Pakistan will take on the Philippines today (Wednesday) in the first round of AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament in Hisor, Tajikistan.
Maria Khan will lead the national side while defender Malika-e-Noor will be her deputy.
However, Pakistan will be without the services of star striker Nadia Khan who was ruled out of the tournament due to an ACL injury.
The 22-member national team and coaching staff arrived in Tajikistan from Dubai, where the squad held a brief training camp and played matches against local clubs, on April 2.
The remaining matches of Pakistan women’s team are against Hong Kong and the hosts Tajikistan on April 8 and 11, respectively.
A total of 26 teams have been divided in seven groups for the first round of the qualifying.
It must be noted that the winners of each group in this round will advance to the second round, where they will be joined by the five highest seeded teams — DPR Korea, Japan, Australia, China PR, and Korea Republic.
Four teams from the second round — three group winners and the best-ranked runners-up — then face off in the third round where they play two pairs of home and away matches with the two eventual winners qualifying for the Women’s Olympic football tournament in Paris in 2024.
In January earlier this year, Pakistan finished second in the four-nation cup in Saudi Arabia.
Pakistan won their match opening match against Comoros, 1-0, but they suffered defeat in their second encounter against Mauritius 2-1. Their final match against the home side Saudi Arabia ended in a 1-1 draw.
Malika believes that the potential for the women’s game is huge in Pakistan.
"Since I started playing football, I have seen a huge difference in the development of women’s sports in Pakistan," said the defender. "It is not only in football but also in other sports. Talking about football, now we have different clubs and academies working on developing the game at the grassroots levels.”
"Our recent performances helped restore the place of women's game in the fans' hearts. Those who said football had no future before are now standing behind us and supporting us. They are willing to let their daughters, sisters and wives to play the game to represent our country at international level,” she added.
Pakistan Squad
Forwards: Alia Sadiq, Anmool Hira, Isra Khan, Naqiyah Ali, Sanober Abdul Sattar and Zahmena Malik.
Midfielders: Aliza Sabir, Amina Hanif, Anushey Usman, Maria Khan, Marvi Baig, Rameen Fareed and Suha Hirani.
Defenders: Malika-e-Noor, Mishal Bhatti, Nizalia Siddiqui, Sahiba Sherdil, Sara Khan and Sophiya Qureshi.
Goalkeepers: Fatima Naz, Nisha Ashraf and Rumaysa Khan.