KARACHI: Pakistan Army is the top contender for a gold medal in the five-day football event of the 31st National Games which will be held at Islamabad's Jinnah Stadium from 25-29 December 2010.

Army will attempt to make it their fourth gold medal in a row, having completed triumphs of gold in the football event of the National Games three yeas ago, overwhelming hosts Sindh in the final of the 30th National Games Football Tournament .

They earlier won the gold in the 2001 and the 2004 Games. Karachi's gold was overall their fifth gold, having won the top slots in 1995 and 1997.

Initially, football was excluded from the original list of disciplines to feature in the 31st edition of the Games along with cycling and hockey on the basis of security fears.

But after weeks of deliberation and altercation between the Pakistan Olympic Association and the Pakistan Football Federation, football made its way back into the National Games.

The 16th Asian Games gold medalist Aamir Atlas Khan will light the 31st National Games torch, after receiving it from other legendary Olympians.

The Games open in Peshawar on 25 December and over three thousand athletes from across the country including Azad Jammu and Kashmir are set to participate in the event.

With the inclusion of football, hockey and wushu, a total of 21 men’s games and seven women’s games would be played.

The football event will be played in Islamabad along with other two events - shooting and women’s swimming.