Asian Games: PSB wants POA to contribute to preparation

KARACHI: A senior official of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) on Saturday said that Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) should supplement state efforts in holding training camps for international events.

“The POA should supplement the efforts of the government,” the PSB spokesman Azam Dar told ‘The News’ on Saturday from Islamabad.

“The POA supports joy-riders by meeting their expenses on foreign tours but does not support camps,” he added.

‘The News’ tried to talk to POA secretary Khalid Mehmood, but he did not attend the calls.

Dar also said that national federations should also perform their duties for promoting sports.

“National federations have a duty to promote sports in Pakistan. They are required to establish national training camps and organise promotional programmes for raising the standard of their sport,” Dar said.

The PSB provides annual grant, special grant and training grant to federations besides meeting the expenses of athletes’ participation in mega international events.

The PSB official also said that PSB had convened a meeting of federations, POA and the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) to chalk out a plan for effective preparation of the national contingent for the 18th Asian Games to be held in Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2.

“The PSB has already organised a number of national camps during the current financial year. These camps were sponsored by the PSB on the request of national federations for participation in various international competitions as well as Asian Games,” Dar pointed out.

However, he was quick to add that these camps were discontinued on May 15 due to certain reasons.