POA chief vows to work for uplift of sport
December 31, 2010
PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) chief said on Thursday that efforts would be made to bridge the gap between the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the national sports federations in a bid to save the country’s sporting heritage.
“The federations take the NOC from the PSB while sending teams abroad and sometimes problems emerge because of the lack of communication but we will try to normalise the whole environment so that sports could be saved from any damage,” the POA President General (retd) Syed Arif Hassan said here in a press conference on Thursday.
While lauding the efforts of the organising committee of the 31st National Games, the POA chief said that the competitions, which were postponed twice, are being organised in an excellent way.
“I would like to appreciate the efforts of the organising committee being led by Sports Minister Syed Aaqil Shah, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister and Corps Commander for the smooth conduction of the event in spite of security complications,” Arif said.
Responding to a question that the event is being held without spectators, he said that in order to ensure its smooth conduction, tight security measures were the need of the hour.
He rubbished the reports that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was not included in the competitions.
“The tribal belt was already there in the competitions and the reports that the region was not initially included in the Games are wrong and baseless,” he said.
According to media reports FATA was excluded from the list of the disciplines for the National Games and it was included only after the intervention of the Federal Sports Minister Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani.
“The federations take the NOC from the PSB while sending teams abroad and sometimes problems emerge because of the lack of communication but we will try to normalise the whole environment so that sports could be saved from any damage,” the POA President General (retd) Syed Arif Hassan said here in a press conference on Thursday.
While lauding the efforts of the organising committee of the 31st National Games, the POA chief said that the competitions, which were postponed twice, are being organised in an excellent way.
“I would like to appreciate the efforts of the organising committee being led by Sports Minister Syed Aaqil Shah, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister and Corps Commander for the smooth conduction of the event in spite of security complications,” Arif said.
Responding to a question that the event is being held without spectators, he said that in order to ensure its smooth conduction, tight security measures were the need of the hour.
He rubbished the reports that the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was not included in the competitions.
“The tribal belt was already there in the competitions and the reports that the region was not initially included in the Games are wrong and baseless,” he said.
According to media reports FATA was excluded from the list of the disciplines for the National Games and it was included only after the intervention of the Federal Sports Minister Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani.
