LAHORE: The Punjab Olympics Association has decided to boycott the 31st National Games due to be held in Peshawar next month due to a lack of training of its players The announcement came after the POA cancelled the organisation of the 71st Punjab Games which were postponed for the fourth successive time. According to a POA official, the Punjab athletes are not in a position to take part in the country’s major sporting event due to a lack of competitive training.
“We were forced to cancel the Punjab Games which was to serve as a preparatory platform for the Punjab athletes,” he added.
He said that the Punjab Sports department is not releasing the money announced by the Punjab government and for that reason the PbOA will be unable to hold the Games in the scheduled time from December 1 to 5.
Meanwhile, the Presidents and Secretaries of about 15 sports associations have joined hands against what they termed as ‘unethical, unprofessional and unsupportive attitude’ of Sports Secretary Ahmed Nawaz. They threatened to stage a long march and hold a protest demonstration if he was not removed from the Sports department.
Prominent amongst those who held a press conference were former Mr.Asia Mushtaq Ahmed, Judo President Joji Butt, Gymnastic Secretary Painda A Malik, Weightlifting Secretary Malik Rashid, Bashir Butt (karate), Malik Iftikhar (wushu), Shahjahan Latif (table tennis), Waqar Ali (cycling), Tayyab (badminton), Mohammad Babar (taekwondo).
They also demanded the release of money the associations have spent for the camp trainings in order to prepare repeatedly for postponed Punjab Games.
Painda Malik said the sports officials and sportspersons are being insulted by a bureaucrat and it would be a better option to close the Sports department.
They asked Chief Minister Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, to induct a sports loving bureaucrat in the Sports department and remove Ahmed Nawaz from his current place.
