KARACHI, Jan 24: The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) on Wednesday allowed athletes from Fata, Northern Areas, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Islamabad to compete in individual events in the upcoming 30th National Games which are due to take place in the city in March.

The decision pertaining to their participation was taken at a meeting held at Islamabad with Director General PSB, Lt. Col Salah Uddin, in the chair.

The representatives were asked to finalise their individual events and submit the list of participants to PSB latest by Jan 31.

They are being allowed as a very special case and will not claim as a precedent in future. However, they were told to fulfil the requirements laid down by the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to ensure future participation in the mega event.

The POA secretary, Abdul Khaliq Khan, said it was the brain-child of POA president, Lt. Gen Arif Hasan, to bring the above units in the main stream of sports in the country.

Presently, as per constitution of the POA, only 11 affiliated units could participate in the National Games. They are four provincial Olympic associations, Army, Navy, Air Force, Wapda, Railways, Police and HEC.

The units were told that they will be provided boarding, lodging and local conveyance while they have to bear the travelling and uniform expenses.

The meeting was attended among others by, Haji Sanaullah, secretary sports Northern Areas, Gilgit, Faisal Jamil Shah, director sports, Fata, Peshawar, Chaudhry Mohammad Ishaque, director sports AJK, Muzaffarabad, Imtiaz Ahmed Vohra, director, development and finance, Islamabad Sports Board, Abdul Khaliq Khan, secretary POA, Lt. Col Mohammad Yayha, associate secretary POA, Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, deputy director general, (Technical) PSB and Chaudhry Salamat Ali, director (NF) PSB.