ISLAMABAD, Jan 10: Muhammad Khalid Mahmood, the new secretary of the Pakistan Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF), said Thursday that his aim was to look ahead with a positive frame of mind.

“I do not want to waste time in digging out all the wrongs that the previous federation did but my job is to focus on plans for the future,” he told Dawn.

The PAAF held elections in December last year, that brought to an end the controversial era of long-serving president Maj Gen (Retd) Mohammad Imtiaz Ali and secretary Col (Retd) Hanif Malik.

Khalid pointed out that PAAF’s plans however depended on the fate of the new sports policy and the SAF Games. “Once we have a clear picture of what is actually going to happen of the policy and the Games, only then we can make decisions with an eye on the future.”

The PAAF is to hold an executive council meeting in the last week of this month in which Khalid said important decisions were expected.

The federation intends holding open trials later this month for the SAF, Commonwealth and Asian Games and the selection would then be reviewed by the executive council.

The Lahore-based Khalid, was in Islamabad Thursday to witness the trials for next month’s Fajr International Indoor Championships in Iran.

“We do not want to send a big squad to Iran because of financial constraints,” said Khalid while conceding that lack of sponsorship was one of the major hurdles facing Pakistan athletics. “We will definitely make efforts to find sponsors and also to stage more competitions.”

Khalid felt that Pakistan had a chance of winning medals in this year’s Asian Games in javelin, 1500m, 800m and steeplechase. “So our aim will be to focus especially on these events.”

Meanwhile, later in the day, the PAAF selectors announced the following athletes for the February 7 to 9 championship in Iran: Muhammad Shah (Wapda, 60m hurdles), Ali Yasir (Wapda, 60m and 200m), Abdul Rashid (Railways, 60m hurdles), Ghulam Abbas (Army, long jump), Waseem Khan (Army, triple jump) and Asif Gulzar (Wapda, long jump).

Two women athletes selected were Zeenat Parveen (Wapda, shot put) and Bazgha Ali (Wapda, long jump). Major Nasir Mahmood was named the manager cum coach of the party.

PAAF officials said that the athletes had been chosen in order of priority subject to availability of funds.