SAOC happy over selection of Lahore for SAG

KARACHI: The South Asian Olympic Council (SAOC) expressed jubilation when they were informed that Pakistan would host the 14th South Asian Games in Lahore and a few other cities of Punjab.

“The Council was delighted to note that Pakistan will be hosting Games at Lahore, one of the most historical cities of the sub-continent,” Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) said in a press release after the SAOC meeting held virtually on Monday.

SAOC president Lt Gen Arif Hasan, who is also the POA chief, apprised the Council that competitions in some sports would be held in Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Islamabad and Sialkot.

“The Council appreciated the idea of holding the Games at various cities thus not only enabling a larger crowd participation and greater interaction within the people of South Asia but also more development of infrastructure in a larger number of cities,” the POA said.

The Council agreed to initiate the process to finalise the 25+2 sports to be part of the 14th South Asian Games.

Hosts Pakistan will select the two sports, while the 25 disciplines will be picked by the council through consensus. The Council also endorsed the proposal to hold the Games in March 2023. SAOC members agreed for a venue inspection in the last quarter of 2021. SAOC members promised their complete support and cooperation for the successful conduct of the Games, the POA said.

“They appreciated the high quality organisation capability of NOC Pakistan which was seen during the 9th SAF Games and were convinced that this time round it would be even better,” the POA said.

Pakistan hosted the Games in 1989 and 2004 in Islamabad.

The meeting was also attended by the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) secretary general Shahed Reza, Bhutan Olympic Committee secretary general Sonam Karma Tshering, Indian Olympic Association secretary general Rajeev Mehta, Maldives Olympic Committee president Abdul Sattar, Nepal Olympic Committee secretary general Nilendra Raj Shrestha, National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka secretary general Maxwell De Silva and POA secretary general Khalid Mehmood.

The Council was informed that the concept of the Games had been approved by the Prime Minister Imran Khan.