ISLAMABAD, Sept 29: Brig Arif Mahmud Siddiqui, the new Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB), on Monday assured his full support to the national federations in preparation for next year’s SAF Games.

Arif, who presided over a meeting with the officials of the national federations at the PSB offices said that he would do all he could for them to ensure that the teams prepared well for the Games.

“The PSB will provide every possible support to the national players and the federations,” he told the meeting that was attended by secretaries of as many as 15 federations.

“If we need to send the players abroad for training, we will do that in collaboration with the SAF secretariat.”

Arif, who formally took charge as the PSB head only on Monday, is also the organising secretary of the SAF Games that are slated for March 29 to April 7.

While advising the federations to select teams on merit, he announced that the training camps would begin in the first week of October.

The secretaries of athletics, badminton, boxing, football, kabaddi, karate, weightlifting, rowing, wrestling, taekwondo, table tennis, squash, rifle shooting and swimming federations attended the meeting. Also present were Abdul Khaliq Khan of the Pakistan Olympic Association, Deputy Director General of PSB, Muhammad Ashfaq and Director Technical for SAF secretariat, Muhammad Yahya.