Thaindian News

Islamabad, Sep 20 (IANS) As an outbreak of dengue tightens its grip over Pakistan, especially over the eastern cultural city of Lahore, a number of scheduled sports events in the country have become its latest victims.

After a majority of the players evinced no interest in taking part in the games due to the threat of dengue, a number of sports competitions have been cancelled or postponed indefinitely.

According to latest figures till Tuesday Morning, the outbreak of dengue has claimed over 60 lives and affected over 8,000 people across the country since the first week of August, Xinhua reported.

The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) Monday postponed to April 2012 the inter-provincial games scheduled for the next month in Quetta.

The Pakistani sports officials also ordered cancellation of all water sports events, especially swimming competitions, and all the water pools have been emptied to prevent the breeding of dengue mosquito larvae.

The Pakistan swimming federation Monday cancelled its two scheduled competitions for women in the country’s southern port city of Karachi after the provincial government announced a dengue threat in the city.

But the fate of the national T20 cricket tournament, which is scheduled to begin Sep 25 in Lahore, the second largest city of Pakistan, has now been cleared after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) showed its firmness to hold the tournament on time despite the epidemic.

Some health experts and sports analysts, criticising the PCB decision, wondered “Who will be responsible if any player gets infected with the dengue virus”.

“We can arrange such tournaments any other time but cannot restore lost lives,” they said.

Several teams and players have also demanded that the venue for the tournament be changed from Lahore or the schedule should be pushed back.