POA chief confident new arbitration system will deliver

KARACHI: Pakistan Olympic Association’s (POA) chief Lt Gen (retd) Arif Hasan said on Friday he was confident that the new arbitration system of the NOC would help in effective resolution of sports disputes.

“I think it will help because we have made the arbitration rules with the assistance of great legal minds,” Arif said at a press briefing here at the Karachi Gymkhana.

“And we have made arbitration committees having independent people such as renowned lawyers and retired judges.

“When a case comes to the POA’s arbitration the parties will have to choose arbitrators from the panel of arbitration, so no party will make any objection about the neutrality of the process,” Arif said.

“Going into the courts is a fundamental right of an individual. After a decision comes through arbitration, if anybody has reservations the next step is not the court but the Court for Arbitration of Sports (CAS) which is based at Geneva. If still one is not satisfied, courts can be consulted but generally it does not happen. We will take further input from legal experts and finalise the things,” Arif said.

About the recognition issue of Pakistan Judo Federation (PJF) and Pakistan Cycling Federation (PCF) Arif said that both had not been accepting the constitution of the POA.

“As per the accord with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) these federations were supposed to withdraw the cases they had filed against the POA. The next clause of the accord was that then the constitutional process would be followed. Only a case in the Islamabad High Court has been withdrawn while those in Lahore High Court (LHC) have not yet been withdrawn. Their plea was that the POA was bogus. They don’t acknowledge POA’s rules and its constitution and still say that they are its members and should be invited to the POA’s meetings,” the POA chief added.

He said that these federations should follow the agreement which had been made at the IOC’s headquarters in Lausanne.

When asked how the POA could ensure judokas’ participation in the fourth Islamic Games despite its strained relations with the PJF, Arif said if any judoka had medal prospects the POA would ensure his entry but not from the platform of the PJF.

He recalled that the PJF had said that it was not sending its judokas to Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and it was the POA which sent Shah Hussain, who won a silver medal there.

“At that time we told the International Judo Federation (IJF) that the differences between the POA and the PJF should not affect athletes. We told them that as per IOC’s rules in such events the final contingent list would be that of NOC and so we were able to send Shah. The PJF officials only took pictures with Shah at the airport after he won the medal,” Arif recalled.

He said that Sindh Olympic Association (SOA) should handle the Sindh Squash Association (SSA) issue. “If there is any problem and if any appeal is lodged with us we will make the ultimate decision,” Arif said.

However, he was quick to add that the matter would be settled down in the next couple of months.

He said that the POA would be holding a few seminars in the near future in which the issue of sports development would be discussed. “In September we held a seminar in Lahore to which we also invited the federal minister, Director General Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and Director Generals of provincial sports boards. We plan such seminars on January 29 at Lahore, in March-April in Karachi and then in Islamabad. In the Karachi seminar we will also invite sponsors. By doing all this we are trying to reach a consensus about sports development process. Then we will present the proposals in a documented form to the government and will see how much the state could help in the process,” Arif said.

He said that only through coordinated efforts from all stakeholders could sports be developed in the country.

He recalled that in the past too such studies on sports development had been undertaken but the problem was that of the implementation. “State involvement is very important,” he said.

Arif said that nobody in Pakistan thought about how medals would come at the international level.

“You know our main focus is on the top level. We don’t think that sports development at the grassroots level is very important. Strong systems at the tehsil, district and provincial levels are needed so that better players could emerge and the federations could groom them for future international challenges. If you don’t have a system you cannot expect something big,” Arif pointed out.

He said that after devolution the role of provinces in sports was very important. He said that equipment was one of the major subjects in sports promotion and the government should not impose duty on equipment which is not manufactured in Pakistan.

Arif said that the POA was going to establish an Olympic Academy at Lahore to educate sportspersons, coaches and technical officials.

He said that 120-130 athletes would be part of Pakistan’s contingent for the Islamic Games to be held in Baku from May 12-22. He said the Islamic Games organisers would help Pakistan develop its sports at the grassroots level.