Asian boss to help resolve Pak sports crisis

KARACHI: In a bid to resolve the issue of parallel federations, Olympic Council of Asia’s (OCA) president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah is expected to arrive in Pakistan in the near future.
According to well-placed sources Sheikh Ahmed, who is also the vice-president of International Olympic Committee (IOC), had shown his commitment to resolve Pakistan’s issue during a meeting with the POA president Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan and Major General Akram Sahi in Lausanne on October 17.
Sheikh Ahmad on Friday was in Washington to attend the executive council meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).
He is also the president of the ANOC.
Sources said after listening to Akram Sahi and Arif Hasan in Lausanne (Switzerland), Sheikh Ahmad decided to visit Pakistan so that the differences in the sports community could be resolved to pave way for a fair and transparent elections of the POA which are expected to be held in January.
Sheikh had invited Akram Sahi after he met with him in Beijing during the World Athletics Championship in August.
Sheikh will also be accompanied by the IOC and OCA representatives during his Pakistan’s visit, sources said.
Meanwhile, sources in the POA said that Arif Hasan was set to contest elections for the fourth successive time.
“Yes, Arif will contest and will elect again without any doubt,” a source close to Arif said.
He has been at the helm of POA affairs for the last 12 years.
However, his current four-year tenure, which will expire early next year, was marred by the differences between POA and the government over certain issues of the sports policy.
However, finally, Pakistan’s government signed a deal with the IOC by accepting Arif Hasan-led POA. It was also decided that those federations would be accepted by the PSB and the POA who are recognised by their International Federations (IFs).
Although the POA-government relations have been re-established but still sports community to some extent seems divided which needs to be brought together on a single platform before the POA elections.