13th South Asian Games: Stakeholders meet to discuss Pakistan’s preparation

KARACHI: Pakistan’s sports stakeholders on Thursday met in Lahore and discussed in detail the preparatory plan of the country for featuring in the 13th South Asian Games which will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, from March 9-18.

Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) chief Lt Gen (retd) Syed Arif Hasan chaired the meeting held at the Olympic House.Besides the representatives of 15 federations, the meeting was also attended by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Deputy Director General Mansoor Ahmed Khan.

“The concerned national sports federations presented in the meeting their presentations on topics including selection criteria of athletes, strength of athletes which must be rational keeping in view their ranking in Asia, induction of foreign and local coaches, domestic training, training abroad for potential athletes/teams and expected performance in the 13th South Asian Games,” the POA said on Thursday.

The POA chief emphasized in the meeting that competition at the South Asian Games 2019 would be very tough, adding, the other South Asian countries had already started their training for the Games.

“We have to work very hard,” Arif told the meeting. The federations have been advised to submit detailed roadmap for both the local and foreign training indicating the competition/championships in line.

“A list of required foreign coaches and equipment may also be submitted to PSB for favourable consideration,” the POA informed.In the previous 2016 South Asian Games hosted by India in Guwahati and Shillong, Pakistan’s performance was not good as the nation had finished third behind India and Sri Lanka by claiming 12 gold, 37 silver and 57 bronze.

India is strong while Sri Lanka is also set to prepare well as it has already signed an agreement with the Chinese NOC for providing top training to its athletes in China ahead of the biennial event.