Lahore, 23 December : Dera Ismail Khan-born goal keeper Ishaq Ahmed will be captain and Muhammad Shafiq Sr will act his deputy when Pakistan Navy will appear in National Games football. According to Pakistan Navy Sports Control Committee (PNSCC) ‘s Director Sports Cdr Mehtab Ahmed, Navy will take on Railways on 26 December and Army on 27 December at Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad.
Asif Mehmood, who toured Maldives for 7th SAFF Championship 2008, will be among the squad. Other players will be Nasir Hussain, Muhammad Ramzan, Abdul Haq, Shahid Munir, Sajjad Ahmed, Muhammad Shahzad, Jabbar Hussain, Nomi Martin, Muhammad Basharat,Imtiaz Ahmed, Farhan Qadir, Muhammad Wasim, Naveed Ahmed, Bilal Afridi, Rizwan Tanoli, Majid Hussain. The manager of the team will be Ghulam Shabbir while coaching duty will be under Khalid Zubair Shaukat. The Pshyiotherapist will be Muhammad Shafiq Jr.
Navy mustered 42 points in 28 games of Pakistan Premier Football League 2010.They are looking for their first gold as services team while other two alredy grasped the golds. Pakistan Air Force won the gold in 1982 while five-times winners Army did the job in 1995,1997, 2001, 2004 and 2007.
The seamen were losing finalist in 46th National Championship at Lahore in 1999 while they were semi-finalists in 1948, 2000 and 2003. Their most memorable display in domestic soccer was the gold in 18th National Football Challenge Cup two years ago at Karachi’s Peoples Sports Complex under skipper Muhammad Ramzan.
With the inclusion of Football, Hockey and Wushu, a total of 21 men games and seven women games would be played. The football event, having host KP, Railways, WAPDA and three services teams, would be played at Islamabad along with other two events – shooting and women swimming. The biennial Games are held in the four provinces on rotation. The last occasion was at Karachi in April 2007. It will be sixth Games on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after 1958, 1974, 1982, 1990 and 1998 at Peshawar that saw change of name by NA on 8 April this year. The same city saw the debut of football in 1982 with PAF winning the gold
Popular as the biggest sports spectacle of the country – the 31st National Games – opens at Bara Road’s Qayyum Sports Complex with three thousand men and women athletes vying for honours. Peshawarities have opened their arms to welcome the participants from all nook and corner of the country as the games returned to Peshawar after over a decade. It was few months after country’s coming into being when Father of the Nation, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, set the ball rolling by inaugurating the first National Games at Karachi in 1948.