SA committee to decide 14th Games future on 27th

ISLAMABAD: The South Asian (SA) Olympic Committee will meet on June 27 to decide the fate of the 14th edition of the Games to be hosted by Pakistan in March 2023.

As the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) looks least bothered to move at the desired speed, the fear of delay or losing the Games altogether is becoming stronger with each passing day.

The officials calling the shots at the PSB Headquarters are only bothered to spend a huge amount the federal government has already earmarked for the development of infrastructure for the 14th edition of the Games. No concrete efforts have so far been made to finalise a roadmap necessary for conducting such events in a befitting manner.

“The SA Olympic Committee meeting has been convened for June 27 to decide on the future of the Games. The host Olympic Committee — the Pakistan Olympic Committee (POA) — has been under pressure to convene the meeting as no head way has been reported from the host nation. With less than ten months remaining to the start of the Games, neither the participating countries know about the venues for the Games, nor they have been invited to monitor the available facilities for each game.”

The recent changes in the Ministry for IPC have given a fresh start to the policymaking.

“Recent changes in the IPC offices mean a fresh start to all the arrangements. What policies these officials would adopt is yet to be known,” a federation official when contacted said.

The virtual SA Committee meeting will be chaired by President SA Olympic Committee Lt Gen (r) Arif Hasan.

The SA Games Committee members have already expressed their concerns over the unnecessary delay to complete the basic requirements necessary for such a big extravaganza.

Pakistan was picked as the host country of the 14th edition of the Games during the 13th edition in Nepal. Neither the Games Steering Committee convened any meeting so far nor the organising committee took any concrete steps that could show the urgency of the matter. So much so the Games Secretariat has not been established so far. On top of that uncertainty clouds the selection of venues for the Games.

Around 30 sports disciplines are expected to be contested during the 13-day mega event.

Pakistan has previously hosted the Games in 1989 and in 2004. On both occasions, the Games secretariat started functioning two years prior to the start of the event. This fall, not even a single brick has been laid as no one knows where different sports events of the Games will be organised.

“Pakistan was allotted the Games during the 13th edition in Nepal where the South Asian Olympic Committee flag was handed over to the POA. The fears are that we may see a delay in hosting the Games in wake of no progress at all from the government side during the last two years. Though the one-sided Steering Committee and Organising Committee has been finalized, we are still waiting for the result-oriented meetings. We genuinely fear that we may see a delay in hosting of the event,” one of the officials who was part of the meeting when approached said.

Though the decision had been to hold the majority of the events in the most populous cities of Punjab, not a single penny had so far been spent on the up-gradation of sports facilities in Lahore, Faisalabad or even in Sialkot. “We just know that over Rs four billion have been approved for developing sports infrastructure for the Games. We don’t know where the amount is being spent.”

The federation official said that South Asian countries are keen to know about the progress. “These countries’ Olympic Associations are in constant touch with the POA on the updates for the Games. The POA has nothing to share with them.