Pakistan still on track to host foreign clubs

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President’s Cup Qualifying Tournament is expected to go ahead in Pakistan next month despite a bombing in Lahore on Tuesday and the withdrawal of Bangladesh league champions Sheikh Jamal Dhanmundi. An AFC official, on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorised to comment to the media, was quoted as saying on Wednesday the May 8-12 Group A qualifying event was “still on in Lahore” with clubs from Mongolia and Taiwan slated to join Pakistan champions KRL in a playoff for two spots in the next stage of the third-tier continental club tournament. A bomb went off at a Lahore railway station on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding more than 20 others and compounding security concerns. Pakistan has been a virtual no-go zone for foreign sports teams since gunmen attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team’s bus en route to a Test match at Lahore in March, 2009.