04-Jun-2012
The News
Waqar Hamza
KARACHI: National Gymnastics Championship is to be held in July and Army is most likely to host the event at Kakool, a top official said on Sunday.
Prof Painda A Malik, Honorary Secretary Pakistan Gymnastics Federation (PGF), told ‘The News’ that the dates of the championship have not been decided yet. “Army may host this event at Kakool because of the extremely hot weather in Punjab,” he added.
Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Army, WAPDA, Police, Railways, Gymnastics Judges Association of Pakistan and Islamabad — all affiliated with the federation — will take part in the event.
The secretary also said he would attend a meeting of Asian Gymnastics Union to be held in Tashkent in September this year. “This meeting will decide matters relating to the Asian Gymnastics Championship scheduled to be held in 2014,” he said.
He further disclosed that he would ask a “high bar” during his visit to Tashkent. “We will get this high bar in the same month and after that we will start training our gymnasts in Pakistan. We have been given different other apparatus by the Asian federation in past,” he added.
A high bar of good quality costs around Rs1 million, and in Pakistan “we don’t have such apparatus of better quality”.
Pakistan’s Mohammad Afzal won a bronze medal in vaulting table event in the 4th Central South Asian Gymnastics Championship held in Dhaka early this year.
Since gymnastics are not so popular in the country, the federation doesn’t always have enough funds to get the equipment required to train players.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/ |
