ISLAMABAD President Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), Makhdoon Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat, has requested Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani to help include Pakistan soccer team in the upcoming 16th Asian Games scheduled to be held from November 12 to 27 at Guangzhou, China. Talking to TheNation on Wednesday, Faisal said that the Ministry of Sports and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) officials were causing hurdles in sending the football team abroad for international competition. I was compelled to write to the Prime Minister about the facts. We had asked the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to make the football team part of the national contingent but they replied that the PSB and the Ministry of Sports was not willing to release funds for soccer team, he said. He said that there should be no political interference in sports affairs. We produced good results in the recent international events and we improved the standard of the game in the country as well. It is good sign that the PM released millions for hockey and I hope they will treat other games in the same way, he said. Millions of football enthusiasts and the talented youth of Pakistan, attached to this game, will be greatly disappointed on not sending the national team to the Asian Games. I urge the PM, in the interest of this national sport to immediately direct the Ministry of Sports to include football as one of the games we intend to participate in the quadrennial Games. Time is short and urgent action is required without further loss of time, Faisal requested in the letter. He added, It is hoped that in the greater interest of sports and Pakistan, government will rise above political considerations and give football its due and rightful place amongst the rapidly emerging sports of the country. The participation of the national outfits in the Asian Games, will certainly be instrumental in further raising the standard of this game both home and abroad, he viewed. The performance of our team was praiseworthy in the 15th Asian Games four years back and can be clearly gauged by the highly complementary report given by the then Chef-de-Mission, Air Marshal Rashid Kalim, who watched Pakistans matches at Qatar. His remarks were: 'Quite unexpectedly, it was our performance in football which made us proud at Doha. Pakistan football team performance was courageous against Asian powerhouses Japan, Korea and Syria, he wrote.