Pakistan proposes to hold SAG in October, November 2023

KARACHI: During a crucial Executive Committee meeting of the South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC) on Monday, hosts Pakistan proposed October and November 2023 as the time-frame for holding the 14th South Asian Games.

The virtual meeting was chaired by the Pakistan Olympic Association's (POA) president Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan. The meeting was attended by secretaries of the national Olympic committees of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.

It was learnt that POA told the participating nations that the Games will be conducted two or three months after the general elections in Pakistan which are expected to be held in August 2023. All the nations agreed to the timeframe.

The POA secretary general Khalid Mehmood, who also attended the meeting, told this correspondent that all the nations also agreed on the venues for the biennial spectacle which Pakistan will host for the third time. Pakistan hosted the event in 1989 and 2004.

Lahore, Islamabad, Sialkot, Faisalabad and Gujranwala will host the competitions. Khalid said that some time was sought by the SAOC for finalising the sports disciplines.

“We will again send them the list of disciplines in the next two weeks and they will share their comments with us. We told them that we will again meet after Eid to discuss and finalise the matter. For finalising a team sports discipline the consent of at least four nations is mandatory,” Khalid said.

It has been learnt that hockey, which was not there in the 2019 Nepal South Asian Games, will be included this time. There are also chances of induction of rugby, baseball and snooker.

Pakistan also proposed four disciplines as hosts country. “Once disciplines are finalised we will meet with both Punjab and federal governments to get their input about which events will be held at which venue. Then we will let an SAOC delegation inspect those venues,” said Khalid, who was very happy with the way all nations responded during the meeting.

“The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and all nations, including India, were excited for sending their contingents to Pakistan,” Khalid said. In 2016, when India was going to host the South Asian Games it sent a delegation comprising representatives of the government and Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to Pakistan as a goodwill gesture. When Khalid was asked whether Pakistan would also send a delegation to India before the South Asian Games as a goodwill gesture he said: “I don’t think there is any need of this. Yes, if government wants that we should also visit as a goodwill gesture then we can arrange tours of all nations who are set to feature in the South Asian Games in Pakistan.”