29 February 2004	Sunday	08 Muharram 1425

ISLAMABAD, Feb 28: All the SAF Games competitions will be telecast live, the Managing Director of PTV, Akhter Waqar Azeem, said on Saturday.

In an informal chat with reporters, he said PTV Channel-3 would be solely available for full live coverage of March 29-April 7 SAF (South Asian Federation) Games.

The step has been taken to avoid clash with live coverage of Pakistan-India cricket series which will be shown on other channels. "These channels too will telecast important SAF Games competitions live once the cricket telecast is over for the day", he said.

The Indian cricket team will arrive on March 10 to play three Tests and five One Day Internationals against the home team.

The SAF Games will feature competitions in 15 disciplines-athletics, swimming, badminton, boxing, football, karate, taekwondo, squash, shooting, rowing, table tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, volleyball and kabaddi.

To be held at a cost of roughly Rs. 500 million, with most funds generated by Lt. Gen. Arif Hasan-led Organising Committee itself, the SAF Games will be contested by regional countries-Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and probably Nepal.

Infrastructure facilities for the SAF Games are almost ready with the participating contingents poised to send their "entries by names".-APP