First batch of Pakistan's Commonwealth Games contingent to depart on Sunday.

ISLAMABAD -- The first batch of Pakistan's Birmingham-bound contingent, comprising 22 athletes and eight officials will depart for UK on Sunday, Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) said on Saturday.

'The second batch will leave on Monday (July 25), the third on July 26, fourth on July 27 and the last one on July 28,' a PSB spokesperson told reporter.

The Commonwealth Games 2022 are taking place from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham.

Pakistan athletes will compete in swimming, athletics, para athletics, badminton, boxing, women's T20 cricket, gymnastics, men's hockey, judo, squash, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.

'The squads of Pakistan hockey, boxing and table tennis will be flying on Sunday to feature in the event,' the spokesperson said.

The boxing squad includes pugilists - Ilyas Hussain 54-57kg, Suleman Baloch 60-63.5kg, Nazeer Ullah Khan 86-92kg and Arshad Hussain (coach).

The two-member table tennis squad includes Fahad Khawaja (athlete) and Irfan Ullah Khan (coach),

The 21-member national men's hockey squad includes18 players and three officials.

The opening match of the men's hockey event will be held on 29 July. Ten teams, divided into two groups, are featuring in the men's hockey event.

The Green Shirts are placed in Pool A alongside Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Scotland. They will take on South Africa on 30 July in their inaugural fixture. The top two sides from each group will qualify for the semifinals.

Hockey squad:

Muhammad Umar Bhutta (captain), Akmal Hussain, Abdullah Ishtiaq Khan, Mubashir Ali, Ammad Shakeel Butt, Hammad Anjum, Muhammad Abdullah, Rizwan Ali, Moeen Shakeel, Abdul Manan, Junaid Manzoor, Ghazanfar Ali, Ejaz Ahmed, Rana Abdul Waheed, Roman Khan, Afraaz Khan, Abdul Hanan Shahid, Ahmad Nadeem, Siegfried Aikman (head coach), Syed Sameer Hussain (coach) and...