Camps for South Asian Games must begin now: Inam

KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier wrestler Mohammad Inam on Thursday demanded that the sports authorities begin camps for the South Asian Games at the earliest.

“Hardly four months are left. I don’t see any plan and there is no camp in sight,” Inam told ‘The News’ from Gujranwala.He said if proper preparation was not made for the biennial spectacle, it might cause the country embarrassment.

“In the 2006 South Asian Games, Pakistan clinched 46 gold, in 2010 19 and in 2016 only 12. If the athletes are not trained appropriately Pakistan may get further down, even lower than Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” said Inam, one of the most accomplished wrestlers Pakistan has produced. Besides several international medals at various levels, he has to his credit two gold medals in the Commonwealth Games and two gold medals in the Beach World Wrestling Championships.

Inam disagrees with people who say that South Asian Games are not too tough. “India features in this event. India’s athletes are of Asian standard. In wrestling one of India’s wrestlers is World No 15. If you are to win gold then you have to beat the World No 15 in the South Asian Games,” Inam explained.

“In every sport India will field its best athletes and beating them will need tough preparation,” he added. The South Asian Games are slated to be held in Kathmandu and Pokhara from March 9-18.Pakistan’s sports authorities a few days ago put their heads together in Lahore and discussed the SAG, but no announcement was made.

Inam said that Commissioner Gujranwala had promised to establish an academy. “We have established an academy in Gujranwala in a small room. It has no roof and is not secured. I went to meet Gujranwala Commissioner the other day and told him that when people in India saw a wrestler from Gujranwala they said that he would win as he belonged to Gujranwala. I told him that Gujranwala is so popular because of wrestling. And there should be not one but ten academies in this city,” Inam said.

“The commissioner promised to prepare an academy within two months. Yesterday he sent his protocol officer and an XEN and today some people had come for measurement. If built properly the academy would play its role in wrestling development,” Inam said.