‘Sindh govt ignoring SOA’

KARACHI: The provincial government has been ignoring Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) which is affiliated not only with the Sindh Sports Board (SSB) but also with the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), a source said on Sunday.

He told ‘The News’ that the Sindh sports department had recently decided to go for the Sindh Games next year without taking SOA headed by Brigadier Rashid Malik into confidence. Rashid is also the president of Pakistan Basketball Federation.

“We don’t know why we are being ignored by the Sindh government,” the source said.

He added that because of the gap between the Sindh sports department and the SOA the latter had failed to hold the first edition of National Beach Games which were to be held here at the Sea View in last summer.

The POA allotted these Games to the SOA whose secretary is Ahmed Ali Rajput, also a member of the sports commission of the POA.

The source said that the then Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah had approved a summary of Rs20 million for the National Beach Games but that amount was not released which forced the SOA and the POA to postpone the Games a couple of times.

‘The News’ also learnt that it was being contemplated that the Sindh Games be arranged in Karachi instead of Larkana.

Sindh Games were last held in early 2012 when late Dr Mohammad Ali Shah was heading the SOA.  Shah was also sports minister of Sindh