A few days ago former Director General of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Brig (retd) Arif Siddiqui told me in an interview that Pakistan’s sports cannot be improved as only revolutionary people can bring a sports revolution and there are no such people in sports administration right now.
I agree with him and am really disappointed with the way sports are being governed in Pakistan. It would not be wrong to say that Pakistan’s sports are being run casually. There is no constant policy for sports development. Neither the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) nor the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) possesses any visionary people who could do something innovative to uplift sports. When Olympics approach, we start crying that Pakistan is unable to produce world class players. Before that we don’t bother about it. Around five months have passed since Rio Olympics, but our sports authorities don’t have any plan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. And this is the main reason Pakistan has been suffering in international circuit.
Pakistan should have begun proper preparations, particularly in those sports disciplines in which the country has chances to qualify. I would not talk about hockey as this game has got the government’s patronage because the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif himself is its patron.
But potential sports like weightlifting, wrestling, judo, karate, taekwondo, boxing, volleyball and athletics need a strategy which could help the nation prepare well for the Olympics.
Pakistan has highly talented players in these disciplines who not only can qualify for Olympics but are also capable of winning medals in Tokyo.
The PSB and the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) should take the initiative and convene a meeting of the officials of those disciplines in which Pakistan can qualify for the Olympics.
They should discus different aspects and then devise a strategy to prepare during the coming three and a half years for Tokyo assignment.
We should learn from India which is doing a great job in preparing its lot well in advance for Olympics. And that is why it is gradually rising at the Olympic level.
When you start preparing for Olympics, you will also cover events which come in the middle like Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World and Asian Championships and regional events like South Asian Games.
Besides the state’s financial input, the POA can also help these federations in preparing their lot for Olympic Games through various training programmes of the Olympic Solidarity of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). But who will do that? A year has passed since the POA’s elections were held -- last January -- but so far we have not seen any constructive move from the NOC which could create hope for better sports future of Pakistan.
The association is completely unmoved. And its president Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hassan, who is serving the association for the fourth four-year tenure, has spent most of the last year abroad. Only managing accreditation cards is not the job of the POA. It can provide much technical and financial support to federations which are affiliated with it. A few months ago, the POA’s secretary Khalid Mehmood told me that this time the NOC would try to constitute a strong marketing wing to generate funds. But I don’t think the POA has worked on it.
As usual, nothing has been finalised as yet regarding Pakistan’s contingent for the Islamic Games which will be held in Azerbaijan capital Baku from May 12-22.
At least six-month preparation is needed for such assignments. Pakistan missed the last edition, in 2013, because of the conflict between the POA and the PSB over the implementation of sports policy.
The federations also need foreign coaches but nothing has been done so far because of the apathy of the PSB.
The PSB has failed to perform its functions. It lacks people who can take drastic steps for sports promotion. We can find only clerk system in the Board which is in itself a big hurdle in the way of sports growth.
A great surgery of the Board is needed if Pakistan wants to develop its sports. Its Director General Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera is going to retire soon. The government should bring in a person who knows how to develop sports.
It’s time to think seriously for sports progress, forgetting all differences. Pakistan direly needs a long-term plan to strengthen its sports. Its athletes should always be kept in training which is the only way to achieve success at the international level.
Even Sri Lanka has surpassed us in various sports disciplines over the years because of its solid long-term plan for athletes’ development.
After Pakistan’s contingent returned from Brazil after featuring in Olympics, the PSB planned sports seminars in various regions of the country to take input of experts about how sports could be developed. But so far no such step has been taken. When the POA chief Arif Hassan was elected for the third time five years ago, he told me in an interview that the POA would be going to hold sports conventions throughout Pakistan. But so far we have not seen any such move from his association. It means that we are not serious with our sports.
Pakistan has the world’s best talent in various disciplines and our juniors have always proved that by performing extremely well in international circuit. But when they go to the senior level they find themselves unable to perform because they are not prepared the way they should be.