LAHORE: Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) president retired Gen Arif Hasan on Wednesday criticised the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for not having formulated preparation plans for both the Commonwealth and Asian Games which will be held next year.

“We shouldn’t expect any medals next year,” Arif told reporters as he unveiled Thursday’s ‘Fun-Run programme’ of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), aimed at creating awareness for next year’s Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia in September.

“While there is still time for the Asian Games, there is hardly any left for preparing for the Commonwealth Games,” added Arif about next year’s edition in Gold Coast, Australia in April.

“And yet instead of focusing on preparing the contingents for the Games, the PSB is busy in organising the Quaid-i-Azam Inter-Provincial Youth Games from Dec 25 in Islamabad.”

The POA chief said that PSB’s job was to give grants rather than organising events and expressed his surprise that the PSB announced the holding of the Quaid-i-Azam Games just 19 days prior to the event.

“How can a province hold trials in 19 different sports to select teams and then hold separate training camps in such a short period,” questioned Arif.

“The entire exercise would be futile and the amount of Rs130 million earmarked for this four-day event would be better spent on preparing contingents for the Commonwealth and Asian Games.”

The ‘Fun-Run’ programme, meanwhile, will be held here at the Wapda Sports Complex and has brought three OCA members Jeans Zhou Jian, Elena Hristova Chakarova and Zahid Hafeez to Pakistan, which is the first of 28 countries selected for the event in which school boys and girls will take part.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2017