PARIS: The South Asia Olympic Council (SAOC) members, who held their meeting on the sidelines of the Paris Olympics competitions, stressed Pakistan to announce the South Asian Games 14th edition dates in consultation with the government before September.
‘The News’ has learnt from well-informed sources that South Asian countries are keen to get the final dates of the Games considering the law and order situation arising in Bangladesh.
“The member countries have shown keen interest in participating in the 14th edition of the Games and have asked to finalise the dates in consultation with the host government.” Earlier, the Member Countries had given a go-ahead to the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to set early February 2025 as a possible time to hold the Games.
Since Pakistan has yet to respond, the member countries have now stressed that Pakistan should announce the final dates by September 2024 so that the participating countries could start preparations for the mega event.
“Yes, all member countries have requested to share the final dates for holding the Games by September so that the required preparation can be carried out. The members have also expressed their concerns on the law and order situation in Bangladesh and have suggested that the Olympic Committee in Bangladesh should also be consulted before announcing the fresh dates.
“Representatives of the member countries were highly concerned about the law and order situation in Bangladesh and have suggested that the Olympic Committee members should also be consulted before announcing the dates.”
An official of the POA, when contacted, said that member countries were interested to know what measures will be taken by the government of Pakistan to complete the visa, security and traveling facilities for the visiting teams and officials.
“Since they are keen to know about the visas, security and traveling facilities to be offered to the visiting teams and officials, they want the POA to come up with concrete answers from the government.”
The POA official added that there were some pending questions from the member countries that only the government could answer. “We will soon be meeting with the Pakistan Sports Board and ministry officials to get the said answers before coming back to the member countries. The POA does not have answers to some of the questions which are directly linked with the government,” he said.
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