POA chief not invited

ISLAMABAD: In a surprising move, the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) did not invite Pakistan Olympic Committee (POA) President Lt Gen (r) Arif Hasan to attend the cash awards distribution ceremony held here Thursday.

Any country’s Olympic committee is considered as the parent organisation of all Olympic sports. The national Olympic committee links sports federations to recognised international bodies and without its coordination and cooperation the national contingents and other squads cannot get recognition. When ‘The News’ approached Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, she also expressed surprise and asked the PSB director general as to why the POA president was not invited. DG Arif Ibrahim’s answer was that the Gen Arif was out of country.

The fact is that the POA president is in Pakistan. When POA Secretary Khalid Mehmood was approached, he said: “I just received my invitation but refused to oblige as there was no invitation for president POA.” At a time when the government is about to carry out comprehensive plan for sports uplift, taking such unprofessional steps will only complicate matters. An inquiry should be initiated why the POA president was not invited.