National Games could be delayed for a fortnight

KARACHI: A highly reliable source on Thursday revealed that the National Games could be delayed for a fortnight.

“Balochistan’s government is considering delaying the National Games for two weeks as they feel that by doing so they would be able to get some more time for completing the preparations for the biennial event,” the source told this correspondent.

The National Games are pencilled in for October 7-14 in Quetta.However, a senior official of the Balochistan Olympic Association (BOA) told ‘The News’ that he would oppose any move of postponement. “I will oppose any move of postponement of the Games for a couple of weeks as the temperature of Balochistan is getting down with the passage of time. If the Games are delayed for two weeks then it would create a lot of issues not only for the athletes but also for the organisers,” the official said.

He said that the athletes then would face problems in warming up, while the organisers would have to provide warm water to thousands of athletes which would not be possible.He said that a meeting of secretaries of federations would soon be held which would also be attended by the Balochistan government, military and senior officials of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and its sports commission.

“If such move of postponement came then we would try to take the Games to next year when the weather would become better. But any move to delay it for two weeks would not be acceptable to us,” the BOA official said.Last year, too, the spectacle had been postponed due to fragile security situation in the province.