Pakistan is scheduled to host the 14th edition of the Games in March 2024
Pakistan faces serious threats of losing the hosting rights to the 14th South Asian Games as Sri Lankan Sports Minister Harin Fernando has directed its Olympic Committee (NOCSL) to look into the possibility of hosting the mega event. Review because the uncertain political situation is emerging in Pakistan.
Pakistan has been allotted the 14th edition of the Games, which the country has announced to host in March 2024. With only three months left for the start of the Games, the organizing committee of the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) is yet to finalize any plans. with the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) on where and how the mega event will be held.
South Asian member states, with India at the forefront, have launched a campaign to strip Pakistan of its hosting rights and have discussed options with the next host (Sri Lanka) to host the Games in 2024. . Sri Lanka's Director General Department of Sports Development, Dr Shemal Fernando has instructed the participating federations to be ready to host the 14th edition of the Games, according to reports reaching here.
"The News" has important correspondence between key stakeholders which shows that just 3 months before the start, the organizing committee was not sure where to hold the mega event or different venues. What are the locations for sports fields? The POA was given permission by a high-level meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office in early 2021 to organize the mega event in the populous cities of Punjab, with Lahore as the main hub.
However, after 2 years, the organizing committee is still unsure where the games will be held. The federal government has already sanctioned Rs 4 billion for the event, the tenders of which were already floated during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government when Dr Fehmida Mirza was the head of the IPC ministry. In a recent letter to the POA, the IPC ministry appeared keen to get an update on the status of the Games with the National Olympic Committee, clarifying its position that it is the same ministry. Who formed the organizing committee.
The letter written by the POA to the ministry said that it was the government that formed the organizing committee without consulting the POA. The POA maintained that Pakistan's hosting rights were at serious risk due to undue delay by the organizing committee constituted by the government. "It is quite surprising that after 4 years of allocation of South Asian Games to Pakistan and various communications on your query about 'Authority responsible for organizing South Asian Games' we are still in confusion. are."