Pakistan’s performance in sports has not been consistent. Pakistani hockey team, for instance, has failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time after 1948. Also, Pakistani squash and snooker players are not in the top international rankings.
Among other reasons, lack of government support and corporate sponsorship for sports, other than cricket, are crucial. Despite availability of funds under the head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the corporate sector does not invest in sports infrastructure and patronise sports and sportsmen at the grassroots level.
What are the reasons for this neglect and what shall be the way forward?
Aamir Bilal, CEO and Founder, Sports Development Foundation, a non-profit organisation for the promotion of sports at the grassroots level, says that sports and education cannot be separated from each other, "but, here, in Pakistan if one opts for sports, he has to do that at the cost of academics. That’s why there is a general aversion among parents to allow their children to indulge in sports beyond a certain level."
Bilal adds, "In Europe and the US, sports are a part of life, that is why the corporate sector generously invests in sports. One example is Camp Nauv, a major football stadium in Spain that was built by Qatar Airways under a CSR initiative" continuing that the Pakistani government should ask the corporate sector to dedicate a portion of the CSR funds to sports development. "If education, health, water and sanitation can be among the proposed sectors why not sports?"
Muhammad Akram Sahi, President, Athletics Federation of Pakistan says, unfortunately, "despite our efforts to woo the corporate sector to sponsor track and field sports, there has not been much success. The businesses see sports with a commercial angle."
During his meetings with the corporate sector representatives, he insists that they should invest in sports like athletics where the tally of medals is quite high. On the other hand, "in team sports, such as soccer and hockey, the whole team of players strives to win one medal," he says.
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Sahi says the funds that the federation gets from the government budget are hardly enough to pay salaries, etc, of officials and local coaches. "Sending athletes abroad to participate in international competitions and get training there is a distant dream," he adds.
The biggest reason for Pakistan’s dismal performance in sports is that its promotion is not a government priority. "Why can’t Pakistan produce good athletes when countries as poor as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Jamaica do? Their long distance runners have left a mark in the sport."
Sahi insists the government, the corporate sector, and the affluent should extend full support for a sport like athletics. "If policies are made now and put into implementation, the results will become obvious in 10 to 15 years. So, the government sector and the corporate sector will have to be patient and consistent and should not expect results overnight."
Kamran Lashari, Chairman, Pakistan Swimming Federation, shares an experience quite similar to Sahi’s. He says the lion’s share of the corporate sector’s budget goes to cricket and very little is earmarked for other sports. "I use my personal contacts to generate funds, between Rs2 million to Rs2.5 million, to hold annual swimming competitions but there were no supporters who would make long-term investment in this sport".
Ideally, he says, "There should be funding available to support outstanding sports people, and to send them abroad to compete in competitions and benefit from advanced training facilities. But this is not the case."
He agrees the two swimmers representing Pakistan at Rio Olympics were based and trained abroad. Similarly, judoka Shah Hussain Shah, who is son of Olympic bronze medalist, Husain Shah, was trained in Japan.
Gogi Alauddin, a former international squash champion, works for the Punjab Squash Association and trains squash players in Lahore. He complains that the budget available with them is too little; they are always short of squash balls, rackets and shoes for the deserving players.
Alauddin believes Pakistani players excelled in squash not because they would get too much money but because they were given respect and importance. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) would offer free tickets to the players to travel abroad and take part in international competitions. This would give Pakistani players the exposure and experience they needed to excel at the international level.
On the contrary, he says, "Today young Pakistani players have neither funds to go abroad nor the players from abroad are willing to come here due to security threats".
Alauddin adds that sufficient funds were diverted to hold internal squash competitions in Pakistan during the Musharraf regime. Besides, "Former Lahore Corps Commander Lt Gen (retd) Zarrar Azeem asked banks to sponsor squash events and give jobs to promising squash players".
After the change of regime, the conditions are no more the same. "Many parents bring their children to me in the hope that they will find good jobs in banks if they excel in squash. But the problem is that squash is a very expensive sport, involving costly equipment. Without sufficient government funds and corporate sponsorships, it is difficult to produce champions."
Alauddin laments, "Squash coaches in Punjab are being paid Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 which is a small amount. How can we expect results from them in such a situation?"
Waqar Ahmed, Head of Corporate Affairs at Nestle Pakistan, says they do sponsor sports events but these interventions are at a limited scale because their product range is quite diverse and targets different population brackets. On the other hand, the bottlers go for sponsorships at a much larger scale due to their bigger audience. "We have sponsored soccer competitions for children but we focus, under CSR, mostly on rural development, water projects, etc."
Akram Sahi asserts that only paucity of funds in not an issue, judicious use of available funds should also be ensured. "Just see how they have wasted billions on sports festival in Punjab. It would have been better to utilise this money on setting up of structures at the grassroots level."