Sri Lankan savate team arriving today

KARACHI: A 19-member Sri Lankan savate team will arrive in Lahore on Wednesday (today) to face Pakistan in a bilateral series in the savate (French kick-boxing) competitions at the Punjab University.

Pakistan Savate Federation on Tuesday told ‘The News’ the 19 players would be accompanied by a manager and a coach. The federation said that the competitions would be held in different age-groups.

Weigh-in will be held on Thursday (tomorrow). It will be followed by a technical seminar on January 24, conducted by Prasad, a qualified savate expert from Sri Lanka. The competitions will be conducted on January 25 and 26. The Sri Lankan squad will return home on January 27.

Pakistani fighters, who were undergoing training at various places, will also assemble in Lahore on Wednesday (today). “Pakistani players hail from different areas of the country,” a federation official said.

Savate is a light form of wushu. Pakistan Savate Federation, founded in 2016, has units in provinces, Army, Police and Railways.

Ambreen Iftikhar is the secretary of the federation while Rao Shehzad is its president.

Pakistan will be fielding its A and B teams in the slots.

Ambreen is the wife of the president of Pakistan Wushu Federation (PWF) Malik Iftikhar.

Malik told ‘The News’ that in this sport there is no cross punching, strike with the heel and fighters are not allowed to fell their opponents by grabbing.

“The sport was adopted because of its resemblance with wushu. It is not as hard as wushu. Those who cannot play wushu can play this sport. For this a boxing ring is utilised,” Malik said.