Pakistan to send 140-member contingent to 'Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games'

KARACHI: Around 140-member contingent of Pakistan will feature in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games to be held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, from September 17 to 27, a senior official of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) told ‘The News’ on Wednesday.

The strength was finalised following a marathon meeting of the POA with those federations whose athletes will be appearing in the Games.  The meeting, held the other day in Lahore, was also attended by Pakistan Sports Board’s (PSB) Director General Khial Zad Gul. POA secretary Khalid Mehmood said that the final list would be sent to the PSB on Thursday (today).

To a query, Khalid said that there was little chance of any major reduction in the strength. “I don’t think any further reduction could be made by the PSB. If there is any reduction it may be of eight to ten people,” Khalid was quick to add.

The disciplines in which Pakistan will be featuring are athletics, snooker and billiards, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting, tennis, ju-jitsu, wrestling and kick-boxing. The federation of kick-boxing, a late addition, will have to bear its own expenses as it is not affiliated with the POA.

About Pakistan’s medal chances, Khalid said that there would be tough competitions as there would be athletes not only from Asia but also of Oceania. “New Zealand is also part of the Oceania and so our medal chance in swimming may be little,” the official said.

“In athletics we have a chance in the hurdles and relay. But it depends on the situation,” Khalid said. “In ju-jitsu, we can click and the same may be said of tennis and taekwondo,” Khalid added.

He said all federations during their presentations the other day expressed the hope that their athletes would deliver in Ashgabat. In wrestling, there will be different events, including freestyle, Greco-Roman style, belt and traditional wrestling.

About hiring of foreign coaches, Khalid said that they had talked about it with the PSB’s Director General.“We discussed the matter with the PSB DG. He has told us that federations are the best judges and they should select their coaches and the Board would help them. If the demand of a coach is high, the federation and PSB will try to jointly meet it,” Khalid said.

It is pertinent to mention here that during the last four to five years very few foreign coaches have been hired by the national federations.Judo and rugby had foreign coaches in the recent past. Currently Pakistan Volleyball Federation (PVF) has the services of Iranian coach Hamid Movahedi.

Khalid agreed that having foreign coaches was important. “Yes, it’s our main requirement,” he said. About a foreign coach for boxing, he said he planned to hire a coach from Kazakhstan. “We are considering hiring a coach from Kazakhstan. But before that we want to make a foreign training arrangement, maybe in Kazakhstan, for our boxers,” said Khalid, who is also the president of Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF).

He said that the PBF was considering sending boxer Awais Ali Khan abroad for training ahead of the World Championship to be hosted by Germany in Hamburg this September and October.