Pak wrestling starved of resources as Rio Olympics near

KARACHI: In 1960 Rome Olympics, Pakistan had won bronze medal in wrestling through Mohammad Bashir but since then the discipline has not been able to produce anything noteworthy on international circuit for the country which is brimming with immense talent, particularly in Punjab.

The main reason behind Pakistan’s mediocre run in international events in wrestling outside South Asia is the lack of resources. For the last several decades, national grapplers have not been able to even make it to the Olympics. The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) receives Rs200 million annual grant from its government and with the qualifying rounds for 2016 Rio Olympics still ahead, one of its wrestlers has already qualified for Rio in the 74kg through World Championships held in the United States in September last year.

A top official of Pakistan Wrestling Federation (PWF) said unless the government invests in wrestling it would be difficult for the country to produce world-class wrestlers.

“Our annual budget is only Rs1.5 million. We are to hold five national events besides managing the expenses of our office. How will we be able to produce quality wrestlers through such a small budget?,” PWF secretary Mohammad Arshad Sattar told ‘The News’ in an interview from Lahore on Saturday.

“In Pakistan no one thinks for sports. We are very much behind the rest of the world. If we are to produce world-class wrestlers, our annual grant should be at least Rs50 million,” said Arshad, also a former international.

“We will have to focus on youth, like Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 batches. With resources in hand, if we start grooming the youngsters now, then within four years you will see positive changes in Pakistan’s wrestling,” Arshad said.

“India has focused on its wrestling. For the World Championships last year in America they had their wrestlers trained abroad for six months and you see one of their wrestlers qualified for Rio Games. They have class training and good infrastructure, while we have nothing,” the official said.

“Let’s think otherwise. It’s time for our government to focus on sports which is the base of overall development. The world is taking sports as an industry, while we are running it on ad-hoc basis. We cannot grow through such an approach. We feel embarrassment when we take our team abroad because we don’t deserve to compete with our rivals who prepare using modern methods,” Arshad added.

Currently, four Pakistani wrestlers are in Bangkok, playing in the Asian Championship which is compulsory for those who want to appear in the Rio Olympics qualifiers to be held in the coming few months.

In the continental event in Thailand, Pakistan fielded four wrestlers and out of them Mohammad Bilal, Asad Butt and Mohammad Nadir have already been exited.

Zaman Anwar, who recently lifted gold for Pakistan in South Asian Games in India, would play his heavyweight fight on Sunday (today).

Pakistan has already confirmed its entries in the twin world qualifying rounds for Rio Olympics which would be held in Mongolia and Turkey in April and May, respectively.

Pakistan had also confirmed its entry in the Kazakhstan’s Asian qualifying round for Olympics penciled in for March 18-20 in Astana. However, after the country’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam (86kg) injured his knee during training, the PWF withdrew its entry.

Now the country would focus on the world qualifying rounds.

“After the Asian Championships we will decide on how many wrestlers should we field in the world qualifying rounds for the Olympics,” Arshad informed.

Interestingly, the PWF met all the expenses for sending its wrestlers to Bangkok for the continental event.

“We spent Rs1.5 million from our own pocket for the purpose. It was indispensable to field players in Bangkok event. Had we not sent the wrestlers to Thailand we would not have been eligible to appear in the Olympic qualifiers,” Arshad said.

Pakistan are yet to confirm any berth in any discipline in the Rio Olympics to be held from August 5-21 in Brazil. Japan-based judoka Shah Hussain is the only hope for Rio. He will appear in a handful of qualifiers till May 29, 2016.

In boxing, Pakistan will test its luck in the Asian and world qualifying rounds to be held in March and June in China and Azerbaijan, respectively. For the first time in history, Pakistan has failed to qualify for Olympics in hockey.