POA to go to IOC over India visas

KARACHI: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) on Monday got a formal nod of its general body and decided that it would take up the case of non-issuance of visas by India to Pakistani teams with the International Federations (IFs) and International Olympic Committee (IOC) so that in future such incidents could be avoided.

“The issue of visas came under discussion and it was decided to take up the case with the International Federations organising the event in India and the IOC to bind India to issue visas without exercising any discrimination,” POA said after its general council meeting at Lahore.

“The design of POA emblem also came under discussion in the light of instructions of the IOC and feedback from various affiliated units,” the POA said.

The meeting was chaired by the POA chief Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan.

The house also decided that it was the prerogative of Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) to take care of belt wrestling also. “In line with the Olympic charter, clarification of UWW and claim of Pakistan Wrestling Federation, it was decided by the house that Belt Wrestling is a part of Pakistan Wrestling Federation. As such Pakistan Jujitsu Federation is not authorised to hold any activity of belt wrestling in Pakistan or abroad,” the POA said.

The house also decided to take all measures to organise National Games in 2017 at Quetta.

A source said that the POA was in contact with the Balochistan government and it was expected that the National Games would be conducted in Quetta in September this year.

The Games had been scheduled for November-December 2016 but were postponed because of the fragile security situation in Quetta.

The case of holding Beach Games at Gwadar or Karachi as part of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) and Navy was also agreed upon by the house.

The house also approved the establishment of the Olympic Academy at the POA headquarters. The POA Website will be updated after obtaining pending information of the National Sports Federations, the POA added.

The council approved Pakistan’s participation in the 8th Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, from February 19-26, the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, from May 12–22, the 6th Commonwealth Youth Games in Nassau, Bahamas, from July 19-23, and the 5th Asian Indoor Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from September 17–27.

“Since POA is under obligation to observe compliance of the WADA code and applicable rules (WADA Code, IOC Needle Policy etc), norms of good governance and control on human trafficking, therefore it was decided that NSF/Associations/Departments/ Services shall be bound to inform POA about conduct of such competitions or participation in international events. The POA, PSB and Anti-Doping Organisation of Pakistan rep must be invited to oversee the competitions to secure the events from any of illegalities mentioned above,” the POA added.

The house also decided that the country’s premier judoka Shah Hussain would be sent to Baku for featuring in the Islamic Games under the umbrella of the POA.

The house refused to recognise Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) and Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) because of their failure to withdraw the cases they had filed against POA.

Interestingly the two federations are recognised by their respective international federations and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB).

As per Lausanne Agreement of 2015 these federations had to withdraw their cases against POA. Although the federations claim that they have withdrawn the cases, the POA says that they have not done so.