ISLAMABAD, June 28: The National Games took off in a big way here at the Pakistan Sports Complex on Friday amid a colourful ceremony under the main theme of “Unity through Sports”.

National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq declared the Games open while former hockey Olympian Qasim Zia lit the flame at the Jinnah Stadium.

Around 2,000 athletes will be displaying their talents and skills at the National Games which will be watched by thousands of fans at the sprawling venue.

Earlier in the evening, cricket legend Javed Miandad started the torch rally from the impressive Fiasal Mosque which was joined by a number of former Olympians and athletes including squash legends Jansher Khan and Qamar Zaman, Olympians Qasim Zia, Asif Bajwa, Shahbaz Senior, M. Usman, Danish Kaleem, Sadaf Siddiqui, Rabia Ashiq on its way to the sports complex.

The ceremony at the stadium began with a march past by around 1500 men and 500 women athletes representing their respective provinces and departments.

Later, the athletes and sports followers were also treated to a fine representation of the cultural and traditional features of the four provinces at the Jinnah Stadium.

In his comments, Gen (r) Akram Sahi told Dawn that the National Games are meant to uplift the declining standards of Olympic sports in the country and it is a first step towards promoting the International Olympic Committee’s charter.

“The IOC asserted upon its National Olympic Committees across the globe to ensure promotion of the Olympic charter and this is a big step in the right direction,” said Sahi, a key organiser of the Games and also president of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the National Games organisers while following the directives of the Lahore High Court, ensured that all the signs and banners saying ‘32nd National Games’ are removed and the Games are instead being held as ‘National Games’ only.

“We respect the court’s directions. But we also expect justice to be done and are confident that the Games will eventually go into the record books as the ‘32nd National Games’,” said one of the organisers.

According to the details shared by the organisers, athletes from four provinces, AJK, Fata, and departments including Pakistan Army, Air Force, Navy, Railways, and Islamabad are participating in the nine-day extravaganza.

Azam Dar, a senior official of the country’s sports regulatory body — Pakistan Sports Board — informed Dawn that ‘Snow Leopard’ is the mascot of the National Games.

Azam further said that the athletes will be participating in disciplines such as athletics, basketball, baseball, badminton, bodybuilding, boxing, cycling, golf, gymnastics, hockey, judo, kabbadi, karate, netball, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, snooker, softball, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, tug of war and volleyball during the Games.

It is worth mentioning that the first ever National Games were held at Polo Ground, Karachi in April 1948. Father of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, had declared the Games open. According to a handout distributed by the Games organisers, around 140 athletes had participated in that inaugural edition of the National Games.

Meanwhile, the interim committee of POA announced the schedule of the Games according which the event will be held at Jinnah Stadium, Hameedi Hall, Naseer Bundah Hockey Stadium and Gun and Country Club.

The competitions of rowing and canoeing will be organised at the Rawal Lake from June 29 to July 3 while table tennis, tennis, taekwondo, basketball and kabbadi events will be contested at the Shahbaz Sharif Sports Complex, Rawalpindi, Army Gymnasium Rawalpindi and Naval Sports Complex Islamabad respectively.

The sailing competitions will take place in Karachi on the 30th. Also, snooker and golf contests will be held as exhibition sports later in the week.