Asian Games training camps begin from June 20

KARACHI: National training camps to prepare for 18th Asian Games will begin on June 20 at different venues of the country.

It was decided in a meeting of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and national federations at the Committee Room of Pakistan Sports Complex, Islamabad, on Wednesday.

The federations were advised to submit the names of camp trainees, officials and names of events by June 18 for holding the training camps. Arif Ibrahim, the acting Director General of PSB, chaired the meeting. Also present were POA secretary Khalid Mehmood, Deputy Secretary (Sports) of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Fayyaz-ul-Haq, PSB’s Deputy Director General Administration Mansoor Ahmed Khan, Deputy Director General Technical Azam Dar and Deputy Director General Finance Raja Ghazanfar Javed.

The strength of the national contingent could not be finalised because POA has given federations June 10 as the last date for sending entries by name. It was decided that the stakeholders would meet again on June 13 at Lahore to decide the strength of the contingent.

“The federations will apprise the POA, PSB about the selected participants (national record of the event/discipline, last South Asian Games record and last Asian Games record) and medal prospects in the event. This evaluation will provide an opportunity to finalise the strength of each discipline for Pakistan contingent,” a PSB press release said after the meeting.

The DG PSB stressed that each player be selected on merit. Asian Games are slated to be held in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang from August 18 to September 2.The PSB said that the House was informed that a number of national training camps were sponsored by the Board during current financial year.

It was decided to acquire the services of a Dutch hockey coach, sailing Laser Class coach, and Brazilian ju-jitsu and Malaysian tenpin bowling coaches. The federations were also advised to submit their sports equipment requirements so that equipment could be purchased after meeting all requirements under PPRA Rules, the PSB said.

Arif emphasised that all stakeholders should contribute for raising a strong contingent for Asian Games. He said that teams would be selected for only those events in which there were chances of winning medals or finishing at respectable positions.

The federations were asked about their foreign training programmes ahead of the Asiad. Arif told the House that PSB has already asked national federations to submit their budget requirement for 2018-19. Arif said that the federations were required to state their training-cum-competition tours for effective preparation before Asian Games.

The meeting was attended by officials of athletics, badminton, baseball, boxing, cycling, equestrian, golf, handball, judo, ju-jitsu, karate, kabaddi, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, wushu and tenpin bowling.

POA secretary Khalid told ‘The News’ that Pakistan would feature in the Asiad in 28 those disciplines whose federations are affiliated with the POA. Eight non-affiliated disciplines would send their teams on self-finance basis.

“Judo and cycling issue will be decided by the POA Executive Committee,” Khalid was quick to add. “So far the position is that a 380-member contingent of the affiliated units and 70 of the non-affiliated units will feature in Asiad,” Khalid said.

However, he made it clear that the final strength of contingent would be decided in June 13 meeting. About the table tennis issue, Khalid told the House that things had already been resolved in the light of the Lausanne Agreement.

SM Sibtain-led Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) is recognised by both POA and International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), but PSB recognises Khwaja Hassan Wadood group.

In the Lausanne Agreement signed a few years ago between Pakistan and International Olympic Committee (IOC) it had been decided that all those federations which were recognised by their International Federations (IFs) would be recognised by both PSB and POA.

Meanwhile, officials of some federations said they were not happy with the time the Board had given to them for Asian Games preparations.“This would be the shortest camp in the history of Pakistan sports,” an official told this correspondent.