LAHORE, Jan 10: The 69th Punjab Games will be held in October, 2002, instead of an early propose schedule of March 2002.

The decision was announced by the Punjab Olympic  Association (POA) secretary Idrees Haider Khawaja Thursday.

The POA secretary said that the decision was taken by the general council since the completion of the  under  construction Punjab  Stadium had been delayed from November, 2001, to March, 2002.

The secretary said that the decision was also taken due to the ninth SAF Games which were scheduled to be held at Islamabad in March-April 2002.

He said that the POA general council also urged the  Punjab government that there should be no further delay in the completion of the stadium and laying of a tartan track in it  for the athletics events.

He said that a five-member committee had been constituted to consider the request of various provincial sports association seeking the affiliation of the Punjab Olympic Association.

Khawaja Farooq Saeed has been appointed as chairman of the committee with Abdul Khaliq Khan, Ali Muhammad Khawaja, Bashir A Gill as members and Idrees Haider Khawaja as secretary.

The POA secretary said that the meeting also  decided  to establish a marketing cell which would explore the  possibilities of arranging sponsorships for all the provincial sports associations to hold their championships in befitting manners.