No place for Pakistan in Solidarity Games: POA

Islamic Sports Federation has not confirmed entries, says Olympic body.

KARACHI:

Pakistan will be unable to participate in the third Islamic Solidarity Games that will begin tomorrow in Indonesia.

The secretary of the government-led Pakistan Olympic Association (POA), Khawaja Farooq Saeed said that the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation (ISSF) has not confirmed Pakistan’s participation.

“We didn’t pull out of the event, but it isn’t possible for us to send a contingent now since the ISSF hasn’t confirmed our entries,” Saeed told The Express Tribune. “There has been some confusion, since the Solidarity Games don’t fall under the umbrella of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) or the International Olympic Committee (IOC), so the reason for the non-confirmation can’t be the internal problems of the POA.”

Meanwhile, talking about the ban handed to the POA by the Olympic Council of Asia earlier this month, Saeed said that the POA will try to clear the misunderstanding as soon as possible. Additionally, the IOC will hold a meeting on the issue of parallel bodies next month.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2013.

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