Sindh should be allotted SAG events, says Shehla Raza

KARACHI: Sindh minister and PPP leader Shehla Raza has said that the province has the facilities to host South Asian Games (SAG) events and should be allotted competitions of some disciplines.

Shehla, who is also the congress member of Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), told 'The News' that one good thing is that the SAG 2023 have not been limited to Islamabad as happened in the past. Contests of various disciplines would be organised in Lahore, Sialkot, Faisalabad and Gujranwala which have sports infrastructure, she said and added that the Sindh government has also established a number of sports complexes, laid tartan tracks for athletics and turfs for hockey.

She said she would ask the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) to organise some events of SAG 2023 in Sindh.

She said the province had the capacity to host events of hockey, athletics, football, badminton, table tennis, boxing, squash, volleyball, wrestling, snooker, swimming, rowing, and yachting.

She further said that the multipurpose sports complex at the PSB coaching centre in Karachi has been completed and before the SAG 2023 it would also have a new tartan track. "So why not hold some events here," she said.

Around a dozen hockey synthetic turfs have been laid in cities in Sindh, inclduding Karachi, Sukkur, Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas.

Shehla said that Karachi has all facilities neccessary to organise international sports events. Sukkur has wonderful sports infrastructure as well as hostel rooms for athletes, she said.

She added that four new tartan tracks have been laid in various cities, and another would be laid in Karachi at the PSB centre this year.

"All water sports events can be organised easily in Karachi, including rowing and yachting. Our indoor games complexes have all the facilities. We also have big hotels in Karachi," she said.

She said that for the last couple of years sports competitions were being organised in Pakistan and SAG 2023 would be a high point. “Pakistan has developed wonderful sports infrastructure for such big events and we should try to win maximum medals so that our lost pride in sports world could be regained,” she added.

More than 5000 sportsmen and sportswomen from seven nations will arrive in Pakistan to compete in SAG 2023.

Shehla said that Pakistanis are a great sports nation and SAG 2023 is a big opportunity to involve people and develop sports culture at the grassroots level.

“In the presence of home crowd athletes play with extraordinary motivation to show their skills in front of their friends, relatives, and countrymen.

The authorities should cash in on this great opportunity,” she said.

She said only one year was left before the games but still a comprehensive plan could be made to take advantage of being the hosts.

“Athletics, hockey, volleyball, table tennis, wrestling, swimming, kabbadi, snooker, tennis, rifle shooting, rowing, yachting, boxing, karate and judo are the disciplines in which we used to win medals and

we can start doing well again in them because of home ground and home crowd advantages,” she said.