POA-PSB MEETING: Federations directed to submit entries by June 10

ISLAMABAD: The much-awaited second phase of the training camp for the 18th Asian Games will spring into action from June 20 with all concerned federations given the deadline to submit by name entry and each player’s (participant) record by June 10.

A joint meeting of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), concerned national sports federations (NSFs), Ministry of IPC (Sports Wing) and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) was held Thursday in Islamabad to discuss the modalities for the Asian Games.

The Games are to be held in Jakarta-Palembang (Indonesia) from August 18-September 2.

Following the meeting it has been decided that second phase of the camps will get under way from June 20 at different venues of the country.

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has recently submitted a list of 327-member contingent for the Games with the government officials stressing the need to include only those athletes having the ability to show competiveness.

Azam Dar, PSB Deputy Director (Technical), said that the government had reminded the federations to pick only those having the ability to show competitiveness.

“We want the selected contingent to be competitive at least if not the medal winners during the Games. All the federations’ representatives have been asked to adjust the strength of their respective sports accordingly.”

He added that only Khawaja Wadood (president of Table Tennis Association recognised by PSB) was blunt in admitting that his charges were in no position to compete against the best in Asia.

All the representatives were asked during the meeting to submit the final entry (by name) with the POA and PSB by June 10.

“We have convened another meeting with the POA on June 13 to give the contingent a final shape for the onward submission to the 18th Asian Games organisers,” Mohammad Khalid Mehmood, general secretary POA, when approached, said.

The house was informed that a number of national training camps were sponsored by the PSB during current financial year.

“It was unanimously decided to organise the second phase of national training camps from June 20 at different venues. The concerned sports federations were advised to submit the names of camp trainees, camp officials and names of events by June 18 for holding the national training camps.”

The government got agreed to support the hiring of Dutch hockey coach, sailing laser coach, Brazilian ju-jitsu and Malaysian tenpin bowling coach.

“We have our limitations. The best we can do is to share $2400 maximum for coach. Say if hockey has hired Dutch coach for $12,000, the federation will pay rest of the amount. We would only share $2400 maximum the federation will pay the remaining amount per month.”

The concerned federations were also advised to submit their sports equipment requirements so that these can be purchased after fulfilling all the required formalities as per PPRA Rules.

Director General PSB Arif Ibrahim stated that board has already asked the NSFs to submit their budget requirement for the financial year 2018-19. The Federations are required to indicate their training-cum-competition tours for effective preparation before the Asian Games so that sufficient funds could be allocated.”

All the federations aspiring to compete in the Asian Games have been asked to 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.

Besides federations’ representatives Mansoor Ahmed Khan, DDG (Admin), Muhammad Azam Dar, DDG (Tech) and Raja Ghazanfar Javed, DDG (Finance), PSB also attended the meeting.