SOA asks Sindh govt to rename beach games

KARACHI: Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) on Thursday asked the Sindh government not to use the name of ‘National’ for the Beach Games it was going to organise.

The SOA at a press briefing here at the Karachi Press Club stressed that there were certain rules which needed to be followed before organising such competitions.

“They have to give 90 days’ notice to the stakeholders and it is mandatory,” SOA secretary Ahmed Ali Rajput told ‘The News’ after the briefing.

He said that the POA had allotted the National Beach Games to the SOA for which a proper plan had been made and a summary had been moved for the purpose.

“In 2015 and 2016 the National Beach Games were postponed and these are still in the pipeline and in the plans of the association,” he said. He said that on Wednesday the SOA had a meeting with the Sindh Secretary Sports and Youth Affairs Salim Raza who promised that after consulting higher authority effort would be made to rename the spectacle which the Sindh government plans to start from Friday (today).

As the organisers had not taken on board the SOA, the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has written to the respective federations and Olympic associations that they should not field athletes in the competitions.