POA, KP government postpone National Games for two weeks

Peshawar : The 33rd edition of Pakistan’s National Games is postponed, once again, for the umpteenth time, when it was announced jointly by the Khayber Pakhtunkhwa government and Pakistan Olympic Association.

The games were originally scheduled to be held from October 26th in Peshawar with around 12,000 male and female athletes participating in 34 different disciplines.

The postponement was announced by KP’s minister for information Shokat Yousufzai which was later confirmed by the Pakistan Olympic Association in an official statement sent to media.

“With the safety and security of the athletes always of paramount concern, the Pakistan Olympic Association, Organizing Committee and the Government of KP have mutually agreed to reschedule the dates of the 33rd National Games, 2019,” said the statement by POA, quoting its secretary M Khalid Mehmood.

According to the POA, the 33rd National Games will now be held from 9th to 14th November in Peshawar, while the closing ceremony will be held on the 15th of November, 2019.

“The events, venues, and details of events already notified shall remain unchanged,” it added.

While no official elaboration of “safety and security” was provided in the statement by POA, sources believe that the reason behind the postponement is an anti-government march towards Islamabad by a political party which is mainly emerging from areas of KP province.

This is not the first time that the National Games are postponed. The games were originally scheduled to be held in Baluchistan in 2014, but after being delayed for various reasons and several times, it was moved to KP by POA.

Sources privy to the matter have added that most of the athletes are not happy with the rescheduling of 33rd National Games as they’ve other tournaments lined up and dates of both the events are likely to clash.