KARACHI: Pakistan women’s football team will leave for Singapore tomorrow (Sunday), for the friendly match, instead of today.
The schedule was changed since there was no flight available from Karachi to Singapore on Saturday. The team will now leave for Singapore via Lahore tomorrow morning.
The women’s team’s departure was initially delayed due to late issuance of No Objection Certificate (NOC) and visas.
The girls in green were scheduled to play two friendly matches against Singapore but, due to aforementioned delays, they will only be able to play a single match on July 18.
PFF received NOC on Thursday after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's special assistant, Shaza Fatima, intervened in the matter. The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had shown its inability to process the NOC for the country’s women football team’s tour of Singapore because of shortage of time.
"Prime Minister played an important role in getting NOC for our team," Shaza said.
It is worth mentioning that the Football Association of Singapore sent official confirmation of the tour to PFF on 26th June, and PFF wrote the letter for NOC on 27th, which was delivered to PSB soon after Eid Holidays.
A source in PFF wondered how PSB can expect a federation to send documents for NOC even before the tour is confirmed.
Last month as well, the PFF had to wait until the last minute for NOCs to tour Mauritius and India.
The Pakistan football squad for Singapore tour will be led by midfielder Maria Khan.
Pakistan Squad
Goalkeepers: Nisha Ashraf, Rumaysa Khan.
Defenders: Mishal Bhatti, Kayla Siddiqi, Sophiya Qureshi, Nizalia Siddiqui, Sara Khan.
Midfielders: Maria Khan (c), Suha Hirani, Kayanat Bokhari, Rameen Fareed, Marvi Baig, Aliza Sabir.
Forwards: Sanober Abdul Sattar, Zahmena Malik, Zulfia Nazir, Aliya Sadiq, Anmool Hira, Naqiyah Ali, Isra Khan.
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.