LAHORE The Punjab Olympics Association has decided to hold the 71st Punjab Games on April 12 to 14 here at the Punjab Stadium. Addressing a press conference here at the National Hockey Stadium conference hall, PbOA secretary Kh Idris said that keeping in view all the situation in the country, they have decided to hold the games amidst assurances of foolproof security for around 2400 athletes. Idris, who was flanked by Niva Usman, Perveen Gill, Bashir Gill and Arfi Farooq, said that the games were to be held in October last but were postponed and linked to the National Games as training purposes for the provincial athletes. Now we have finalised the dates to hold them in April keeping in view the changes weather which will be later followed by Ramazan and Moharram later in this year. And the Punjab players would also get busy in camp trainings for the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. So it is the suitable time to hold the Punjab Olympics, he added. The PbOA secretary said that the provincial government has allocated Rs five million as against the organising demand of Rs 7.3 million and the remaining would be arranged through different resources. The dress rehearsal of the Punjab Games will be held on April 11 and will be participated by athletes from nine zones who have been directed to hold inter-district competitions before finalising strong teams for the provincial activity. He informed that boys competitions will be held in athletics, basketball, bodybuilding, boxing, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, karate, squash, swimming, wrestling, weightlifting, wushu, rugby, tug of war and football while females players will compete in athletics, badminton, baseball, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball and hockey. However, the venues of different disciplines will be finalised in the due course while the players will be given accommodation and Rs 250 as daily allowance, he said. He added that Chief Minister Punjab will inaugurate the games on April 12 and Governor Punjab will be the chief guest of the closing ceremony.