|
|
|
| February 26, 2006 | Sunday | Muharram 27, 1427 |
POA general council elects officials
LAHORE, Feb 25: Abdul Khaliq Khan and Khalid Mahmood were unanimously elected secretary general and associate secretary of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) at the general council meeting on Saturday.
Khaliq was elected in place of Mohammad Latif Butt, who had resigned last year. Khaliq, the then associate secretary, was performing the duties as acting secretary after the resignation.
Khalid Mahmood from Wapda was elected to fill the post of associate secretary vacated after Khaliq’s elevation. “It was a unanimous decision as no candidate came forward to contest the election for the two posts,” president POA Lt. Gen. Arif Hasan said after the meeting.
The PST, he pointed out had raised funds to the tune of Rs 150 million from SAF Games and through other schemes and had spent around Rs 80 to 90 million.
Sports equipment worth Rs 23 million and financial aid of Rs 22.3 million had been distributed among 25 national sports federations, besides holding coaching courses for different sports.
He said in the second phase, the federations which would show improvement would receive more aid.
To protect the future of players an insurance scheme was being introduced with the insurance of 100 players. Each player would have insurance of Rs 60,000. PST would pay Rs 56,400 while the player only Rs 3600.
The PST has also extended financial help to two Olympians, the ailing goalkeeper Mohammad Qasim and Mohammad Ashfaq.
He added that PST was ready to provide more help to Qasim, who had to visit USA again for further treatment.
He specified that all the federations had to give 20 per cent representation to women by March 31, 2006, otherwise, they would not get any grant from the PST.
A three-member committee (Aaqil Shah, Naveed Mahmood, Fatima Lakhani) has been formed to reduce the members of the POA executive committee. The IOC has objected on the heavy number of the committee.
The president said a 76-member delegation would represent the country in the Melbourne 18th Commonwealth Games from March 15 to 26. Pakistan will take part in swimming (six members), athletics (eight), badminton (three), boxing (seven), cycling (3), gymnastics (2), shooting (seven), squash (five), table tennis (four) and weightlifting (five).
A contingent of around 350 members would compete in 18 different disciplines of the 10th SAF Games in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
He informed that hockey had also been included in the SAF Games.
Two events, cycling (both in road cycling), and one in athletics for women (10,000m for women)had also been included.
A contingent of 300-member would contest in the 28 disciplines of the 15th Asian Games in Doha from Dec 1 to 15.
The affiliation to the Pakistan Baseball Federation, headed by Shaukat Javed, had been approved by the committee while in the case of softball was pending as the matter is in litigation.
He said that the next national games, to be held in Karachi, could be postponed till Jan-Feb, 2007 from June-July 2006 due to preparations for the SAF Games. A final decision will be taken later.
The Sindh sports minister Qamar Mansoor, has assured the meeting that his province would stage the national Games.
|
|
|
|
