JEDDAH, April 5: A 134-member Pakistan contingent arrived here on Monday morning to take part in the Islamic Solidarity Games scheduled to be organized in four cities from Friday.

Apart from 134 players and officials, six more members of the tour party are expected to arrive on Wednesday, while contingents from 19 other countries have also reached.

Pakistan will participate in athletics, basketball, football, handball, karate, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball.

The Games will start after the opening ceremony in the holy city of Makkah on Friday at 8.00pm (local time), while the closing ceremony will be held in the same city on April 20.

According to official figures, the Games will be held at 56 venues of four cities, Makkah (11), Madina (12), Jeddah (18), Taif (15). As many as 7,000 athletes and officials of 54 countries are to compete in 16 different disciplines.

Pakistani coaches were not confident about any big success but said they would try to return home with positive results.

Pakistan had chances to earn a medal in weightlifting but lost the opportunity after the International Weightlifting Federation slapped ban on the Pakistan Weightlifting Federation as three weightlifters who won medals in the last SAF Games tested positive. The ban is effective till April 11.

Pakistan is hoping to grab medal in tennis competitions but coach Rashid Malik said that since the matches would be played on hard surface it would be difficult for his players to grab medals.

“I would have predicted to win the gold had we been playing on grass. But as we are playing on hard surface it is very difficult to predict,” he said.

Ahmad Safi, the Iranian coach of the Pakistan karate team said that his boys were fit but the chances for gold medals were slim.

“Players have improved their standard in the past two months and after some more training we can win medals at the next SAF Games. But it will be hard to win medals here,” he said.

Similarly, Rana Ghufran, athletics coach said the athletes had good preparations but did not predict the results.

“I am unaware about the strength of the other countries, therefore, it is difficult to say anything now,” he said.

However, swimming coach Bashir Ahmad was hopeful and said the swimmers had improved their timings considerably during the training in Islamabad and added if they maintained their timings they would earn medals.

Kashif Razzaq, a table tennis player, however, claimed that Pakistan would not return back empty handed.

“The tour of China gave us much exposure and I believe we will claim few medals,” he said.

Fung Lee, the Chinese coach of the Pakistan volleyball team was hopeful that his team would come on the victory stand.

“I am not claiming the top position but I am expecting second or third spot.”

Mohammad Bashir, the basketball coach, said for the first time the national training camp was held to prepare for the Games after a lapse of 11 years.

“The boys are making best efforts for the big event to get maximum international exposure and hopefully we will improve,” he said.

According to unconfirmed reports, Kuwait has withdrawn from the football competition. Kuwait are placed with Pakistan in the same group. They are scheduled to play on April 11 in Taif. Only football competitions are being held in all the four cities.

Makkah will host athletics, taekwondo and handball events, Madina will organize basketball, karate, football and weightlifting.

Jeddah is the venue for volleyball, equestrian, special needs sports, water polo and swimming, while fencing, tennis and table tennis competitions will be held in Taif.

Meanwhile, the media are facing hardships in getting latest information as no member of the organizing committee is available at the media centre which started working from Tuesday.