POA dismisses possibility of football team’s participation in Asian Games

KARACHI: The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has dismissed the possibility of sending a football team to the Asian Games to be held in China this November. On the other hand, the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) remains hopeful as it waits for the sports ministry’s response about the country’s participation.

The POA President, Lieutenant General Syed Arif Hasan has said his association has made the final decision of not sending the team to China.

“POA will not reverse the decision, it is a final decision that we are not participating in the Asian Games football event,” Hasan told The Express Tribune from London.

Defending the decision, he said the football team has no chance of winning a medal at the continental event after the side did not even impress at the South Asian Games, held earlier this year in Dhaka.

“Our team failed even a podium finish in Dhaka, so how can we expect miracles from the side in Asian Games which is a far tougher assignment than the regional games,” said Hasan.

Meanwhile, the POA chief said the association is giving preference to the squads that offer better chances of winning medals.

“In limited resources preference will only be given to the squads which have chances of winning medals like hockey and boxing,” added Hasan.

When queried if the sports ministry asks the POA to reverse the decision, Hasan said that the POA will still standby its decision because it is taken in the best interest of the national contingent.

PFF still hopeful

In spite of getting a red signal from the POA, the PFF is still optimistic of getting a positive response from the sports ministry.

“We sent the request a week ago and are hopeful of getting a positive response by the top authorities,” the PFF secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi told The Express Tribune.

He felt that national footballers will miss a golden opportunity of getting international exposure if they do not participate in the Asian Games.

“Our players hardly get international exposure.

We get little chance of playing against top teams like Japan and Korea and by not sending our football team we will miss that chance,” added the secretary.

Lodhi also defended the team’s performance in international events including the last Asian Games in Doha.

“Our team stunned everybody in Doha by giving a tough fight to Asian giants Japan and Korea,” said Lodhi while adding that Pakistan lost to these teams with narrow margins of 3-2 and 1-0 respectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2010.