Abid Qadri named chef de mission for Islamic Games

KARACHI: Syed Mohammad Abid Qadri Gillani, the patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF), will serve as chef de mission of Pakistan’s contingent for the Islamic Games which are pencilled in for May 12-22 in Azerbaijan capital Baku.

This will be the third time that Abid will act as chef de mission of the national contingent. He has served in the same capacity at the Asian Indoor Games and Asian Games.

He is a retired vice chancellor of Agriculture University, Faisalabad.

It was decided in the meeting of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) at Lahore with the presidents and secretaries of the national federations who are fielding their respective squads in the fourth edition of the Islamic Games.

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

Commander Nasir Mehmood, Navy’s Director Sports, will act as secretary contingent, while Mohammad Shahid, the Deputy Director General Technical PSB, will be the treasurer.

The house was told that accommodation fee and arrival and departure schedule was being confirmed and finalised by the PSB today, the POA said in a press release.

It was also resolved that PSB would be requested to review its decision about basketball teams. In case of financial constraints, POA and federations would also share this responsibility so that athletes could participate in this mega event, the POA added.

On Thursday, the PSB decided against sponsoring Pakistan’s men’s and women’s basketball teams for the Islamic Games despite the fact that the national federation had started preparation on the advice of the Board.

The PSB is being led by acting Director General Khayyal Zad Gul after Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera’s suspension.

Accreditation cards along with the luggage tags were handed over to the representatives of the federations.

A 215-member contingent will leave for the Islamic Games in which Pakistan will compete in 15 disciplines.

The PSB has decided to sponsor 189 members of the contingent.

The zurkhaneh squad will be sponsored by its international federation. A source in the POA told ‘The News’ after the meeting that the handball team, which was the first to leave for Baku on Saturday (today), is now expected to depart on Monday.

Volleyball and boxing squad will accompany the handball players.

The reason for the delay in the departure of the handball squad was the late release of accommodation fund to the POA.

The government on Friday evening released the accommodation fee through a cheque to the POA, which will transfer it to the Islamic Games organisers on Monday which will ensure Pakistan contingent’s accommodation during the Games.

“We will transfer it on Monday and I hope our teams will face no problems,” POA secretary Khalid Mehmood told ‘The News’.

A POA source said that the name of the flag-bearer of the contingent would be decided by the chef de mission in consultation with POA’s senior officials before the opening ceremony.

The squads will depart two days before their competitions and will return the very next day after their slots.

One technical official each in wrestling, taekwondo and swimming will also proceed to Baku. Pakistan’s handball team comprises Shahid Pervez (captain), Uzair Abid (vice captain), Hazrat Hussain, Zakir Hussain, Asif Hayat, Mohammad Nawaz, Khurram Shehzad, Asif Ali, Muzammil Hussain, Imran Khan.

The officials are Mohammad Anees (manager), Javed Iqbal (assistant manager cum coach) and Mohammad Habib (coach).

Pakistan have been placed in Group A with Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.  Group B consists of Turkey, Morocco, Iraq and Afghanistan.  The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.