4th Inter-Provincial Games from March 18 in Peshawar: Secretary POA

PESHAWAR, Feb 22 (APP):The fourth edition of the
Inter-Provincial Games under the supervision of Pakistan Olympic Association
and with the collaboration of Directorate General Sports KP and KP Olympic
Association will be commencing from March 18-21, 2018 here at different venues
across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This was stated by Secretary General Pakistan Olympic
Association Khalid Mehmood while addressing a press conference here at Sports
Arena of the Qayyum Sports Complex on Thursday.
Chairman Sports Commission of
Pakistan and former Sports Minister Syed Aqil Shah, Director General Sports KP
Junaid Khan, Director Operation Syed Saqlain Shah, Organizing Secretary of the Games
Zulfiqar Ali Butt, Presidents and Secretaries of various Federations affiliated
with Pakistan Olympic Association were also present.
He said the Pakistan Olympic Association held its meeting
prior to the press conference and ensured error-free Games this time in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. He said KP got the honor of holding the Games for the second times
as it held it earlier in 2008 in Peshawar.
He said a total of 1500 athletes and more than 160
officials will take in 26 different games comprising archery, athletics,
badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, bodybuilding, gold, gymnastics,
handball, hockey, ju-jitsu, kabaddi, karate, rowing, rugby, shooting,
shoftball, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, tug-of-war,
volleyball, weightlifting while the sports disciplines of cycling (men &
women) and judo (men & women) would be included subject to the approval of
Pakistan Olympic Association in pursuance to the decision of its General
Council.
He disclosed that as approved by Pakistan Olympic
Association the Provincial Association would field their contingents comprising
Balochistan (300 athletes), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (300), Punjab (300), Sindh
(300), FATA (150), Islamabad (100), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (50 athletes) while
on request by the government of Gilgit-Baltistan the number of athletes of GP has
been increased from 50 athletes to 100 athletes.
Khalid Mehmood also lauded the govt of KP for approving a
grant of more than Rs. 40 million for the organizing committee of the KP
Olympic Association.
Khalid Mehmood said that for the large interest of the
promotion of sports in the country, the Pakistan Olympic Association keen to
provide maximum participation to the youth of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and
Gilgit-Baltistan. He desired that the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and
Gilgit-Baltistan should come forward and extend support to their respective
contingent.
He urged upon Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to extend
support to FATA Olympic Association to its youth can actively participate in
these Games. He said there is no dearth of talent in FATA but the most important
thing is to provide due facilities to the youth of FATA so that they should
come forward at national and international levels.
Khalid Mehmood said that KP have rendered meritorious
services in the war against militancy and now after matchless sacrifices
rendered by Jawans of security forces normalcy has been restored to KP. Through
these Games we can give a message of peace to the rest of the world, he added. Commenting
on this occasion, DG Sports Junaid Khan assured that the government of KP is very
keen to extending full support to the Pakistan Olympic Association for holding
the 4th edition of the Inter-Provincial Games. He said KP is fully
ready for hosting the Games as all facilities of various disciplines have
already been revamped looking after meeting the international standard. He said
the golf will be organized in Abbottabad, while games related to
Inter-Provincial Games will also be organized in Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex
Charsadda, Hayatabad Sports Complex Peshawar, Peshawar Sports Complex, and
University Campus Peshawar.
Syed Aqil Shah, who is also Chairman of the Organizing
Committee said that preparations have already under way for the smooth sailing
of the Games. He said, all the players would be provided hotel accommodations
as well. He urged upon all the provinces to provide complete data form of each
and every player and officials for the accreditation well before the
commencement of the Games.
He said Chief Minister KP will grace the occasion at the
opening ceremony while Governor KP will grace the occasion as guest at the
closing ceremony. A request has already been made to the Prime Minister of
Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for the presentation ceremony.