No camps for South Asian Games anytime soon

KARACHI: There is no chance of holding training camps for the 13th South Asian Games immediately for various reasons, sources in the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) told ‘The News’ on Thursday.

They said the Board officials were unaware of changes that the PM’s task force might bring and so they were avoiding making big decisions. The sources also revealed that it had been decided that until the task force, headed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ehsan Mani, filed its recommendations, annual grants would not be released to any federation.

A source revealed that 70 percent federations, including even those whose athletes deliver in international circuit, would not be given special grants anymore which would hardly hit their activities in international circuit.

When the source was asked who took this decision he said it had been taken by the Board.A few days ago a meeting of the stakeholders was held in Lahore in which the federations were advised to submit detailed programme for preparations for the South Asian Games which Nepal is to host in Kathmandu and Pokhara from March 9-18.

A source, quoting an official from Nepal, said that the schedule of the biennial event had been announced but the venues were not yet ready for the eight-nation spectacle.It has also been learnt that the task force is working hard to reach a conclusion about what should be done for bringing improvement in the sports system. A source told this correspondent that Mani had invited a few sports journalists of Islamabad to Lahore for a meeting on next Monday to take their input about Pakistan’s sports scenario.

When this correspondent contacted Mani on Thursday, he said: “I am in a meeting and am not able to talk.” It has also been learnt that former Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Brig (retd) Arif Siddiqui is expected to brief Prime Minister Imran Khan in near future. “Some friends of Arif, who are close to Imran, are managing the meeting. Arif has already prepared a presentation and the meeting may be held in near future,” a source said.

The basic responsibility on the shoulders of the task force is to review the performance of all sports bodies, analyse the utilisation of funds received from various sources and suggest administrative reforms for promoting sports at national as well as regional level.

The sources said that since the arrest of former Director General of PSB Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for his alleged involvement in the Narowal Sports Complex embezzlement, the acting DG PSB Arif Ibrahim has been on sick leave. “And the Board in fact has been run by a senior official Mohammad Azam Dar,” the source said.

The sources said that four names were under consideration for the position of DG PSB.Former acting DG PSB Amir Ali Ahmed, Pakistan Taekwondo Federation (PTF) chief Col Waseem Ahmed, DG KP Sports Directorate Amjad Khan, and Col Asif Zaman, younger brother of former squash great Qamar Zaman, are the ones in the run for DG PSB seat, the sources said.

In 2016 South Asian Games, hosted by India in Guwahati and Shillong, Pakistan finished third, behind India and Sri Lanka, by claiming 12 gold, 37 silver and 57 bronze medals.