Pak football team to face tough challenge in Saudi Arabia

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan football team will land in Saudi Arabia after a lapse of 27 years.

Pakistani national football team will face tough challenge during multi-sports mega event next month.

The Games are being called the first Islamic Solidarity Games, and are the first organized by the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF). These Games will be to promote and raise the level of awareness of the Islamic world's sporting ability.

The first Islamic Solidarity Games (also famous as Muslim Olympics) will be held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2005, with the Islamic nations are planning ahead, picking Iran as host of second Games in 2009, with third edition in Syria 2013.

However, Games restricted to Islamic nations were organized in Turkey 1980, few weeks after the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. The event, however, does not appear to have been staged again, although Islamic Women's Games saw three editions in 1993, 1997 and 2001 in Iran.

Pakistan soccer team will take on Morocco, Kuwait and Malaysia in Group D. Host Saudi Arabia will collide with Algeria, Palestine and Yemen in Group C.

Group A is comprised of Iran, Oman, Sudan and Tajikistan while Cameroon, Mali, Syria and Chad are in Group B. Many nations will utilize the Games as part of their preparations for the 23rd SEA Games (an Under-23 event) at Philippines capital Manila in November 2005.

The credit of entering Pakistani club into Islamic Games's soccer tourney goes to PFF President Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, also Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Northern Areas since 2 September 2004, is well on the way to promote football in Pakistan, ably supported by two retired colonels - Director Administration Ahmed Yar Khan and Director Technical Mujahid Ullah Khan Tareen.

In past, PFF used to withdrew it's teams from competitions ; the worst example being the 1995 Chennai SAF Games.

Pakistan football team will land in Saudi Arabia after a lapse of 27 years. Pakistan last visited the kingdom, occupies eighty percent of the Arabian Peninsula, in 1978 when Muhammad Ishaq Changezi-led Pakistan lost heavily to Saudi Arabia, Kenya and South Korea in Riyadh's four-nation event.Pakistan will compete in 11 of the 15 disciplines in the 13-day Games to be staged in four Saudi Arabian cities from 8-20 April 2005.

Besides football, Pakistan will also compete in athletics, basketball, handball, volleyball, weightlifting, taekwondo, karate, swimming, tennis and table tennis.

The opening and closing ceremonies would be held in Makkah while the venues of the games will be in four cities - Makkah, Madina, Jeddah and Taif.

Originally scheduled for 2004, 57 member countries of Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) have been invited and as many as 10,000 athletes may participate in quadrennial event being held under the banner of ISSF, which was established in 1985, to promote solidarity and brotherhood amongst the member nations.