POA delegation to meet civil, military leadership today

National Games in Quetta

KARACHI: A delegation of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), headed by its president Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan, will visit Quetta on Saturday (today) to hold important meetings with the civil and military leadership of the province regarding National Games.

A well-placed source told ‘The News’ on Friday that the POA’s vice-presidents Syed Aqil Shah, Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob and its secretary Khalid Mehmood would accompany Gen Arif.

The source said that the delegation would first hold a meeting with the Balochistan Olympic Associationn (BOA). It would be followed by meetings with Corps Commander and Chief Minister.

The source said that these meetings would be very important. It would decide the fate of the National Games which had been postponed last month due to funding and various other issues.

The new schedule given by the NOC is November 18-26, but it also doesn’t seem suitable.

It was also learnt that as the Games are just one month away, no preparations have been made which has put a huge question mark over the conduction of the biennial spectacle which last time had been held in 2012 in Lahore at a time when the country’s sports fraternity had been divided due to a conflict between the state and the POA.

This correspondent also learnt through sources that till Friday no equipment and other relevant material for preparation of the Games had been provided by the Balochistan government to its provincial associations.

About the possibility of holding National Games inside the announced dates, sources in Balochistan were not hopeful.

“In November there will be intense cold and it would be a real handicap in the way of the spectacle. Moreover, students would also engage in examinations and would not be able to feature in the event,” a source informed.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the POA general council and sports commission meetings will also be held in Lahore.

The council would be informed about the actual situation of the National Games in the meeting. However, a member of the POA sports commission told ‘The News’ on Friday that every effort would be made to conduct the Games in Quetta in the scheduled time-frame.

“I don’t think the Games would be further delayed. There is an 80 percent chance that the competitions would be held as per the schedule,” he said.

Last year, too, the Games had been postponed following a terrorist attack at the civil hospital in which scores of top members of the Balochistan judiciary had been killed who had gathered at the hospital after Balochistan High Court Bar Association’s chief had been killed in a separate shooting.