LAHORE: Arif Saeed, president of the Pakistan Rugby Union (PRU), and president of the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) Khalid Mahmood will most likely be the unanimous candidates for the position of president and secretary, respectively in the forthcoming Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) elections to be held later this month.
Well-informed sources have told Dawn that both Arif and Khalid filed their nomination papers for the POA elections to be held on Dec 30 in Lahore.
According to sources, Arif, who is well-known in the country’s sports and business circles, is seeking the support of both the government and POA’s electoral college. Khalid also earned the backing of a majority of POA’s electoral college.
The nomination papers filed by the candidates contesting several POA seats are currently being scrutinised.
Arif, is a son-in-law of former PCB chairman late Ijaz Butt, has been running the Pakistan Rugby Union for the last 25 years, mainly from his own financial resources. He was also a member of the Najam Seth-led Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Pakistan Cricket Board formed in 2023. Arif was also nominated on the second IMC, which was headed by Zaka Ashraf, but he declined to continue further due to other assignments.
As the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) also gave consent on the name of Arif, it is hoped that the tension between the PSB and the POA, which started as a result of the National Sports Policy 2005, will come to an end, sources said.
The protracted tussle between the POA and the PSB mainly due to one of the clauses of the National Sports Policy 2005 that restricts the president, secretary and treasurer of a federation to a maximum of two four-year terms in office, is likely to end and both the institutions will work in the better national interest.
Khalid was first elected as POA secretary in 2012 alongside president retired Lt Gen Syed Arif Hasan, and the forthcoming term will be a fourth consecutive stint for the former.
A major time of Khalid’s tenure featured the wrangling between the POA and PSB, bringing POA on the brink of IOC suspension in 2015.
Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024
