Only Inam to represent Pakistan in Asian Wrestling

KARACHI: Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) has decided to field only its premier wrestler Mohammad Inam in the Asian Wrestling Championships which will be held in Xian, China, from April 23-28 due to financial issue.

"We don't have money and the government is not supporting us so we have decided to field only Inam in the Asian Championships," PWF secretary Arshad Sattar told 'The News' on Sunday from Lahore.

"If we don't field a wrestler in the Asian Championships so we will not be able to feature in the World Championships which is also a qualifying round for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," the official pointed out.

"If we are able to field even Inam in the continental event then we will have the right to send wrestlers to the World Championships," Arshad said. The World Championships will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, from September 14-22, 2019.

Arshad said that whenever they requested the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) for any financial help the Board said that the government did not want to fund the federations.

For the last several months not a single penny has been given to the federations by the PSB which is the most powerful sports governing body. The Board has been working without a full-time Director General for the last one year. Arshad seemed disappointed over the prevailing sports situation in Pakistan.

"Sports is dying here," Arshad said. "Would you believe we have two such superb wrestlers in the shape of Inam and Inayatullah who could do anything. Had they been living in any developed country they would have been Olympic medallists or close to achieve the same milestone," Arshad said.

"But here the situation is very bad. Tell me who will give me money for backing any wrestler. It is a cricket-mad country and other sports federations find it too hard to get sponsorship," Arshad said.

"In the current scenario we are trying to focus on Inam as he is the sort of player mature enough and is capable to pull off big results even at the bigger stage," he said. Inam was also seen both happy and sad when a 'Pride of Performance' award was conferred on him on Saturday at Lahore during a special function on Pakistan's Day at the Governor House.

"Although I am happy that a 'Pride of Performance' award was conferred on me. But when I will go to any competition there it would not be enough to tell the people that I have got an award but there quality training and top preparation will be counted a lot," Inam had told 'The News' on Saturday.

After attending an international athlete forum in Switzerland in the third week of April Inam will return and will then fly out of Lahore for China to take part in the Asian Championships.

When asked why Pakistan could not organise the Asian Championships since it last hosted it in Islamabad in 1988, Arshad said that it was not difficult for the federation to get such an event but it would need a huge budget and he thought no one would cooperate.

"We can get Asian Championships but you know it will need budget and I don't think any one will support us," Arshad questioned. Pakistan has so far hosted two Asian Championships. It held it for the first time in Lahore in 1981 and then in 1988 in Islamabad.

Pakistan have won one gold, eight silver and nine bronze in the Asian Championships history whose first edition had been hosted at Jalandhar, India, from November 8-11 1979.