The Punjab Olympic Association (PbOA) is planning the Punjab Games from Sept 28 to 30. The games, being held after five years, have 24 competitions planned for men and nine for women.

As the time is fast approaching, the Punjab government is playing slowly. The PbOA has yet to get approval for the funds. It will be a hard task for the PbOA to hold the games well on time, if funds are not released.

The games used to be a biennial gala but a tussle between the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) with the government, which continued from 2012 to 2015, ruined every good thing related to sports, including the Punjab Games. The Punjab government preferred youth festivals to PbOA’s Punjab Games.

The gala is a good opportunity for women players of basketball, athletics, swimming, weightlifting, baseball, ju jitsu, badminton and archery.

The main sports of men’s section are archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, basketball, football, gymnastics, judo, ju jitsu, kabaddi, karate, weightlifting, wrestling, taekwondo, tennis, swimming and many others.

With no funds in hands and uncertainty looming large, it seems the games may not be held on the planned dates, as the eight divisions of the province have to prepare their teams for different events of the games. Athletes and officials have yet to get kits while logistics arrangements have not been discussed either.

PbOA Secretary Khawaja Idrees says he hopes the Punjab government would release funds soon after the Eid holidays. He was determined to hold the games as per plan.

In related developments, Balochistan and Sindh Olympics associations have also failed to hold the National and Beach Games in Quetta and Karachi. The National Games are to be held in Quetta in November while the Beach Games had been planned in Karachi from September 18. Security concerns did not allow the Balochistan government to hold the games. The Sindh government refused to sanction funds for the Beach Games. If the Punjab government also follows the suit, the Punjab Games may be postponed for the sixth year.

The Lahore Whites still holds a second spot in the National T20 Cup. Its second round is going on in Multan. After the next round on Sunday, it will be stopped due to Eidul Azha holidays to be resumed from September 15. Peshawar Region is still leading the point-table with 10 points.

Lahore Whites are ahead of their arch-rival Karachi’s Whites and Blues, which are trailing at the third and fourth place. Though the performance of Lahore Whites is impressive, its Blues sting is struggling at the seventh place in the eight-team event. Only Islamabad is behind the Blues.

In Whites’ exciting performance, the key role is of Umar Akmal, who has so far scored 304 runs and continues to be on top of batsmen list. His excellent performance earned him a place in the Pakistan T20 team against the West Indies. His elder brother Kamran is also doing well for Lahore Whites with a contribution of 233 runs.

Salman Butt, struggling to stage a comeback in the cricket after completing his five-year suspension, is also a main run-getter for the Lahore Whites with a tally of 234. Kashif Bhatti is performing well with the leather and has captured 11 wickets followed by Kmaran Ghulam’s seven wickets.

Ammad Butt, a fast bowler of the Lahore Whites, was included in the Pakistan team for one-off T20 match against England last week. But it proved just a joyride as Ammad was not selected in the playing XI and now he has no place in the national side announced for the three T20 matches series against the West Indies at the neutral venues of the UAE from September 23. No one can endorse the decision of the national selectors who first picked him, but only to drop at a later stage.

In coming week, the National Hockey Stadium will be hosting Oman Under-18 hockey team, which is visiting Pakistan from September 15 to play four matches against Pakistan Under-18 team. The Pakistan Hockey Federation has decided to hold matches at the National Hockey stadium. Oman is also preparing its team for the Asia Under-18 Cup to be held in Dhaka in the last week of September. So both countries will get full advantage of the series to give a fine shape of their respective teams.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2016