Athletics bodies’ conflict discussed, negotiations to continue

KARACHI: An important meeting of the mediation committee formed by the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) for resoling the athletics bodies conflict was held in Lahore on Tuesday.

Sources said the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. The sources said that the process would continue as so far nothing solid has been obtained from the negotiation.

When asked whether a constructive dialogue was held, a source said, “It was fifty-fifty.”

‘The News’ learnt that the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) was told that it had not informed POA when it was going to hold its elections in September 2017.

The committee comprises AFP secretary Mohammad Zafar, POA secretary Khalid Mehmood and the provincial Olympic associations’ secretaries.

On Wednesday the issue of cycling will be discussed and on Thursday (tomorrow) an effort will be made to resolve the issue of judo.

A few days ago the judo issue in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was resolved.

The POA has taken the initiative to resolve the disputes in these three federations so that their athletes could feature in the 33rd National Games slated to be held in Peshawar from October 26 to November 2.

All these federations are affiliated with their international federations. But the provincial associations affiliated with these federations are not affiliated with the relevant provincial Olympic associations.