SAF Games rescheduled for March-April next year

The games, which were originally scheduled to be held in Islamabad from October 6 to 16, will now be held from March 30 to April eight, 2002.

The decision was taken at an executive meeting of the South Asian Sports Federation in Rawalpindi on Saturday where officials of five of the seven participating countries were present, Col Mohammad Yahya, one of the directors of the SAF Games said.

India and Nepal did not send their representatives. While Nepal had expressed its inability to send any official, India had sought the postponement of the meeting, he said.

However, the meeting was held as representatives of the other countries confirmed their participation.

Pakistan sports officials had announced the postponement of the games on September 23 amidst fears of a probable retaliatory action by the US in Afghanistan.

There was considerable reluctance on part of top officials to postpone the event as large sums of money had been invested to create the infrastructure, including upgradation of the Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad, for the ten-day sporting extravaganza.

According to the SAF organising committee, headed by Pakistan army official Maj Gen Syed Arif Hasan, over 2000 sportspersons from the seven countries had confirmed their participation.

India had named a 380 strong contingent to take part in the games.