Pakistani athletes have started to arrive in Birmingham to participate in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth games. The games which are considered to be the 2nd biggest sporting festival in the world are due to begin on Thursday, July 28.
The sporting extravaganza will last for 12 days and will finish on August 8.
The Pakistani contingent for the games comprises 103 athletes, coaching staff and officials. As many as 68 Pakistani athletes will be in action in 12 different sports in these games, 27 of them are female athletes, including 15 players of Women Cricket team.
The games in which athletes will be taking part are hockey (men), women T20 cricket, swimming, athletics, badminton, boxing, wrestling, weightlifting, juddo, squash, gymnastics and table tennis.
So far, the athletes and officials who have reached Birmingham are members of men’s hockey and women cricket teams as well as players of boxing, squash and badminton squads.
Anila Baiz is the only Pakistani female athlete who will participate in Para Athletics in Birmingham 2022 commonwealth games.
Members of men’s hockey team and boxing squads were first to arrive who reached Birmingham from Pakistan via Abu Dhabi and London on Sunday night, while, the women’s cricket squad arrived in Birmingham from Belfast on Monday afternoon after taking part in a tri-nation T20 tournament in Ireland.
Next to arrive were members of the squash and badminton teams who reached Birmingham late Monday afternoon.
Upon arrival in Birmingham, all the athletes, coaching staff and officials were taken to a welcome centre established in Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre where they had to do take a COVID test.
All the necessary paper work and athlete passes were issued to them at the welcome centre and then they were taken to their respective athlete villages or hotels.
Here’s the full list of Pakistani athletes and the sports they will be competing in Birmingham 2022 commonwealth games.
Men’s hockey
Men’s hockey competitions will take place at University of Birmingham’s hockey fields.
Members of the hockey squad are Ghazanfar Ali, Umar Bhuuta, Shakeel Butt, Munahhmad Abdullah, Ajaz Ahmad, Hammadudin Amjad, Ishtiaq Khan, Abdul Hannan Shahid, Afraz, Akmal Hussain, Junaid Manzoor, Abdullah Ishtiaq, Ahmed Nadeem, Abdul Mannan, Abdul Waheed, Sulman Razzaq and Moin Shakeel.
Cricket
Women’s T20 cricket team will feature in Birmingham 2022 commonwealth games for the first time. The venue for cricket matches is Birmingham’s historic Edgbaston cricket stadium. Pakistan women cricket team has following players in the squad.
Bismah Maroof, Nida Dar, Diana Baig, Anam Amin, Kainat Imtiaz, Aliya Riaz, Muneeba Ali, Omima Sohail, Fatima Sana, Aiman Anwar, Gull Feroza, Saidia Iqbal, Tuba Hassan, Iram Javed and Ayesha Naseem.
Aquatics and swimming
Aquatics and swimming competitions will be staged in newly developed Sandwell Aquatics centre. In swimming and aquatics competitions four athletes are participating, three of them are females which are Bisma Khan, Jehanara Nabi and Mishael Ayub. Haseeb Tariq is the only male athlete in aquatics and swimming games.
Boxing
Boxing competitions will take place at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre.
Five athletes will be in action in various categories of Boxing matches. Four are male boxer while first time a female boxer is also participating in boxing competitions.
They are Ilyas Hussain, Zohaib Rasheed, Nazeer ullah Khan, Suleman Baloch while Mehreen is the only female member of boxing squad.
Badminton
Like boxing, badminton competitions will also take place at the NEC, Birmingham.
Four Pakistani players will participate in badminton competitions, two of them are males while two females. Players who will action in badminton court will be Mahoor Shahzad, Ghazala Siddique, Murad Ali and Irfan Saeed Bhatti.
Athletics and para athletics
Besides being the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Birmingham 2022 commonwealth games, Alexander Stadium will be hosting all the track and field competitions including para athletics. Four athletes including one female are part of the athletics squad while Anila Baig is only para athlete featuring in the games for Pakistan. Athletes participating in track and field competitions are Arshad Nadeem, Shajar Abbas, Jamshaid Ali and Aneela Gulzar.
Wrestling
All the wrestling competitions in various weight categories will be held at Coventry Stadium in nearby Coventry city. Six wrestlers from Pakistan will be in action in these competitions including two times Commonwealth Gold Medalist Inam Butt.
Other members of Wrestling squad are Ghulam Farid, Zaman Anwar, Ali Asad, Tayab Awan, Inayat Ullah and Sharif Tahir.
Weightlifting
All the competitions in weightlifting and power-lifting will take place at NEC, Birmingham. Three Pakistani weightlifters will be starting in these games and they are Haider Ali, Hanzala Dastgir Butt and Nooh Dastagir Butt.
Judo
Judo competitions will be held at Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Two Pakistani Judo players will feature in these commonwealth games which are Shah Hussain Shah and Qaisar Khan. Previously in commonwealth games Shah Hussain Shah won a silver medal in 2014.
Squash
Like hockey all the squash competitions will be taking place at University of Birmingham’s squash courts. Four squash players from Pakistan will participate in these games including two males and two females. Members of the Squash team are Tayyab Aslam, Nasir Iqbal, Amna Fayyaz and Faiza Zafar.
Table Tennis
All the table tennis matches will be held at National Exhibition Centre. Only one Pakistani table tennis player Fahad Khwaja will be in action in these games.
Gymnastics
Gymnastics competitions will be held at Arena Birmingham. The only gymnast from Pakistan who’s participating in these games is Muhammad Afzal.
