33rd National Games not to feature Football
Football has not been included in the upcoming 33rd National Games which are scheduled to be held from 26 October to 1 November in Peshawar, this year.
The much delayed National Games are finally going to be held from the month of October, which have been delayed since 2014. The initial list of the games does not include football as there is a dispute of parallel bodies in Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), but similar disputes are also existing in other three sports at the provincial levels, namely Judo, Athletics and Cycling, but only Football is out of the gala.
Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Secretary regarding this matter said that football could also be included in the gala, if FIFA would form a normalization committee within a certain period before the National Games.
FIFA is in the process to form a normalization committee as its delegation has already visited Pakistan interviewing notable persons from both groups of Faisal Saleh Hayat and Syed Ashfaq from which a five-member committee, including two members of each group and one chairman would be formed to pave the way for the fresh elections after the scrutiny of the clubs.
The list of 30 sports included for the 33rd National Games are:
Men and Women: Archery, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, cycling, golf, handball, hockey, judo, karate, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, squash, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, volleyball and weightlifting.
Only Men: Bodybuilding, boxing, gymnastics, kabaddi, softball, tug of war and wrestling.
