Sana warns govt officials to stay away from federations’ politics

ISLAMABAD: Any government official found involved in federations’ politics would be sacked, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Rana Sanaullah said Thursday in his media talk at the opening ceremony of the 37th National Junior Hockey Championship at Bunda Ground.

“Any government official of Pakistan Sports Board or IPC Ministry found guilty of playing federations’ politics or siding one group or the other would be sacked.” The minister added that basic purpose of the government is to facilitate federations and help athletes excel in different sports.

“Where ever there are loopholes we would make efforts to plug those. We want to facilitate athletes so that they could bring out the best at national and international level,” Sanaullah said.

In presence of PHF President Tariq Bugti and Rana Mujahid (secretary PHF), the minister said that every support will be extended to the federations to make a marked improvement in sports.

“Hockey is our national game. Sadly, in recent times we have lost our grip internationally. To make a comeback, there is a need to make all-out efforts to bring back the old glory in hockey. The game has given us Olympics gold medals and many other honours. Hopefully, we will again be making headlines in the game in the near future.”

The minister also urged all the leading departments having their hockey and other teams previously to reestablish those in accordance with the prime minister’s directives. “We would closely monitor this development as all those departments having sports teams previously will have to re-establish their teams. The prime minister’s vision is to see sports flourish with maximum participation of youth,” he said.

Sanaullah also announced establishment of a High Performance Center for Hockey in Islamabad. “If it is obligatory to meet the international requirements we would establish the Center in Islamabad for the bright future of the game. The PM has already announced steps to establish the Centre.”

The minister lauded Arshad Nadeem’s achievement, saying that it had brought fresh hopes for Pakistan sports. “His achievement was welcomed by fans as well as the government.” The minister was also introduced with the youngsters busy playing Junior National Hockey Championship.

Rana Sanaullah hoped that football politics would end with the elections. “We were banned by the FIFA but now things are heading in the right direction.” Surprisingly, Secretary IPC Nadeem Irshad Kayani and Pakistan Sports Board Director General Yasir Pirzada were not present to receive or see off the minister.