Pakistan’s Commonwealth Games team will be full-strength is news of the day. Read out the complete details down below!
Pakistan’s Commonwealth Games team will be full-strength
On Monday, the Pakistan Olympic Association said that Pakistan would send a full-strength team to the Commonwealth Games. Thus the country’s sports board agreed to pay for some of the costs. Pakistan will send 103 athletes to the Games, which will take place from July 28 to August 8 in Birmingham, England. The Pakistan Sports Board will pay for 56 of them.So the national sports federations will pay for 27 others, and the Pakistan Cricket Board will pay for 20 members of the women’s cricket team. So, the Pakistani badminton team, which the PSB had previously disbanded, will be able to compete in the Olympics again. The decision was made at a “emerging” meeting of the POA’s Executive Committee on Saturday. This was because the PSB didn’t agree to take care of the full contingent.It was suggested by the POA and the federations.
The PSB also cut from 114 to 73 the number of people who were going to the Islamic Solidarity Games. It was set to start on August 9 in Konya, Turkey. But at a meeting on Saturday, the POA and the federations decided to pay for the rest of the 41 athletes. The POA, on the other hand, said that the PSB had “no reason” to make what it called “arbitrary cuts” without consulting anyone with an interest in the matter.
Arshad Nadeem made it to the finals at the Olympics in the javelin throw. Inam Butt won a bronze medal in wrestling at the Olympics. They all will be among the Pakistani athletes who go to Birmingham on July 23. The women’s cricket team will join the rest of the group after the current tri-series in Ireland is over.
Official Statements
“The Executive Committee (EC) during its deliberation expressed serious concerns at the irrational.Thus drastic reductions in the athletes. Thus in some cases the replacement of officials. It was other than those recommended by the Federations,” said a POA press release on Monday.
“This reduction without any cogent or plausible reason was noted by the Athlete’s Commission representative. It termed this as a very unfortunate development for those athletes who were working hard for years.
“The EC noted with great concern that these actions by the PSB and that too at this very belated stage have put in peril their participation. It left no choice but to opt for high cost travelling and other arrangements.”
