All is set to hold 4th Inter-Provincial Games in City: Aqil Shah

PESHAWAR, Mar 15 (APP):Brisk arrangements continue for the smooth conduct of the fourth edition of the Inter-Provincial Games under the aegis
of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) in collaboration with DG Sports KP and KP Olympic Association will be held from
March 18-21 here at different venues across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Addressing a press conference Syed Aqil Shah, President of the Organizing Committee briefed the media persons here on Thursday. Organizing Secretary of the Games Zulfiqar Ali Butt, former International athlete Habib-ur-Rehman, President KP
Athletic Association, Secretary KP Hockey Association Syed Zahir Shah, Presidents and Secretaries of various Associations affiliated with POA were also present.
He said the POA held its meeting prior to the press conference and ensured error-free Games this time in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa. KP got the honor of holding the Games for the second times as it held the event here earlier in 2008, he added.
He said a total of 1500 athletes and more than 160 officials would take part in 24 different games comprising archery,
athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, bodybuilding, gymnastics, handball, hockey, ju-jitsu, kabaddi, karate, rowing,
rugby, softball, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, tug-of-war, volleyball, weightlifting while the disciplines of
cycling judo, golf and shooting would not be part of the Games.
He said that as approved by POA 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 GB has been increased from
50 athletes to 100 athletes.
Aqil Shah also lauded the KP govt for approving a grant of more than Rs 40 million for the organizing committee of the KP Olympic Association.
He said that for the large interest of the promotion of sports in the country, the Pakistan Olympic Association was keen to provide maximum participation to the youth of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
He urged the KP Governor to extend support to FATA Olympic Association so its youth can actively participate in these Games. He said there was 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.
DG Sports Junaid Khan assured that the KP government was keen to extending full support to the Pakistan Olympic
Association for holding the 4th edition of the Inter-Provincial Games.
He said KP was ready for hosting the Games as all facilities of various disciplines have already been revamped and are according to international standard.
He said various disciplines would also be organized in Abdul Wali Khan Sports Complex Charsadda, Hayatabad Sports
Complex Peshawar, Peshawar Sports Complex, and University Campus Peshawar.
He said Chief Minister KP will grace the occasion at the opening ceremony while the Governor KP will grace the occasion
at the closing ceremony.