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| Nawaiwaqt
| Nida-i-Millat | Family
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Tri-series rugby
Pakistan determined to beat Thailand
OUR STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE - Pakistan and Thailand rugby officials have shown faith and determination in their ranks ahead of their Asian Nation Rugby Tri-series Division IV opening match to be played at 5:00 pm here at the DHA Stadium today (Saturday)
Other than Pakistan and Thailand, Chinese Taipei is the third team that completes the troika of the series, in which all the three would play one match with each other.
The rugby team formulated by Fawzi Khawaja group of the Pakistan Rugby Union will play the Thais to mark the opening of the series and later the teams will fly over to play their remaining matches against Chinese Taipei in Bangkok.
"Although the Thais are veteran in the business and have been playing the game since 1970, our team have worked very hard for the series and would surely come out winners," said Pakistan team manager Khawaja, in a press conference.
He was flanked by Adisak Hemyoo, manager of the Thai team, Arif Saeed (from Servis, one of the sponsors) and Rizwan Malik Pakistan team coach.
Arif informed that win in the series would move Pakistan in Division III and in case they lose they would be relegated and also decide the ranking of the teams.
Pakistan will play its second match of the series on April 16 against Chinese Taipei in Thailand while the Thais would take on Chinese Taipei on April 19.
He said that the opener would be supervised by officials from Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
Hemyoo, who felt happy to be in Lahore and would be looking to return to the town, promised to present best rugby from his team.
"It's a beautiful town and I would like to return whenever I get a chance. We are here for the series which we would like to win," said he.
Ranked 72nd in the world, Thailand does not have an impressive track record. They have played in 48 games and lost 27 while won 21. It would be their first meeting with the Pakistan team, which has two wins out of the five games they have played. But Chinese Taipei is much higher in ranks (41st) than the two and have better chances of finishing at the top. But Pakistan has high hope of their progress to the next round.
"It is an International Rugby Board sanctioned event and we hope to make positive progress. "We have already taken positive stride at home with Army, Punjab and Sindh having active part in the game and with the government support it would develop at schools level," said Arif.
However, Pakistan team is in high spirits and was looking forward to the match. "We have worked extremely hard for the last couple of weeks specifically for the series and right now 30 players in a camp training which would be short-listed to 22 for the match," said Pakistan coach Malik. |
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