Sportsmen wait for PM’s orders to be followed

LAHORE: Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif issued a notification through the Inter-provincial Coordination Ministry, which also oversees sports in the country on October 7, ordering that departments continue funding for sportsmen employed by them and that the previous directive by former PM Imran Khan ending departmental sports was no longer in effect.

However, it appears that for months departments have been ignoring these orders.

The situation in departments, including the giant NTDC unit of Wapda, which employs a large number of sportsmen and has excelled in various sports year after year, means that the standard of sports is likely to decline further.

The situation requires urgent action from the higher-ups in the country. Unless sportsmen and women are given the required facilities and funding they need or at the very least salaries that allow them to live decent lives in today's difficult circumstances, there can be no hope for improvement in sports or any change in the circumstances for the country that has failed to win a gold medal at Olympic level for decades.

For a nation of 220 million people, this is a catastrophe and the problem needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.