KARACHI: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President Lt Gen (r) Arif Hasan said that POA wants to portray a soft image of Pakistan through 33rd National Games torch relay across the country in the lead up to the games in Peshawar. Arif further said that the preparatory work for the National Games is progressing smoothly and thanked the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for their support. The National Games will run from October 26 to November 1 in Peshawar. The PA chief also thanked Punjab Olympic Association for hosting the torch relay in a befitting manner.

“We want to show it to the world that Pakistan is a peaceful and sports loving nation,” Arif said on the occasion of the torch relay reaching historic Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore on Wednesday.

Olympians Khwaja Junaid, Naved Alam, Wall City of Lahore Director Kamran Lashari, Lahore Qalandars’ CEO Atif Rana, POA Secretary Khalid Mehmood, Punjab Olympic Association President Amir Jan, Secretary Khwaja Idrees Haider, Torch Committee Chairman Mohammad Abid Qadri and other officials of sports associations, athletes and sports fans were also present on the occasion.

Meanwhile, Kamran Lashari praised the people of Lahore for welcoming the torch relay with great enthusiasm. Amir Jan said that Punjab Olympic Association will do its best to help and support the National Games and vowed to send a strong contingent of Punjab to participate in the Games.

Meanwhile, Olympians Khwaja Junaid, Naveed Alam, Shabana Akhtar, Rabia Ashiq, Babar Ali Khan, Faisal Kareem and Zulfiqar Ali took the torch to downtown where a colorful ceremony was held at the Delhi Gate.

At the end of the ceremony, the torch was then taken to Hazuri Bagh in a colorful Rickshaw which had cultural sites and landmarks painted all over it.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2019