Sports Complex of Imam Ali in Zahedan.
Pakistan are a regular participant in this event. At a time when the government is not funding national federations, Iran’s tour will help Pakistani fighters learn ahead of the 13th South Asian Games which are expected to be held in Nepal later this year.
“South Asian Games are already delayed, so we opted for this tour in order to test, in particular, our second string which we have inducted in the men’s lot. If you keep sending the same fighters to every tournament then what would happen to your second string! This tour will help us learn where our second string stands,” the official said.
“In the 12-member men’s pool 2 young fighters from Karachi and 1 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been included. They are fairly good. As far as women squad is concerned, all the fighters in it are young with an average age of 18. We had a couple of experienced fighters in the women lot but one is 26 years old and the other is 34, so it’s time to focus on the youngsters,” Malik said.
