Members of Union of Arab National Olympic Committees (UANOC) approved and announced the new schedule following its 15th General Assembly meeting held in Jeddah, the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) said.

The secretary general of QOC Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who led the delegation to Jeddah, said the dates were rescheduled due to logistics problems with the programmes of FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The clash of preliminary qualification rounds for FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil and the football qualification matches for 2012 Olympics in London necessitated the change.

Around 12,000 participants including 3,000 administrators, team officials, technical staff members and journalists with 8,000 athletes from different Arab countries are expected to compete in 34 events during the Pan Arab Games, including four events for Paralympics teams, the QOC said.