POA sports commission to meet in Islamabad tomorrow

KARACHI: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has moved its sports commission meeting from Lahore to Islamabad, it was learnt on Tuesday.

POA’s senior vice-president Syed Aqil Shah will chair the meeting which will now be held on Thursday (tomorrow). Various important matters regarding the National Games will come under discussion.

There will be discussions on National Beach Games, Inter-Provincial Games and National Youth Games as well. The POA in its previous meeting advised federations of squash, handball and gymnastics to take action against some of their officials.

The POA said if these federations did not take action against the officials then their disciplines would not be included in the National Games slated to be held in Quetta from October 7-14.This correspondent has learnt that Pakistan Gymnastics Federation (PGF) has suspended its senior official Atta Mohammad Kakar who happens to be the president of a parallel Balochistan Olympic Association (BOA).

A source said that Kakar had filed cases against the BOA led by Afzal Awan, which is affiliated with the POA. The PGF has told Kakar, the source said, that he would be reinstated if he withdrew the cases against the BOA.

The squash federation has been asked by the NOC to take action against its senior vice-president, former world champion Qamar Zaman, as he is associated with the parallel Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association headed by senator Haji Ghulam Ali.

A source said that Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF) will hold a meeting on Wednesday (today) to take action against its vice-president, former international athlete Bahre Karam as he is also associated with a parallel KP Athletics Association.

POA secretary Khalid Mehmood told ‘The News’ on Tuesday that the gymnastics body had taken action as per the instructions, that of handball would decide its matter on Wednesday (today), but the squash federation had not yet taken any action.

Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) and Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) have also been asked to withdraw cases they have filed against the NOC. Otherwise their disciplines would not be included in the National Games.

The sports commission meeting is also expected to take up the issue of baseball.The POA has decided to put baseball boys’ event and softball women’s event in the National Games. Pakistan Baseball Federation wants to keep both men and women events of baseball in the country’s premier biennial competitions. But the POA, as per rules, cannot do that because women’s baseball is not an Olympic discipline and so is the case with men softball.