Daily Times

Lt Gen (r) Syed Arif Hasan and Muammad Khalid Mahmood have been re-elected unopposed as president and secretary general of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) for fifth and third time, respectively for the term 2019-2023. The elections of the POA were announced to be held on November 26 (Tuesday) but no nomination papers against Arif`s panel were received by the Election Commission till Friday (November 22), the last date for filing the papers, to contest the elections. The Election Commission, approved by the POA General Council, announced the official results on Tuesday (yesterday). The elections were held under the POA Constitution and Election Rules.

Arif has been at the helm of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) Pakistan since 2004 and will start his fifth term on the post with immediate effect. It is the third time that Arif has been elected unopposed. In 2012 and in 2016, he won the elections against Akram Sahi’s panel by a good margin. Syed Aqil Shah of the Khyber Pakhtunkhaw Olympic Association has been elected as the senior vice president. Five men and two women vice presidents have been also elected. Mohammad Shafiq has been retained as treasurer, while one new post of deputy secretary general has been introduced and Mohammad Jahangir has been elected to the post. Five associate secretaries are also elected.

Arif was first elected as the POA president in 2004 after initially being named as the chairman of the organising committee of the South Asian Games. It is pertinent to mention that Arif was re-elected as the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Vice President for South Asia (2019-2023) for the fourth time in a row at the General Assembly meeting of the OCA held in Thailand capital Bangkok in May 2019. Arif, one of the five Zonal Vice Presidents of OCA, was elected unopposed for the South Asian Zone which comprises Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Arif’s unopposed election to the post of Vice President, for the fourth term, speaks volumes of the trust that the OCA has in him.It is under his dynamic leadership that the Olympic Movement of Pakistan has secured autonomy as envisaged in the Olympic Charter. The OCA is the apex sporting body which controls all the sports in Asia. It is one of the five continental associations recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The OCA was formed in 1982 and has its permanent headquarters in Kuwait. Arif was also conferred the highest award in Asia known as the OCA Merit Award in 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia in recognition of his services for the protection and promotion of the Olympic Movement at national and Asian arenas. Arif has led the Olympic Movement of Pakistan with dedication and resolve for the cause of sports as is evident from his determined stance on a transparent and an all-inclusive system in national sports in line with the Olympic Charter. His commitments to the development of youth through sports and gender equality have always been his topmost priority. He has always advocated that sports must be utilised to develop the leadership qualities of youth and build a healthy, vibrant Pakistan through sports.

New POA office-bearers: Lt Gen (r) Syed Arif Hasan (president); Syed Aqil Shah (senior vice-president), Khalid Saleem, Mohammad Zaheer Akhtar, Ch. Mohammad Yaqoob, Syed Mohammad Abid Qadri, Shaukat Javed (vice-presidents); Begum Ishrat Ashraf, Fatima Lakhani (women vice-presidents); Mohammad Khalid Mahmood (secretary general), Mohammad Shafiq (treasurer); Mohammad Jahangir (deputy secretary general); Zulfiqar Ali Butt, Hafiz Imran Butt, Rizwan-ul-Haq, Ahmed Ali, Sohail Ahmed Khan (associate secretary generals); Veena Salman Masud (lady associate secretary general); Majid Waseem, Javaid Shamshad Lodhi, Wajid All Chaudhry, Amna Tanwir, Col Raja Wasim, Asif Azeem (representative of sports federations); Andleeb Sandhu, Sana Ali, Zainab Shaukat, Sumera Sattar, Shahida Khanam (women executive members).