KARACHI: Lamenting the decline of sports in Pakistan, former Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Brig (retd) Arif Siddiqui on Saturday said that there was a need for revolutionary changes for putting the country’s sports back on track.
“The competitive sports have ceased to exist and revolutionary changes are required to revive sports in Pakistan,” Arif told ‘The News’ in an interview from Islamabad on Saturday.
However, he was quick to add that there was no one who could bring any such changes to pave way for the sports development.
“Everyone is corrupt here right from the officials of PSB to Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and even those sitting in the ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC), also including the federal minister. They are only struggling for protecting their seats and are not serious about sports promotion,” he said. “They are a sort of mafia and will never think about bringing any change to the system which they are using for making money,” Arif said.
He pointed out that the stakeholders should think about their current sports status.
“Pakistan’s performance in the South Asian Games in India held early this year was the worst ever and now the country’s participation in the Rio Olympics would also be the worst ever in history,” Arif said.
“I think only judoka Shah Hussain has almost qualified for Rio. And he will be accompanied by two swimmers, two shooters and two athletes who will be competing on wild cards. It’s heart-wrenching that our hockey could not earn ticket for Olympics for the first time in history. It’s not easy to revive the game as the things have slipped off the hands of the stakeholders,” Arif said.
He also agreed that the PSB should have focused on financing those federations who had been fielding their players in Olympic qualifiers.
“No doubt it was their right to field their players in the qualifiers. They should have been financed properly irrespective of their qualification chances because appearing in such events add to the experience of the athletes and enhance their match temperament for future challenges,” the former PSB official conceded.
The PSB did not sponsor national boxers who missed their Asian qualifying round for Olympics held in Chinese city of Qiana’n from March 25 to April 5. National wrestlers and weightlifters were also not supported during their qualifying campaigns that damaged their cause severely as no one could book Rio berth.
The Board also financed Japan-based Shah Hussain who has virtually qualified for Rio Games to be held in August in Brazil. The official confirmation of Shah’s entry into the Olympics is expected to be made on May 30 by the International Judo Federation (IJF).
When asked why the PSB did not convene a meeting of the federations despite the country’s worst ever showing in the South Asian Games, Arif said they were not professional.
“It is the work of professionals to convene such a meeting and discus various things which have caused such a humiliating performance. Here in the PSB all are non-technocrats,” he said. “In 1948 Olympics when Pakistan hockey team beat Holland and then lost in the semi-finals, a meeting had been convened in order to discuss why we lost. It is important but for those who are serious and know the sports,” Arif recalled.
Arif says producing result in an international event needs a proper plan.
“We had made two and a half years of preparation for the 2006 South Asian Games held in Sri Lanka. You have to chalk out proper plan and strategy” he pointed out.
In that event held in Colombo Pakistan had ended second behind India by lifting 41 gold, 43 silver and 72 bronze medals.
When asked why the PSB spent too much amount on a low-level Inter-Provincial Games, Arif said the same event could have been organised with 1/4 of the amount which had been spent.
“I don’t think this event will have any utility. It could have been organised through one fourth of the amount and the remaining money could have been given to federations,” Arif conceded.
An amount of Rs137million was spent on the event whose organisation was not the prerogative of the Board.