KARACHI: Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) will hold a camp by the middle of August in Islamabad to prepare for international events, particularly the South Asian Games.
“Although the South Asian Games are yet to officially announced we plan to begin the preparation from mid-August,” AFP president Maj Gen (retd) Akram Sahi told ‘The News’ on Thursday.
The South Asian Olympic Council (SAOC) has finalised January 10-20 as dates for SAG but Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is yet to officially announce it. Guwahati and Shillong will host the eight-nation extravaganza.
“Our plan is to keep 45 male and 15 female athletes in the camp who will be supervised by ten coaches,” said Sahi, a former international athlete.
He said the best lot would be fielded in the competitions. “As per rules, two athletes could be fielded in one event. We should participate in every event and particularly in those in which we have medal chances,” Sahi said.
Athletics has been the best discipline for Pakistan in the SAG. In the previous SAG, in Dhaka in 2010, Pakistan won four gold, two silver and four bronze medals in athletics. Sahi said he expected sprinter Liaquat Ali to do well. “Liaquat has been improving. He has solid chance of a gold in 100m as well as 200m,” said Sahi, who recently got elected as council member of the Asian Athletics Association (AAA).
Liaquat, who featured in the 2012 London Olympics, will also show his mettle in the 15th World Athletics Championship to be held in Beijing from August 22-30.
Liaquat’s performance in the recently held Asian Championship and Asian Grand Prix also remained satisfactory.
Liaquat is undergoing training under his Army coach and former 200m record holder Maqsood Ahmed in Rawalpindi.
In Dhaka, Pakistani athlete Naseem Hameed had produced a stunning performance when she won gold in 100m with a timing of 11.81 seconds. It was the first sprint
gold by any Pakistani woman athlete in the history of the biennial competitions.
But Sahi said this time Pakistan did not have any chance of a gold in women’s 100m. “We don’t have any female sprinter who could emulate Naseem,” Sahi said.
He made it clear that the female lot was not very good. However, he was quick to add that Olympian Rabia Ashiq was capable of winning a medal.
Rabia made her Olympics debut in 2012 in London and participated in the 800m.
The last SAG triple jump gold medallist Zafar Iqbal is not likely to be part of Pakistan’s squad because of his poor form.
“We have kept him in the camp but his performance has not been good for a long time,” the AFP official said.
“We will keep young Mohammad Afzal in the camp. But it is not yet clear whether he will be able to feature in SAG because he is too young,” Sahi said.
Afzal, from Army, secured gold in the triple jump event in the Asian Youth Championship in Qatar a few months ago.
When asked whether the AFP would be able to field its athletes in SAG considering its row with Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Sahi said he would not let anybody else send athletes.
“I feel no problem. Athletics Federation of India will not accept anyone without my signature,” Sahi said.
The other day POA’s secretary Khalid Mehmood told this correspondent that as the AFP and Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) had dissociated themselves from the POA so it had written to their substitute federations for SAG.