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| November 20, 2003 | Thursday | Ramazan 24, 1424 |
Rival SFA faction wants to host World Cup match
KARACHI, Nov 19: The rival faction of the Sindh Football Association (SFA) on Wednesday appealed to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) to allow it to host the World Cup pre-qualifying home game instead of what he termed illegal body headed by Abbas Baloch.
The secretary-general of the SFA, Imam Bukhsh Baloch, said the decision to give Abbas Baloch-led SFA hosting right would tantamount to allowing an illegal body to host such a prestigious event.
Imam Bukhsh’s SFA was con-stituted according to the sports policy and is re-cognized by Sindh Sports Board (SSB), while the PFF has affiliated the association led by Abbas Baloch.
Pakistan are to play home game against Kyrgyzstan on Nov 29 here at People’s Sports Complex. PFF has asked Abbas Baloch, the chairman of the PFF-backed SFA, for the preparation of the match.
Imam Bukhsh said Abbas had been asked to host the game, although he had been destroying the sport for the last thirty years.
“Abbas-led SFA does not recognize the national sports policy formed by the government.
That body is formed to sabo-tage the national sports policy.
“Abbas had rigged the 1995 and 1999 PFF elections. It will be a blow for us since we are the followers of the national sports policy and recognized by the Sindh Sports Board,” he said.
Meanwhile, SSB-backed SFA denounced the 0.410million grant given to the Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) by the SSB for the participation in the inter-provincial competitions in Lahore from Dec 5 to 7.
In a letter to the federal sports minister, Raees Munir, SFA said the SOA, formed on July 12, 2003, was declared illegal two days after its elections, by Akbar Shah Bokhari, director Sports and Youth Affairs, government of Sindh.
It contended that since the SOA had not held its polls according to the sports policy, it was not eligible to receive the grant from the SSB.
“If SSB will support the illegal SOA, then what is the future of the national sports policy,” SFA asked.
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