PESHAWAR, Sept 27: Associate Secretary of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Syed Aqil Shah, on Saturday demanded the holding of a single event of Afghanistan team in Peshawar in the 9th South Asian Federation (SAF) Games, scheduled to be held in Islamabad on March 29 next year.

Talking to Dawn he said that initially the SAF Games were supposed to be held in Peshawar. Former NWFP Chief Minister Mehtab Ahmad Khan has announced that the 9th SAF Games would be held in Peshawar, but the military-led government then shifted the games to Islamabad.

Not only that but during the 8th edition of the SAF Games  held in Katmandu, Nepal, it had been decided that the 9th SAF Games would be held in Peshawar. The SAF Games have been postponed three times since October 2001.

Aqil said that he had aired the demand of holding a single event involving Afghanistan in Peshawar during the last meeting of South Asian Sports Federation (SASF)’s meeting held in Lahore, which had been agreed upon in principle by the members and chairman of the organising committee of the SAF Games.

He said that time has come that the committee consider, the request he had made in order to facilitate a large number of Afghan spectators.

A former senator and member of the Standing Committee of the Senate on match-fixing in cricket, Aqil, said most of the Afghan players had grown up in Peshawar, where they took part in different sport activities and refined their skills.

He said that it would provide an opportunity to the Afghan refugees to watch the performance of their players if a single event was allotted to Peshawar.

About the facilities, he said that Peshawar could hold any discipline of the SAF Games.

“The chairman of the organising committee of the SAF Games, Arif Hassan Abbasi had agreed that the committee would consider the request of holding any single event of the games involving Afghan players”, said Aqil, who said that million of Afghan refugees resided in this part of the country, who would be very keen to see their players in action.