CG preparations on track: PSB

The PSB expressed its satisfaction with the preparations being made by the federations for the Common Wealth Games.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) has expressed its satisfaction with the preparations being made by the federations for the Commonwealth Games (CW) that will be held in New Delhi later this year.

The PSB officials, headed by the board’s Director-General Syed Amir Hamza Gillani, were informed by the representatives of various sports federations on the preparations for the event to be held from October 3 to 14 in the Indian capital. The meeting, held in Islamabad yesterday, also shortlisted the number of probables who were earlier selected by the federations.

Representatives from the boxing, billiards and snooker, baseball, kabaddi, sailing, squash, volleyball, weighlifting, wrestling and wushu federations apprised the PSB officials on their preparations for the CW Games.

Deputy Director General (Technical) of the PSB Abdul Waheed Mughal, who also attended the meeting, said the PSB was satisfied with the first phase of training that concluded earlier this month.

“Our preparations for the Games are on track as all the federations are working hard for the event,” he told The Express Tribune. Mughal, responsible for the preparation of the national contingent for the multi-sport events, said, “It’s a major event so our athletes should be in good shape to cope up with the athletes coming from around the world.”

Around 200 athletes, according to Mughal, were shortlisted in the meeting from a list of over 300. A further 75 athletes from different disciplines would be finalised in the last week of August for the event.

“The list will be prepared after reviewing the final preparation and the athletes who impress will definitely get a place in the contingent.”

Training camp to be held next month

The Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) is finalising the schedule of a joint training camp for the Commonwealth Games that will include 10 other countries.

President of the PBF Akram Khan said the idea to hold the camp came after various countries showed interest in it.

“The Commonwealth countries, especially the Central African nations, were really keen to train their boxers in Pakistan as it has similar conditions to that in India,” said Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2010.