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LAHORE Athletes may become the major suffering party due to a tussle between the Federal Sports Ministry and the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP), as chances of their participation in the forthcoming Asian Championship look dim.
The Asian event is being held in Guangzhou, China, from Nov 10, but the Federal Sports Ministry has refused to issue an NOC to AFP's contingent, saying that they can participate in the event at their own risk.
The Sports Ministry had suspended AFP's affiliation because of their recent elections as its president and secretary's re-election for the third consecutive term is against the national sports policy, which restricts it to two terms.
A Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) spokesman confirmed to Dawn that the ministry had refused to issue the NOC to the contingent because it did not accept the body itself.
'We have also stopped the annual grant to AFP besides also dropping them from the list of those national sports federations whose training camps have been set up by the PSB for the upcoming South Asian Games,' the spokesman said.
When contacted, AFP Secretary Khalid Mahmood told Dawn that the federation had already applied for visas, which they, hopefully, would also be receiving by Thursday.
When asked to comment on the Sports Ministry's decision, he said that he at the moment was unable to confirm if the contingent would be going to China or not, since their visas, too, were yet to arrive.
'We are in the process of sending the contingent to China and are awaiting a reply regarding the matter from the ministry. The AFP will take a final decision, on Thursday, most probably, after getting the visas and also after receiving a reply from the ministry,' he said.
The AFP had also appointed Waheed Mughal, PSB's director academies, to accompany the contingent while attending the Congress of the Association of the Asian Athletics Coaches to be held in the same city on Nov 10.
'But Waheed Mughal cannot visit China as the Federal Sports Ministry did not issue an NOC for him as well,' the PSB spokesman said.
