April 06, 2007	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1428

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KARACHI, April 5: With the advent of summer and mercury crossing 40°C, the timings of hosting the 30th National Games in the city are not appropriate and may affect performance of athletes, people connected with sports told Dawn on Thursday.

The athletes who have been preparing hard to set new standards may not be able to come out with shining performances in view of the scorching heat.

The athletes who will compete in the outdoor events would suffer most as compared to those who features in indoor disciplines due to climatic conditions.

This can be gauged from the fact that 10,000m (women) final is on card on the opening day of the games track and field events at 11am, information gathered by Dawn reveals.Hockey, soccer, cycling, baseball, handball, netball, tennis, tug of war, wrestling, and the water sports will be contested outdoor besides the track and field events.

Another aspect which needs to be taken care from medical point of view is dehydration due to excessive exposure of athletes in heat. It could have been better had the outdoor disciplines were organised under floodlit as has been done in the case of National Athletics Championship which was held at the PSB Coaching Centre here last year.

The weather was perfectly pleasant when the 29th National Games were held at Quetta in Sept-Oct, 2004.

Originally, the 30th National Games were scheduled to take place from Feb 11 to 17 but were extended by the POA at the behest of organisers due to lack of preparations and financial constraints.

It is primarily the responsibility of top hierarchy of the POA to take these things into consideration while finalising the games. A number of POA officials have been shuttling between Lahore and Karachi to sort out certain matters but this factor is completely ignored.