LAHORE: Football, handball and boxing events of the 34th National Games are set to begin on Saturday (tomorrow) with the draws in all these disciplines to be conducted on Friday (today) at the managers meetings.
The football draws of the National Games will be held at 3pm at the FIFA Football House Quetta. A senior official of the PFF Normalisation Committee told ‘The News’ from Quetta that nine men’s teams and five women’s teams are set to feature in the football event which will be held from May 13-20.
Army, Navy, PAF, WAPDA, Police, HEC, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab will feature in the men’s event while Army, WAPDA, Police, HEC and Balochistan will take part in the women’s event.
The official said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab teams are on the way while the rest of the teams are in Quetta. The men’s event will be held at the Ayub Stadium while effort is being made to organise the women’s event in cantonment area.
The managers meeting of handball will also be held on Friday (today) and draws will also be made in the sitting. A senior official of Pakistan Handball Federation (PHF) told 'The News' that Army, WAPDA, Police, HEC, Punjab, Balochistan and KP will be featuring in the men’s event. Azad Kashmir team was also scheduled to feature in the men’s event but the relevant sports authorities of AJK, according to sources, don’t own it and handball organisers are making effort to announce their replacement. In the women’s event, Army, WAPDA, Police, HEC, Punjab, Balochistan, KP and Gilgit Baltistan will feature.
The event will be held at the Ayub Sports Complex Handball Court. The managers meeting of boxing will also be held on Friday (today). In the event besides armed forces, WAPDA, HEC, Railways, Police, four provinces and Islamabad will be fielding their boxers.
A senior official of Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) told 'The News' that draws will also be taken out at the managers meeting and the event will begin on Saturday (tomorrow).
“All teams will be there inshaAllah before tomorrow’s managers meeting,” the official said. The PBF secretary Col (retd) Nasir Tung is the chairman organising committee while Balochistan Boxing Association (BBA) secretary Hafeez-ur-Rehman Agha is the organising secretary.
Meanwhile, a KP Olympic Association’s source told ‘The News’ that KP’s football, handball and boxing squads, which could not leave for Quetta on Wednesday due to fragile security situation, were leaving by road on Thursday.
“They had to go on Wednesday but could not leave as security situation was too bad. Today its
70 percent normal and the teams are leaving. Hopefully it would be a safe journey,” the source said.
In order to overcome logistics and boarding issues events in a dozen of disciplines have been planned to finish by May 20. These include baseball, football, handball, hockey, kabaddi, rugby7, tug of war, volleyball, badminton, boxing, fencing and gymnastics.
The Games are being held in 32 disciplines. The formal opening of the biennial spectacle will be made on May 22. The Games will last till May 30. Some teams have faced delay in reaching Quetta but on Wednesday it was decided in a crucial meeting of all the stakeholders and organisers if any team gets delayed in reaching Quetta the schedule of the same event can be revised for one or two days.
Alam Zeb Safi Alam Zeb Safi is a senior reporter for The News