Col Naseem vows to continue nurturing basketball talent

LAHORE: Pakistan has been blessed with exceptional talent in every field including basketball and we will continue our efforts to nurture fresh talent despite financial constraints, this determination was shown by Pakistan Basketball Federation (PBBF) Vice-President Lt-Col (retd) Naseem Butt during his exclusive talk with ‘The News’ at Bagh-i-Jinnah’s lush green Cosmopolitan Club on Tuesday.
Secretary Referee Board and FIBA qualified coach Imtiazul Hasan, Secretary Referee Board Punjab Muhammad Akram and Chairman Lahore District Basketball Association Kh Abdur Rehman were also present on this occasion.
Col Naseem said the mission of PBBF is to provide young and talented players maximum playing opportunities. “We organise national basketball events regularly just to flourish our talented players. The recently-held Col Shuja Khanzada Shaheed Basketball Gold Cup was a fresh example in this regard. The teams from all four provinces Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Fata and Shuja Khanzada Club took part in the 4-day tournament”.
Col Naseem said: “Our federation under the leadership of its President Asif Bajwa is serving the game with a mission. Our team is comprised of committed officials like Shahid Nadeem (Sr Vice President), Abdul Jawwad Commissioner Pak Railway (General Secretary), Syed Behzad Zafar (Treasurer), Alamgir Khan, Mrs Shaheen Zafar and Cdr Asghar (Pak Navy).”
Replying a question, Col Naseem said that PBBF apart from sports activities, also extended much needed help to deserving people especially from backward areas of the country. “PBBF played key role for the admission of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata children in top educational institutions besides arranging employments for several talented boys and girls in Army and Air Force”. Answering a question about national basketball team’s foreign tours, Col Naseem said Pakistan basketball team toured Bangladesh, UAE and Malaysia (twice) in recent years. “We sent our players abroad to give them maximum international exposure. Our team played competitive basketball against Malaysia’s Help University, Asia Pacific and Double Team Assault Club at Kuala Lumpur during its recent trip in Nov this year”.
He said Pakistan team will also tour Moscow in Dec-Jan to play matches against the leading outfits of Russia. “The preparations for the key tour have been completed but we have to delay our Moscow visit due to substantial snow fall in Russia,” he disclosed.
To a question, Col Naseem said that PBBF conducted several courses and clinics for coaches and referees during the last few years. “We also invited Col Lee from Malaysia to conduct a high-profile coaches’ clinic in Pakistan. 14 out of 53 participants were given certificates in the elite clinic,” he informed.
Elaborating the calendar year activities, Naseem said: “We organise Men and Women National Basketball Championship every year and also hold exhibition tournaments regularly on all national days. Besides competitive basketball events, we also conduct Sports Medicine Course regularly to make our players aware of career-threatening drugs”. Col Naseem said PBBF will also introduce a banking sector basketball team in near future. “The said team will provide sufficient playing opportunities to players attached with banking profession,” he opined.
Answering a query about the future activities, Col Naseem, who is also a FIBA qualified coach, told that PBBF is going to hold basketball trials of all leading male and female schools of Punjab in the coming weeks. “We will select 25-30 talented players for camp training. The camp will be supervised by me, Imtiazul Hasan and Ashir Gill”.
“Moreover, we are also going to organise Sh Naeem Memorial Girls Basketball Championship on Dec 12-13 at a local school at Mall Road, Lahore. The competition of boys’ schools and colleges will be staged on Dec 14 at the same venue,” he informed.
To a query, Col Naseem informed that the first All-Pakistan Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Basketball Tournament was also held under the banner of our federation at Railway Stadium Lahore in 2009. “Now we are planning to organise the second edition of this tournament in Feb/March next year,” he added.