LAHORE: Javelin thrower Arshad Nadeem will headline a 262-strong Pakistan contingent at the Asian Games, which begins later this month, after the Pakistan Olympic Association finalised the plans for the quadrennial continental spectacle in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

Athletes will start travelling from Thursday, when sailors and the volleyball team will depart from Karachi and Islamabad respectively.

The Games run from Sept 23 to Oct 8 and Pakistan will hope to better its performance from Jakarta 2018 when they returned with just four bronze medals.

Arshad won one of those in the men’s javelin and he will spearhead Pakistan’s hopes for gold, especially after his silver at the World Athletics Championship last month.

In all, 137 male and 53 female athletes will take part with 57 men and 15 women officials accompanying them in China. Hamdan Nazir has been appointed Chef de Mission.

Pakistan’s athletes will be competing in aquatics, archery, athletics, badminton, boxing, bridge, cricket, fencing, golf, hockey, kabaddi, karate, rowing, sailing, shooting, sport climbing, squash, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.

“We are expecting a good show, especially in athletics, as the camps were held in a better way than in the past,” POA president retired Lt Gen Arif Hasan told a news conference after chairing a meeting with managers of all the participating teams.

“The government is bearing the expenditure of 164 athletes while the POA will contribute to sending 98 athletes and officials,” he added.

Arif, however, lamented that enough isn’t being done on sports development, highlighting it was the job of the Pakistan Sports Board “to prepare elite athletes, coaches and develop sports infrastructure”.

“The POA has secured scholarships worth Rs60million from the International Olympic Committee to help athletes to some extent,” he added.

He said he was unaware that no help was extended to the baseball team which, despite being ranked fifth in Asia, would not participate at the Games.

But POA secretary Khalid Mahmood said that only the kabbadi team was included due to the fact it had won bronze last time out.

The hockey team heads to the Games amid a conflict between the Pakistan Hockey Federation and the government and Arif lamented that “the prevailing situation could have some negative impact on the mind of the players”.

The POA, meanwhile, is at loggerheads with Athletics Federation of Pakistan, and Arif said AFP had not appeared before the inquiry that was initiated after three sprinters tested positive at the last South Asian Games in Nepal.

He also said that POA had not sought accreditation for Arshad’s coach Salman Iqbal, stating the “case was sub judice”.

“Arshad won javelin gold at the Commonwealth Games and silver at world athletics without a coach,” he added.

Arif added that the POA might be forced to give a final confirmation to its South Asian counterparts for hosting of the South Asian Games in 2024.

“The POA had held several meetings with the Pakistan Sports Board over hosting the South Asian Games but there are some issues which are yet to be resolved,” he informed. “Once we will resolve those issues we will go on to start preparations for the South Asian Games.”

Published in Dawn, September 14th, 2023