ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: The Pakistan Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) has cut down the strength of its squad from six to four for the 14th Asian Games in Busan.

The athletics squad is not being sponsored by the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) perhaps for the first time because of below par performance of the athletes in international competitions abroad.

The party now includes 400m hurdler Allah Ditta and Abdul Rashid, who will compete in the 110m hurdles. Sumeera Zahoor, a 1500m/800m runner is the sole women’s representative on the team while Group Capt. Ahmed Saeed Anjum will be the manager.

Surprisingly, marathoner Naseer Ahmed of Army, who created a new record in the national trials earlier this month by clocking two hours, 21 minutes and 15 seconds was dropped as were Waris Masih and Sajida Ramzan. All three had initially been selected for the Sept 29-Oct 14 Games.

A spokesman for the PAAF told Dawn that out of the reduced squad, one male athlete and a female would be sponsored by the SAF Games Organising Committee (SGOC) while a third runner and the team manager would be paid for by the Pakistan Olympic Association.

Meanwhile the PSB has forwarded a provisional list of 110 athletes and officials for the Asian Games to the Ministry of Sports for perusal which will then dispatch it to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for final approval.

Lt. Gen Arif Hasan, chairman of the SGOC, heads the party as the chef de mission with Brig Arif Rasool as his deputy. Khalid Javed, secretary of the National Rifle Association of Pakistan (NRAP) will be the secretary of the contingent and Jawaid Akhtar of PSB the treasurer.

Other contingent officials include Lt. Col (Retd) Muhammad Yahya, who will be acting as the administration officer and liaison officer to the chef de mission, Lt. Col Dr. Khalid Hussain and Maj. Yahya Ghaznavi.

Out of these officials, Brig Arif and Maj Yahya are to be financed by the SGOC while all others will be PSB-sponsored.

Pakistan will take part in as many as 19 disciplines including volleyball and football, two sports that would be on their own.

The football squad comprising 18 players and three officials is the biggest in size followed by hockey with a total strength of 20.

The strength of other sports is: boxing (10+manager+two coaches), weightlifting (4+coach), squash (3+coach), billiards and snooker (8+manager+coach), rowing (6+manager+coach), sailing (8+manager+coach), wrestling (1+coach), shooting (8+coach).