LAHORE - The 72nd edition of the Chief Minister Punjab Games will be held from September 9 to 11 here at various centres.

"The games were to be held in March last but they were postponed owing to various circumstances and now the dates has been fixed in consultation with the Secretary Sports Punjab Nayyar Iqbal and all the stakeholders of the games including the provincial sports association,” said Punjab Olympic Association (PbOA) spokesman here on Thursday.

He said nearly four thousand athletes and officials would take part in the sports extravaganza in which Lahore division would defend the title. "Male athletes will be displaying their talent in 24 disciplines, while female will be featuring in 8 events. The nine participating divisions are Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.”

He said all the participating divisions had been asked to start their preparations for the mega event by holding the training camps in respective disciplines. "We will be holding the games in a trend-setting manner and its full dress rehearsal will be held on September 8 with opening ceremony on September 9."

He said the PbOA had requested the Punjab Chief Minister M Shahbaz Sharif to inaugurate the event while Punjab Governor M Rafiq Rajwana would grace the concluding ceremony as chief guest on September 11.