POA hoping for basketball revival

Rival bodies ruining progress in the country.

LAHORE:

The arbitration committee of the Pakistan Olympics Association (POA) is on the verge of resolving the dispute among parallel groups claiming to be the official representative organisations of basketball and badminton in Pakistan.

Rival bodies to the Pakistan Basketball Federation and Pakistan Badminton Federation had sprung up. Although the POA and Pakistan Sports Board did not recognise the rival associations, the dispute had stunted the development of the two sports. The opposing parties had resorted to a court battle to find a way out.

The Express Tribune has learnt that POA’s arbitration committee has submitted its recommendations to the court, suggesting that free and fair elections should be held.

The POA President Arif Hasan said that he hoped to see these problems to end soon.

“We’ve been looking at how rival organisations were causing problems,” said Hasan. “The recommendations were delayed as we didn’t want to rush into any decision. But now everything has settled and both the sports bodies will start functioning normally soon.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2011.