PSB urged to initiate Asian Games camps early

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Coordination Committee has suggested Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to initiate camps for the Asian Games at earliest so that athletes start preparing for the Palembang-Jakarta (Indonesia) Games at earliest.

The first coordination meeting of the presidents/secretaries general of 28 national sports federations participating in the 2018 Asian Games to be held in Palembang-Jakarta (Indonesia) was held the other day in Lahore under the chairmanship of Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hasan, President POA. The meeting was held to decide the number of participants both male and female in individual and team sports who have qualified or have the potential to show better performance in these games.

The meeting was also attended by Raja Zulifqar Akhtar representative PSB. The meeting decided that the training camps shall be organised by PSB at the earliest so that the athletes get sufficient training and learn competitive skills to show the best results. The meeting suggested that training camps for the Games should start at earliest so that athletes should have time to prepare for the Games. Another important decision was made by the house that a sub-committee under chairman of the POA affiliation and constitution committee will review the participation of those games which are not affiliated with POA but invariably participate in international competitions showing good results and are desirous of participating at their own expense under the umbrella of POA.

The criteria of coaches accompanying the teams was also discussed and decided that only those coaches will be eligible who are properly qualified and remained associated in the training process. The federations will send their CVs to ascertain their eligibility. This was done to eliminate the practice of favouritism and jeopardizing the rights of those who work with the athletes throughout the training but at the end are dropped.