March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, March 27: Confusion continues to exist over the date of the 29th SASF Executive Committee meeting that is to decide the fate of the 9th SAF Games that were postponed last week for the third time since October 2001.

The meeting had been scheduled for April 1 during the course of the Games that would have taken place between March 29 and April 7 in Islamabad but the organisers said Thursday they were not sure if the moot would now be held on that date.

“The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) is handling the matter and they will be sending out letters to the delegates of the member countries informing them when to come,” an official of the SAF Games Organising Committee (SGOC) asking not to be named told Dawn.

“The general feeling is that the meeting cannot go ahead on April 1 because of the prevailing situation and therefore there has to be a new date.”

The postponement of the SAF Games came after United States attacked Iraq last week leaving the organisers pondering if ever the 9th edition would kick off.

The luckless Games have had to be postponed twice before for reasons beyond the organisers’ control. The events following 9/11 led to the Games being put back in 2001 and then again in 2002 when Pakistan and India nearly went to war over the disputed Kashmir region, they were rescheduled for March 2003.

Now there is talk of the Games being staged in October this year but the SGOC official dismissed that saying it was upto the SASF executives to decide that.