KARACHI: Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada, held out a firm assurance that the government will extend all out support to the Pakistan Table Tennis Federation (PTTF) in staging the South Asian junior and cadet table tennis championship in Islamabad this month.

The three-day regional event which runs from Aug 27 to 29 at the PSB Sports Complex will be held under the banner of 68th Independence celebration programme.

The minister made this statement while presiding over a meeting of organising committee held at Islamabad Club on Wednesday. This was the first meeting that he chaired after acceding to the request of PTTF to become patron-in-chief of the body. The PTTF president, S. M. Sibtain, told Dawn from Islamabad that the minister has issued directives to the PSB to extend Liaquat Gymnasium facilities for holding a weeklong Asian Table Tennis Federation (ATTU) sponsored regional training camp for participants from Aug 20 to 26 and the Rodham hall for the main event. Agencies

The IPC minister also agreed to extend boarding and lodging facilities to the players and officials in the PSB complex hostel besides arranging a cultural programme, Sibtain added.

Terming the meeting as fruitful, the PTTF chief said minister’s positive support will help curtail the proposed budget to a large extent.

The meeting was attended among others by acting director general PSB Mohammad Salamat, deputy director general PSB Mohammad Shahid, organising secretary Khawaja Hasan Wadood, deputy chairman Hasan Iqbal Gardezi, Shahid Akhtar Baloch, Kifayatullah, Khalid Mahmood, Nadeem Mansoor and women’s coordinator Ms. Yasmeen.