BAKU: Around five thousand athletes from Islamic countries will participate in the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games which will be held from May 12-22, 2017 in Azerbaijan.

This was announced by Azerbaijan Olympic Committee Director Konul Nerullayeva in a meeting of the respective National Olympic Committees of the Islamic nations held here this week.

Elaborating on the arrangements for the Games, Konul said that they will be held under the auspice of Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation at sixteen venues in which some twenty disciplines will be contested.

Besides the athletes, about fourteen hundred technical officials will also be officiating in the mega event while eight thousand volunteers will be assisting in the Games.

Pakistan Olympics Association’s secretary general Khalid Mahmood and media adviser Asif Azeem represented the country in the high profile meeting here in Baku.

The disciplines to be contested in the Islamic Solidarity Games include athletics, football, wrestling, tennis, boxing, taekwondo, swimming, aquatics, water polo, judo, shooting, gymnastics, basketball, handball, volleyball, karate, zorkhani, table tennis, weightlifting, etc.

Later, senior official Mark Honeybun informed the participants of the meeting about the banned substances which the athletes must not use while Neil Carney informed about the various facilities to be made available at the mega event.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2016