LAHORE    -   An emergent executive committee meet­ing of the Pakistan Olympic Asso­ciation (POA) revolved around the Pakistani Contingent for XXII Common­wealth Games, Birmingham (Eng­land), and the 5th Is­lamic Solidarity Games, Konya (Turkey) in particular the arbitrary cuts, imposed by PSB with no rationale whatsoever and without consulting any of the stakeholders.

Executive Committee, held un­der chairmanship of POA Presi­dent Lt Gen (R) Syed Arif Hasan, expressed concerns at the irra­tional and drastic reductions in the athletes and in some cases the replacement of officials other than those recommended by the federations, said POA Secretary Khalid Mahmood on Monday.

This reduction without any cogent or plausible reason was noted by the Athlete’s Commis­sion representative, who termed this a very unfortunate develop­ment for those athletes, who were working hard for years. The EC noted with great concern that these actions by the PSB and that too at this very belated stage have put in peril their participation leav­ing no choice but to opt for high-cost travelling and other arrangements.

“The EC was unani­mous that the rights of all such athletes will be pro­tected and supported by POA and NSFs ensuring their participa­tion. The EC said medals at inter­national levels can only be won if the athletes are provided with enough and regular opportuni­ties at int’l level for training and competitions,” he said.

The POA official said the Chief Medical Officer registered with organising committee since last six months and working with concerned departments/indi­viduals for medical, doping and Covid issues of Pakistan contin­gent had also been excluded. It was noted that while the athletes were dropped, the PSB officials/staff were included in dispropor­tionate numbers.

Khalid said the EC recalled the recent past, when athletes lacked support from the PSB. This as­pect was brought to the notice of IPC Minister Ehsan ur Rehman Mizari by the POA with the re­quest that since the PSB had re­fused to support the athletes, the POA and the federations would try to finance them on their own.

The IPC Minister, acceding to the request, extended valuable support to send athletes at the mega events to represent Paki­stan. “The EC thanked the Min­ister for his understanding and support which was always forth­coming,” he asserted.

The house also stressed that all preventive measures should be in place to safeguard Pakistan contingent from Covid 19. He said the EC also considered the reports circulating in the media regarding selection of athlete(s) and noted that all the athletes have been ac­credited upon the recommenda­tion of their respective NSFs and in some case(s) by their depart­ments particularly those depart­ments, who are affiliated with POA and are holding the title of national champions in the respec­tive sports.