Important SAG meeting today

KARACHI: A vital meeting of the executive committee of the South Asian Olympic Council will be held at New Delhi on Wednesday (today) to finalise dates and disciplines for the 12th South Asian Games which are likely to begin in the second week of December at Guwahati and Shillong.
Pakistan will be represented in the meeting by Pakistan Olympic Association’s (POA) president Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan and secretary Khalid Mehmood.
They proceeded to India’s capital on Tuesday.
Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) is also waiting for the outcome of the meeting.
“We will plan for the event when we get details from the POA delegation after it returns from New Delhi,” a senior official of the Board told ‘The News’ on Tuesday.
“The finance committee of the board will meet soon which will allocate funds for the events to be held in this financial year, including the SAG which is very important for us,” the official said.
He hoped that everything would be done to ensure quality participation of Pakistan in the region’s major extravaganza.
Indian media reports suggest that around 2500 athletes from eight nations will be part of the 12-day slots.
But according to sources there are chances that the strength could be reduced. There are also some reports that women’s judo events could be scrapped.
But president of Judo Federation of India (JFI) Mukesh Kumar said this was proposed but he took it up with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and he was confident that both genders would be part of the judo slots.
“It has to be fair with both genders and I can confirm that both male and female judokas will be part of the judo competitions. But there may be some reduction in weights,” Mukesh told ‘The News’ from India on Tuesday.
The last time this event was staged in Dhaka in 2010 with 23 disciplines, cricket making its debut.
However, it’s not yet known whether cricket will be able to retain its spot. The under-21 teams of the competing nations were part of the competitions.
India was supposed to host the 12th SAG in 2012 but it had to be postponed due to various reasons, including the general elections in India and suspension of the IOA by International Olympic Committee (IOC) in December 2012.
For maximum participation in SAG, Pakistan will have to resolve issues of recognition of certain federations.
Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF), Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) and Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) are recognised by their respective international federations, but not by Munawar Baseer-led PCF and Shujaat Ali Rana-led PJF. AFP’s relations with the POA are also strained. PCF will hold its elections in September.
The 2010 South Asian Games were historic for Pakistan as Naseem Hameed became Pakistan’s first female sprinter in the history of the Games to win a gold medal in 100 metre sprint with a timing of 11.81 seconds.