http://thejakartaglobe.com/sports/indonesia-focusing-on-other-events-as-iran-cancels-islamic-games/327432
September 01, 2009 Indonesia Focusing on Other Events as Iran Cancels Islamic Games Iran's National Olympic Committee on announced on Monday that it was postponing the Islamic Solidarity Games, which had been scheduled for Oct. 17 to 28, to next April. Iranian state-run news agency IRNA reported that Bahram Afsharzadeh, the secretary general of Iran's NOC, called for the delay to stave off an outbreak of H1N1 flu in the country. The decision, Afsharzadeh said, was made to prevent the outbreak of the disease in Iran due to the large-scale participation of Muslim athletes from Arab and non-Arab countries. The Games will be now be held from April 9 to 25. The news could be a blessing in disguise for the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), which has struggled to find enough money to send athletes to all five multisport events this year. KOI official Djoko Pramono said the committee received the official postponement letter right after the decision was made at the Islamic Solidarity Sports Federation annual conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Monday evening. "We respect the decision of Iran's NOC to postpone the Games," Djoko said. "Now we can put our focus for the next events, including the Southeast Asian Games." For the Islamic Solidarity Games, the KOI originally allocated Rp 2 billion ($198,000) for 17 athletes from four sports - shooting, table tennis, weightlifting and track and field. With the Islamic Games delayed, the KOI now has more money to spend on either the Asian Indoor Games in Hanoi from Oct. 30 to Nov. 8, or the SEA Games in Vientiane, Laos, from Dec. 9 to 18. "We can spend it to send more athletes to the Asian Indoor Games or the SEA Games. We will have a meeting to decide that soon," Djoko said. The Islamic Solidarity Games were scheduled to take place in Tehran, Isfahan and Mashhad and feature 23 sports. But early last month, Iranian Minister of Health Kamran Baqeri-Lankarani said the Games should be postponed because of the swine flu outbreak. "Swine flu cases have increased in the region, and we told PEO [Physical Education Organization] officials to postpone the Islamic Solidarity Games," Lankarani was quoted as saying by the Tehran Times on Aug. 5. As of Aug. 23, there have been 2,185 deaths from 209,438 cases of swine flu reported by regional offices of the World Health Organization. The Americas have had the largest number of deaths with 1,876, followed by Southeast Asia with 139.
