OUR STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE: Punjab Olympic Association (PbOA) and Sports Board Punjab (SBP) have approved the elections of Punjab Squash Association (PSA), led by Secretary, Punjab Local Government, Noor ul Amin Mengal.
The elections of the PSA were held here on February 5 under the supervision of the Punjab Olympic Association and the SBP and fresh office-bearers were elected for a next term of four years. Noor ul Amin and M Mansoor were elected president and secretary of the PSA. PbOA Secretary Idris Haider Khawaja, in his letter written to the PSA on February 8, said: “The PSA is an affiliated and bonafied body of provincial Olympic association and its elections were held according to law.”
It may be mentioned here that the PbOA declared the previous setup of the PSA ‘defunct’ for its failure to hold the elections of the body after expiry of its tenure. The SBP also wrote a number of letters to office-bearers of defunct PSA urging them to provide the audit report of Rs 60 million given to the body for the promotion of squash and so far no report has been submitted to the SBP in this regard. The SBP, in its letter written on February 15, stated that the PSA elections were in accordance with the functions of the SBP mandated under the constitution and, therefore, approved by the SBP with which the PSA is also affiliated.
A PSA spokesman told APP here on Thursday that PbOA and SBP have approved their elections, which has re-established the status of the PSA as the legitimate provincial squash association. “We are in process of finalizing an ambitious activity plan, which will soon be unveiled by PSA President Noor ul Amin Mengal, who himself is a former national squash player. “We will also be conducting a number of coaching and training programmes with our prime focus on junior players to groom them under a long-term plan to create a pool of players to lift the game out of present gloom.”
