Pakistan to take part in Asian, World championships

KARACHI: Having missed the last year’s vital assignments of Commonwealth Games and Asian Games due to the tussle between two groups of sports officials, Pakistani players will take part in Asian Athletics Championships and World Championships this year.
The Asian Athletics Championships will be held in June in Wuhan (China) and the World Championships will be hosted by Beijing at National Stadium from August 20 to 30.
The athletes who will feature in the World Championships will get a decent chance to earn wild card entry into the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) is committed to see its athletes in both the competitions.
“Yes, we will send our athletes to both the events which are very important,” AFP’s president Major Gen (retd) Akram Sahi told ‘The News’ on Tuesday. “We will send six to eight athletes to the Asian Championships. In the World Championships there will be a case for the wild card entry into the Olympics and so those athletes who deliver in the Asian Championships may get chance in the global affair,” said Sahi, a former international athlete.
Sprinter Liaquat Ali and 800m specialist Rabia Ashiq represented Pakistan in the 2012 London Olympics. Both are in contention for Rio.
Rabia, who represents WAPDA, skipped the recently concluded Al-Fajr Indoor Athletics Championship in Iran in a bid to prepare for the Asian Championships.
“Rabia told AFP that she would not feature in Al-Fajr and rather prepare for the Asian Championships. She is determined to deliver her best in the continental event. She is training hard for that,” Sahi said.
“No doubt, Liaquat is our most experienced sprinter, but besides him we have a fine sprinter on whom we are working,” the official said.
In the Al-Fajr event held on February 12 and 13 in Tehran, Pakistan’s Mohammad Sajjad (PAF) won silver in 60m hurdles, while Sumaira Tayyaba (WAPDA) clinched bronze in 60m hurdles.
Sahi said that in the first week of April National Athletics Championship would be staged, most probably at Lahore. “The event will help us spot gutsy athletes for the international events,” Sahi said.
He added that the camp had been disbanded because of the international baseball event in Islamabad. It would resume early next month, he said.
Sahi said that Pakistan would also participate in the First Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Qatar in May.
“The PSB recently held Inter-Board Games in Islamabad during which our coaches scouted ten male and five female athletes who will be put in the camp to prepare for the Asian Youth Championships. Trials will also be held so that those athletes who could not feature in the Inter-Board Games could press their cases for the camp,” Sahi said.
“The AFP has requested the PSB to hold a camp for these young athletes,” the official said.
Meanwhile, on the pretext of security threats to the PSB Sports Complex, the PSB has asked a few federations to vacate their offices located inside it. AFP is one of them.
The others are federations of volleyball, badminton, rowing, squash and kabaddi as well as Islamabad Football Association.
However, this correspondent has learnt that none of these bodies have vacated their office yet.