September 9, 2003	Tuesday	Rajab 11, 1424

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LAHORE, Sept 8: India has confirmed that a five-member delegation will attend the extra-ordinary meeting of the South Asia Sports Federation (SASF) executive committee meeting to be held in Lahore on Sept 18 to decide the fate of the 9th SAF Games.

The SAF Games scheduled to be held at Islamabad in 2002, have been postponed thrice due to regional security concerns.

The venue was shifted to Sri Lanka in March this year. Later, Sri Lanka refused to host the games on the grounds that it was already designated to host the the 10th edition of the Games.

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) secretary Mohammad Latif Butt, said on Monday that except Sri Lanka all member countries have confirmed their participation.

He elaborated that India was sending five delegates while Pakistan and Nepal had three and two-members respectively.

 The other four countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Maldives were sending one delegate each.

Latif said that most striking aspect of the meeting would be the sizable representation of the Indian Olympic Committee (IOC) as it provided strength for the cause of sports in South Asia.

IOC had been reluctant to send its contingent before the Games were suspended for the third time due to USA war on Iraq. But now it has extended its full support to Pakistan, rejecting Bangladesh’s proposal to host the games in place of Sri Lanka.

India’s favorable response prompted POA to send another summary to the federal government to get back the Games. After the government’s approval the SASF meeting had been summoned to decide the future of the game.

The IOC president Suresh Kalmadi, his two vice-presidents Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Braham Swarup Ojha, secretary general Raja Randhir Singh and a representative S Aziz Qureshi are included in the delegation.

 Pakistan is being reoresented by Khawaja Farooq Saeed, Syed Aqil Shah and Ahsan Alam. From Nepal, Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan and Bishnu Gopal Shrestha are attending while from Afghanistan, only Abdul Saboor Aziz is coming.

The other delegates are Zafar Imam (Bangladesh), D K Chetri (Bhutan) and Mohammad Zahir Naseer (Maldives).

Latif said that the meeting would be held in two sessions — informal and formal. The federal sports minister Rais Munir Ahmad will preside over the informal session. Later, POA and SASF president Syed Wajid Ali Shah would chair the formal session.