LAHORE: A two-member delegation of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) is leaving for New Delhi in the wee hours of Tuesday to attend the emergent meeting of the South Asian Games Organising Committee, to be held there on Wednesday.

The visit was made possible after the Indian High Commissioner issued the visas to the delegation comprising POA president retired Lt Gen Arif Hasan and secretary Khalid Mahmood in two days time.

Earlier, the visit didn’t have bright chances as the record of the Indian High Commission in issuing visa to Pakistan athletes and officials has not been very encouraging.

The Games are scheduled to be held in India in October this year and it is the first meeting in that direction.

The POA president said, Pakistan — once a significant sports force at the regional level — didn’t have bright chances to earn top position in any of the disciplines at the Games.

Another debacle in Pakistan sports, he feared, might be in the offing after the nation just witnessed one in field hockey, where the green-shirts for the first time in their history failed to qualify for the Rio Olympics after finishing a pathetic eighth at the 10-nation Hockey World League event in Belgium.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2015

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