Pakistan have finalised their squad for the Asian Games in China later this year.
In the women’s category, Mahoor Shahzad and Ghazala Siddique will represent Pakistan. Meanwhile, Irfan Saeed and Murad Ali have been selected in the men’s category.
It must be noted that the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has given June 30 as deadline to national federations to submit their final entries by name for the 19th Asian Games slated to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to October 8.
A well-placed source in the POA told ‘The News’ that the POA has advised those federations who plan to field their squads in the Asian Games to send to the POA their final entries by name by June 30.
“We have to send to the Asian Games organisers our contingent’s travelling confirmation by July 15. Inside five days after we receive the final entries by name from the federations we will forward the details to the Games organisers,” the source said.
POA wants to finalise everything about the Asian Games, including the national contingent’s strength, in June at every cost.
“Yes we will want to make everything hundred percent final in June as we are short of time and we have to meet different deadlines,” the source said.
Sources told ‘The News’ that the PSB has proposed a 150-member contingent for the Asian Games while POA have proposed a 450-member contingent for the Games in 17 individual and three team sports.
As many as 700 accreditation cards have been made but sources said that the federations unable to finance their squads will be deducted from the list.
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.