New Delhi: Financial constraints, in all probability, led to the postponement of the second edition of the Afro-Asian Games in Algeria.

Afro-Asian Games was first held in Hyderabad in 2003. Algerian capital Algiers was supposed to host the Games from Thursday but now has been postponed indefinitely.

According to the highly-placed IOA sources, the organising committee in Algeria refused to follow the manner in which the Games was held in India and was not ready to pay the air fare of the athletes.

“In the Hyderabad Games, we took care of everything, which covered major expenses,” said an IOA official. “The Algerian Olympic Committee perhaps doesn’t have enough resources to bear these expenses. We believe they didn’t receive enough assistance from their government also.”

Though the IOA president Suresh Kalmadi has blamed the Algerian organisers for the postponement, lack of interest on the part of the participating nations could also be a major reason behind it.

“With the Beijing Olympics to be held next year, most of the countries are not ready to expose their top athletes in the Afro-Asian Games,” the sources said. Kalmadi, however, said that the Games would be held later.