POA to finalise CWG matters in meeting tomorrow

KARACHI: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) will on Tuesday (tomorrow) hold a crucial meeting with the national federations to finalise various matters relating to the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.

The meeting will also be attended by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Director General Col (retd) Mohammad Asif Zaman. The meeting will begin at 4pm at the POA office in Lahore. The POA secretary Khalid Mehmood and the PSB DG will conduct the meeting.

Khalid told ‘The News’ on Sunday that during the meeting the final strength will be confirmed by the federations, the POA and the PSB.

In the quadrennial spectacle, Pakistan will feature in 14 disciplines which include two para sports disciplines. The disciplines are: weightlifting, wrestling, boxing, athletics, badminton, judo, squash, swimming, hockey, cricket (women), table tennis, gymnastics, para table tennis and para-athletics.

“The other thing is that the federations will give us the final names so that travelling plan and related arrangements could be made accordingly,” Khalid said.

The POA president Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hasan will not attend the meeting because he is in the United States these days.

“There are also some minor accreditation issues and Commonwealth Games Federation have also shown some reservations. For example, some athletes’ names on their passports are different from those registered with the International Federations (IFs) and similarly there is difference in dates of birth,” Khalid pointed out.

“We will also ask federations when they will send their squads to Birmingham as some federations have international commitments. In hockey and cricket there are some commitments so we will want to make the things clear,” he said.

Khalid said the federations can make replacements within their accredited pools until May 25.

It is pertinent to mention here that some federations plan to hold final trials for finalising their squads for the Commonwealth Games in the next few days and a couple of week time-frame will facilitate them to finalise their squads.

The POA have already finalised a 103-member contingent, excluding the contingent officials, for the Commonwealth Games. However, the PSB plans to back only those athletes who have medal prospects. The Board’s final stance will also become clear during this meeting.

Khalid said that they will sort out this matter with the Board. “I don’t know how much budget the PSB has allocated for the Commonwealth Games. Yes, we have already informed all federations and if there is any issue then that void will be filled,” Khalid said.

As per rules, the Commonwealth Games organisers provide board and lodging free of cost to all the participants and the competing nations will have to bear only the air-fare expenses of their contingents.

Khalid said once the contingent strength is finalised then the POA will also hold an anti-doping seminar. He said that individually all Birmingham-bound athletes’ dope tests will be conducted before the contingent departure.

In the Islamic Games, Pakistan will appear in 17 disciplines, including three para sports.