LAHORE, April 11: The national sports federations snubbed Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) by not inviting any country to compete in their respective events in the ongoing 30th National Games which started in Karachi on April 9.

The POA president Lt. Gen. (retd.) Arif Hasan has given the instructions during the last general council meeting held in Dec, 2006 to invite some neighboring countries to make it more competitive. But as the games had been started there was no foreign team competing in the competition.

“I have instructed all the national sports federations to invite one or two neighboring countries for the National Games to make it more competitive,” Arif had told the reporters after the general council meeting in Dec.

Arif, who was looking dejected in the wake of Pakistan’s poor performance in the last Asian Games had said the appearance of the foreign teams would also expose the real strength of the Pakistan athletes in different games.

“In national games, Army and Wapda hold supremacy but we are nowhere when the same athletes go abroad to compete, therefore, the participation of some foreign teams will help us assess the real skill of our players” he had said.

Instead to ensure the participation of foreign teams, to make it a tough extravaganza, the POA made it less competitive by allowing its non -affiliated units (Fata, Azad Kashmir, Islamabad, Northern Areas) to compete. Except Islamabad, the sports infrastructure in Fata, Azad Kashmir and in Northern Areas is not adequately available, therefore, the players from such areas are not much prepared to meet the challenges of well established departments and provinces.