Losing grip: Sri Lanka considers hosting South Asian Games as Pakistan falters

• Pakistan may lose hosting rights for the 14th South Asian Games.
• No concrete preparations, despite only 3 months remaining.
• Sri Lanka is exploring options to host the Games.

Pakistan is in grave danger of losing the opportunity to host the 14th South Asian Games since Sri Lanka’s Minister of Sports, Harin Fernando, has directed his Olympic Committee (NOCSL) to investigate other options in light of the unfavorable reports emanating from the original host nation.

Pakistan was awarded the right to host the 14th edition of the Games, which it declared it will do in March 2024. The Ministry of Inter-Provincial Conjunction’s (IPC) Organising Committee has not yet finalized any preparations in conjunction with the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) regarding the location and format of the big event, with only three months to go until the Games begin.

The South Asian member nations, led by India, have begun a campaign to revoke Pakistan’s hosting privileges and have informed Sri Lanka, the next host, of their intention to consider hosting the Games in 2024.

Dr. Shemal Fernando, the director general of Sri Lanka’s Department of Sports Development, reportedly gave participant federations instructions to prepare for hosting the Games’ fourteenth edition.

Three months before the event begins, the Organizing Committee is unsure of where to hold the huge event or where the venues for the various sports disciplines will be, according to significant communication that The News has obtained from the major players.

A high-level meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office at the beginning of 2021 gave the go-ahead for the POA to host the massive event throughout Punjab’s major cities, with Lahore serving as the focal point. The Organising Committee is still unsure of the location of these Games, nevertheless, two years later. Under the PTI administration, Dr. Fahmida Mirza oversaw the Ministry of IPC, and the federal government had already sanctioned Rs. 4 billion for the event.

The National Olympic Committee clarified that it is the Ministry that constituted the Organising Committee in response to a recent communication from the IPC Ministry to the POA asking for an update on the Games’ progress.

According to the POA’s letter to the Ministry, the organizing committee was formed by the government without the POA’s input at all.

According to the POA, Pakistan’s hosting rights are seriously threatened by the needless delay caused by the government-appointed Organizing Committee.

“It is quite surprising that after the four years of allocation of the South Asian Games to Pakistan and various communications addressing your query on ‘responsible authority for conduct of the South Asian Games’ we are still in a confused state of mind.”

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