Organisers of Inter-Provincial Games meet tomorrow

KARACHI: An important meeting to discuss various matters of the fourth Inter-Provincial Games will be held at Peshawar on Thursday, a senior official of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olympic Association told The News on Tuesday.

“Yes a meeting will be held on Thursday which will be attended by secretaries of all those federations whose disciplines are included in the Games. The representatives of all participating units will also be there in the meeting,” KP Olympic Association President Syed Aqil Shah told The News.

In the competitions, which will be held from March 18-20 at Peshawar, four provinces, Islamabad, FATA, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) will take part. He said that 1550 athletes and team offcials and 38 contingent officials, besides technical officials, would be part of the competitions.

“Men will compete in 28 disciplines while women will feature in nine disciplines,” said Shah, also the senior vice-president of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA). The four provinces are entitled to field a contingent of 300 athletes and officials each. Each province could also carry six contingent officials each. FATA can field 150 athletes and team officials and four contingent officials. Islamabad may field 100 athletes and officials with four contingent officials. Gilgit Baltistan and AJK are entitled to field 50-member contingent each along with three contingent officials each. The disciplines of cycling, football and judo shall be inlcuded subject to the approval of POA in pursuance to the decisions of the general council.

A budget of Rs40 million has been approved by the KP government for the purpose. Shah said that water-tight security arrangements would be made for holding the competitions.

“Top security arrangements will be made. Today I met the chief secretary. Tomorrow I will meet the KP Inspector General of Police. Peshawar Corps Commander has also been written. We will leave no stone unturned to organize the spectacle in the most befitting way,” Shah said. He was quick to add that the security situation in KP was now much better. “Unlike in the past the security environment is much better here and I am very much confident that it will be a fine event,” Shah said. Besides hosting an Inter-Provincial Games a few years ago, KP had also organised the National Games in 2010 at a time when the security situation was much fragile. But the 2010 National Games had turned out to be a good event despite all handicaps as KP Olympic Association had done a glorious job on that occasion. When asked that the gap between Inter-Provincial Games and National Games was too small, Shah said the Peshawar spectacle would help the participating units to prepare better for the National Games. National Games are slated to be held in Quetta from April 21-29.